Retail Technology Roundup for October 2023: News From Kroger Precision Marketing, Bamboo Rose, SymphonyAI, and More

RIS News curates a roundup of October retail technology news ranging from acquisitions and surveys to environment goals and technology launches. Get the latest updates here.

Kroger Precision Marketing Makes Agreement With Scope3

Kroger Precision Marketing, the retail media business of Kroger powered by 84.51°, announced an agreement to become the first retail media network to measure carbon emissions through Scope3.

On a mission to decarbonize media and advertising, the plan calls for Scope3 to measure carbon performance associated with offsite media campaigns placed through Kroger Precision Marketing. 

“Running tens-of-millions of digital ad impressions only to reach thousands of relevant consumers is not sustainable for business or the environment,” said Brenda Tuohig, chief commercial officer of Scope3. “Kroger Precision Marketing uses in-store purchase signals to cut advertising waste, while Scope3 does this by helping advertisers identify and avoid high emissions inventory. Combining the two will improve marketer outcomes while reinforcing that what’s good for business is also good for the planet.” 

The agreement will use Scope3’s open-source methodology and emissions model to measure the carbon impact by applying Kroger’s audience data to offsite media campaigns. The resulting benchmarks will eventually allow advertisers and agencies to compare the environmental impact of Kroger Precision Marketing relative to other solutions. 

Bamboo Rose Acquires Supply Pilot

Bamboo Rose has acquired Supply Pilot of Nottingham, UK, a provider of supplier engagement and collaboration software. This move extends the Bamboo Rose retail management platform with enhanced supplier collaboration capabilities, to further support supply chain visibility and foster Environmental, Social Governance (ESG) initiatives. The combined company will provide end-to-end supplier engagement and supply chain technology.

"Today's retail landscape is more complex than ever, requiring clear and continuous collaboration between retailers, suppliers, and vendors," said Matt Stevens, CEO of Bamboo Rose. "Supply Pilot leads the market with proactive supplier engagement and collaboration. Together, our platforms will drive unprecedented efficiency and enable sustainability.”

"We are delighted to join forces with Bamboo Rose to conquer complex retailer/supplier engagement pinch points. As one company, we'll offer the most extensive supplier collaboration platform in the market," said James Butcher, CEO of Supply Pilot.

Giant Eagle's Leap Media Group Adds Contextual Commerce to Offerings

Leap Media Group, Giant Eagle's self-built retail media network, and Chicory, a contextual commerce advertising platform, have entered a strategic partnership aimed at expanding Leap's advertising capabilities and driving growth for CPG brands. Chicory's contextual advertising solutions are now included in Leap's portfolio of experiences. This collaboration provides Leap clients with access to commerce-enabled advertising tactics that engage high-intent shoppers within off-platform recipe content.  

Chicory's proprietary Contextual Recipe Targeting transforms recipe content into precise advertising opportunities without relying on cookies or other digital identifiers. The contextual recipe placements reach both existing and new shoppers at the moment of inspiration when they are most receptive to trying new products and brands. Paired with Chicory's shoppable technology, these advertisements enable Leap to drive incremental sales opportunities for its CPG clients. This will come to fruition quickly as Leap integrates Chicory's solutions into Giant Eagle's holiday omnichannel packages this year.  

Leap's omnichannel experience encompasses Giant Eagle's online properties, apps and more than 470 stores. Chicory adds over 5,200 recipe sites to this experience, empowering Leap clients to expand their reach and target new shoppers off-platform.

Blue Yonder Survey Shows Retailers Overestimate Their AI Knowledge

A new survey from Blue Yonder shows that almost all retail executives feel confident in their command of artificial intelligence (AI). The findings from the “Are Retailers Prepared for the AI Era?” report also suggest that retailers are overconfident in AI use, and, ultimately, are missing crucial opportunities relating to optimizing inventories and estimating accurate shipping dates, to name a few.

Key findings from the report include 85% of executives say they are extremely or very knowledgeable about AI and 95% say they are already using AI technology in at least one application.

Executives surveyed say they are very knowledgeable about AI, but lack understanding about the different types of AI, or ways to utilize existing tools. While many retail executives are using AI to enhance supply chain and logistics, the survey found that not many are using it to enhance omni-channel execution. Retailers surveyed are also not using AI to its full potential when it comes to inventory and fulfillment:

• 26% use AI for markdown predictions and avoidance.
• 18% use AI to optimize their inventory by keeping their dynamic safety stock up to date.
• 16% apply AI to improve the accuracy of their estimated ship dates.
• 7% use AI to improve order picking accuracy.

SymphonyAI Summit Launches New Apex Platform with Predictive and Generative AI 

SymphonyAI announced Summit Apex, a new predictive and generative AI-based IT service management/enterprise service management (ITSM/ESM) platform. The new platform delivers ITSM/ESM capabilities with a lightweight architecture to roll out new services and resolve service requests up to 50% faster using generative AI.

The new applications can be deployed and taken live within weeks. The four applications include service management, asset management, service automation, and a generative AI-based digital agent for instant information and recommendations. The intuitive low-code/no-code Design Studio and workflow automation capabilities give IT teams the power to respond to users quickly and efficiently and automate workflows throughout the enterprise.