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Emperia creates virtual holiday store for Lacoste, with an NFT twist

Emperia has announced the launch of Lacoste’s first ever virtual store ahead of the holiday season.

Upon entering the experience, customers are taken through a crocodile’s mouth, where they find themselves in a showroom featuring five seasonal products, all shoppable viewed in 360°.

As users continue their journey into the second room, Emperia has developed a gamification feature that enables them to interact with more products in the Christmas range.

A third and final token gated room is nestled at the end of the store, exclusive to VIP customers in UNDW3 (Lacoste’s Web3 community) that are in possession of a Lacoste NFT.

Throughout December, ‘loot’ boxes will be dropped within this room for UNDW3 customers to collect, and five users will be selected at random daily, to win a prize.

Created in partnership, using Arianee’s token gated technology to bring this room to life, customers will be encouraged to keep coming back for new surprises.

Asos teams with HIVED for sustainable rapid deliveries across Greater London

HIVED, a startup that was founded in 2021, has announced a partnership with Asos to fulfil the fast fashion pureplay’s same-day delivery orders in Greater London.

In an online post, the company said: “We operate an entirely electric fleet of vans, cars and bikes and offer same-day, next-day and two-day shipping options to all of Greater London.”

“With a 99.99% on-time delivery rate and a 99% first-time success rate, we are excited to offer consumers the best possible delivery experience.”

Makeup and skincare brand Laura Mercier teams with Obsess as its steps into the metaverse

Laura Mercier has partnered with Obsess to launch its debut virtual store, World of Beauty.

“This is an exciting time for our consumers to explore Laura Mercier through a new, digitalised lens, that offers an immersion into the brand and its history,” says Diane Kim, Global Brand President at Laura Mercier.

“The dynamic shopping experience provides consumers with the opportunity to play, discover, test and trial products, while telling the rich story of this iconic brand.”

Kotsovolos-Dixons South East Europe deploys Displayforce digital signage solution

Kotsovolos-Dixons South East Europe, an electronics retail chain in Greece and Cyprus, has been working on a pilot project with MarTech startup Displayforce.

This has enabled brands to communicate with customers in-store via an AI algorithm. The initiative has also provided stores and visitors with real-time Covid safety information.

Macy’s rolls out FIT:MATCH bra fitting technology in select US stores

FIT:MATCH has announced the launch of its bra fitting experience in the following Macy’s stores this holiday season: Boca Raton (FL), Century City (CA), Dadeland (FL), Herald Square (NY), Kings Plaza (NY), Queens Center (NY), Roosevelt Field (NY), South Portland (ME), South Shore Plaza (MA) and Willowbrook (TX).

The technology gives shoppers the opportunity to get scanned and then, within seconds, matched to their best fitting bras based on their exact body shape.

Varner chooses Sitoo PoS and Unified Commerce Platform for its 1,200 stores

Scandinavian retailer Varner has chosen the Sitoo PoS and Unified Commerce Platform with the software set to be rolled out in 1,200 stores.

Varner, which consists of fashion brands Cubus, Dressmann, Dressmann XL, Bik Bok, Carlings, Volt, Junkyard, and Levi’s Store, employs nearly 8,500 people across Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark.

It says that it needed to find a new PoS solution capable of meeting constantly evolving customer expectations at speed, support them in providing excellent customer experiences, and that would easily integrate with its existing systems.

A.F. Blakemore & Son taps AR tech and QR codes as it preps SPAR Merry Textmas competition

A.F. Blakemore & Son is set to launch a SPAR Christmas campaign giving away up to £100,000 worth of prizes.

Merry Textmas is a 25-day text to win competition that will be live in more than 300 Blakemore Retail and independent stores across SPAR’s Meridian & Welsh Guild from 8th December to 1st January.

It will feature both a spot prize promotion and grand prize promotion.

The latter consists of weekly prize draws offering customers the chance to win one of four prizes: cash towards Christmas, fuel for a year, energy for a year or shopping at SPAR for a year.

Shoppers can play daily to win one of more than 30,000 spot prizes redeemable at SPAR stores by sending a text. Every valid entry into the spot prize promotion will also give one free entry into each weekly grand prize promotion draw.

People can win additional entries into the weekly grand prize draw by scanning a QR code on a poster at a SPAR store or downloading a Merry Textmas app.

The app offers an in-store game that uses the customer camera to create an augmented reality Christmas tree, with virtual presents dotted around the store to place underneath.

Pamela Puncher takes on Head of Delivery role at electrical retailer Currys

Currys has appointed Pamela Puncher as Head of Delivery.

She joins from Dyson where, over almost four years, she held such roles as Director of Programmes and Project Management, and Owner Experience Programme Manager – Global IT.

Albert Czech Republic teams with Brain Corp to deploy robotic scrubbers in stores

Brain Corp, working with Tennant, has completed the deployment of over 40 autonomous in-store scrubbers with the Czech Republic’s Albert, part of the Ahold Delhaize company.