Page 27 - HW December 2019

retail edge
AR + AI = Apps
IKEA recently upped its game with the updated IKEA Place app. Originally launched in 2017, the latest generation app uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR, using Google’s ARCore Software Development Kit) to allow users to virtually place true-to- scale models of IKEA furniture in their own homes.
Plus, thanks to the new app’s curated home furnishing tips and recommendations (“based on curation, context and behaviour”), you can furnish a room “with just a few taps” and, by pointing your phone’s camera at any piece of furniture, anywhere, the app will help you find the most similar IKEA product.
Another recent home improvement-focused app is Hover, which has been taken up by The Home Depot as part of its trade offering.
Having taken some photos on a smartphone,“within hours”the tradie receives accurate measurements for siding, roofing, windows and doors as well as an interactive, customisable 3D model to help the customer visualise colours and the final result.
The Home Depot says tradies can save two hours of time estimating a job using the Hover app.
www.inter.ikea.com www.homedepot.com
Retail back end bits & pieces
• Amazon’s Aussie hub – 100+ Commonwealth Bank of Australia branches,Victorian Authorised Newsagents Association locations and Stockland Shopping Centres now feature Amazon
Hub click & collect lockers
and/or counters.What’s
more, Amazon Australia is
promising“thousands”more
locations at retailers, convenience stores, and small businesses across the Lucky Country in the coming year. Delivery to an Amazon Hub location is available for all items sold on Amazon.com.au and works with Free Expedited Delivery and Standard Delivery.The service is available to all customers at no extra cost.
• Subscribe now! – With Costco on the horizon,TWG’s TheMarket.com is adding a subscription model to its offering; $5.99 per month you get VIP customer service, exclusive offers, free shipping for orders over $45 plus other perks. Amazon has also recently announced its Subscribe & Save program for Australia, enabling scheduled repeat deliveries on products customers routinely shop for with the benefit
of a 10% discount and free
delivery.
• Buy here, collect
elsewhere – As well
as offering customers
the chance to collect
John Lewis Partnership
(JLP) products in other
locations including the
Co-op, starting with
online clothing retailer
Boden, the UK retailer is now offering other brands’ customers the chance to click & collect next day at its Waitrose supermarkets (the FMCG brand also being part of JLP). Currently almost 60% of all JLP online orders are delivered through click & collect.
• More buy-in for buy now pay later – Another Amazon Australia piece of news is its partnering with buy now pay later (BNPL) provider Zip, joining the likes of Bunnings, Kmart, Big W, Kogan. com and General Pants as Zip customers. Analysts at UBS reckon Australians will spend approximately AU$7 billion via BNPL payment methods during 2019, up from $2 billion in 2017 and that, by 2021, BNPL will account for nearly 4% of total Aussie retail sales.
MORE AT www.facebook.com/nzhardwarejournal DECEMBER 2019 | NZHJ 25