UK retail co-ops continue to adopt new tech across their operations, in a bid to lower costs, improve sustainability, tackle crime and keep up with new shopping habits.
Innovations in recent years include shelf-edge technology to save staff time, partnerships with food delivery apps to attract young customers, the use of smart energy devices to cut emissions and communications equipment to improve colleague safety.
Fresh announcements include news from the Co-op Group that it is working with Walmart Commerce Technologies to implement its online fulfilment technology, Store Assist, to enhance the convenience its colleague and customer experience and support quick commerce growth.
The Group hopes the tech, which digitises and streamlines online order fulfilment workflows, will support its goal of reaching more than one third share of the quick commerce market.
The app allows retailers to manage pickup, third-party marketplace, ship-from-store, and last-mile delivery orders in one place. This streamlined workflow “will enhance in-store processes and operations, remove the need for colleagues to switch between quick commerce apps or different devices, and allows for faster delivery times”, says the Group.
Store Assist technology, the Group adds, will have a focus on ease of use; scalability; specialised and tailored use to meet the diverse demands of grocery fulfilment, and a unified platform to simplify systems for online orders.
“Growing our share of the quick commerce market is our focus through both our own online shop and with strategic partners,” says online development head George Hayworth. “Our approach is centred on ease, speed and convenience from our local stores, which are well placed in the heart of communities. We are pleased to work closely with Walmart Commerce Technologies to implement the new technology that is easy to use and supports our continued growth, while further enhancing the quick and reliable service that is important to our member-owners and customers, whenever and wherever they choose to shop with us.”
Meanwhile, East of England Co-op is upgrading its inventory and stock management systems across its food stores, including its newest site in Chelmsford, Essex, in partnership with Trust Retail.
Trust, which also offers retail tech to Midcounties Co-op and Waitrose, part of the the worker-owned John Lewis Partnership, says its system will streamline order management, provide real-time inventory visibility, and optimise operations.
The new system will be integrate with the electronic point of sale tech which Trust already provides for the co-op’s store checkouts.
Key benefits, adds Trust, include reductions in manual processes, increased efficiencies in store/headquarter resources, accurate real-time inventory tracking, streamlined order management, enhanced visibility, and improved integrations.
East of England also hopes it will help its efforts to cut food waste.
“Trust Retail is delighted to strengthen its partnership with East of England Co-op by becoming their core retail software partner for inventory and stock management,” says Mike Dotson, managing director at Trust.
“This move will allow the East of England Co-op to consolidate multiple systems into Trust Retail’s modular and configurable solutions, seamlessly integrating with their existing technology stack.”
“By implementing Trust Retail’s Inventory and Stock Management solution, we aim to future-proof operations and embed best practices that will enable an exceptional shopping experience,” adds James Norman, chief financial officer at East of England.
“It will help us to ensure we have accurate and timely stock data which is vital to ensuring our customers can purchase the products they are looking for when they visit our stores. We’re excited to begin this journey and look forward to the benefits our partnership with Trust Retail will bring.”
Midcounties Co-op is also using tech partnerships, including a tie-up with Olio app which it recently launched into Gloucestershire as part of its efforts to cut food waste by a quarter by the end of the year.
Unsold items from its Gloucestershire stores are now being offered to the community through the app instead of being thrown away.
Olio’s food waste team have been visiting nine Your Co-op Food stores in the county since July.
In the first three weeks they collected more than 9,300 items which, it says, have helped feed more than 200 households with the equivalent of 4,600 meals.
“We are delighted that Midcounties is the latest supermarket to trial Olio and our Food Waste Heroes Programme, helping us stop edible food from going to waste,” says Olio CEO Saasha Celestial-One.
“We’ve already rescued and redistributed almost 5,000 meals worth of food together in just three weeks – so we can’t wait to see what joint impact we can deliver in the long term.”
Midcounties says it has reduced the number of items going to waste across its Your Co-op Food stores by 21% since 2019. It is now aiming to hit a 25% reduction target on those levels by the end of this year.
Peter Westall, chief values officer at Midcounties, adds: “This partnership is an essential way that we can help reduce food waste in Gloucestershire, and has already been a great success.
“By doing good together, we are working towards a future where not only we limit food waste wherever possible, but also can turn it into a positive by helping those who need it most in our communities.”
