The weekly Retail Tech Roundup compiles technology news across the supply chain, manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, logistics and fulfillment sectors.
Labeling
Avery Dennison/Thermopatch
Avery Dennison has completed its acquisition of Thermopatch, a company specializing in labeling, embellishments and transfers for the sports, industrial laundry, workwear and hospitality industries. Thermopatch will become part of the company’s Solutions Group.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Thermopatch, headquartered in Syracuse, N.Y., had revenues of approximately $40 million in 2022, with around 200 employees, with operations in North America and Europe.
According to Michael Barton, Avery Dennison’s senior vice president and general manager, apparel solutions, Solutions Group, the addition of Thermopatch will help the labeling giant bolster its position in embellishments, labels and transfers.
Alongside the acquisition, Barton said Avery Dennison is accelerating its own progress within the firm’s external embellishments business and entering new markets. In doing so, the company is building on last year’s launch of Embelex, a full-service, end-to-end platform for on-product branding, graphics and trims, and accelerating its strategy to drive growth and innovation.
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Micro-fulfillment
Fabric/Synergy Design & Integration
Fabric, a provider of micro-fulfillment technologies for retail stores and warehouses, has entered a strategic partnership with Synergy Design & Integration to employ fulfillment automation technology to streamline and optimize warehouse processes.
Introduced in February, the Fabric Partner Elite Program offers a cost-effective solution in an effort to improve customer experiences across several areas of the business. System integrators receive training to sell and support joint implementation efforts, referral partners get access to tools that can accelerate mutual sales and deepen relationships, and OEMs can leverage Fabric’s technology to provide high-density storage and increased throughput to their clients.
Fabric’s solutions are designed to fit any space within a store or warehouse. The addition of a systems integration partner will further enable brands to meet customer expectations while ensuring they can do so profitably.
Using Fabric, partner brands have seen a more than 62 percent reduction in labor costs, an over 71 percent improvement in storage density, upward of 99 percent inventory accuracy and a threefold increase in throughput compared to manual fulfillment, the company claims.
Formed in 2016, Synergy designing and building custom, turnkey material handling systems for industries including retail, e-commerce, health and beauty, parcel, apparel and more. As a member of Fabric’s Partner Elite Program, Synergy and Fabric aim to help clients identify and eliminate inefficiencies and increase warehouse volume.
Fit technology
MySize Inc.
MySize Inc., an omnichannel e-commerce platform and provider of AI-driven measurement solutions, has unveiled that its MySizeID apparel sizing solution will soon be available for the pet apparel market, including for dogs and cats.
MySize, which offers digital sizing solutions including MySizeID and Naiz Fit, which are now used by various global apparel brands, providing hundreds of thousands of size recommendations for consumers annually.
The pet apparel market is projected to grow to an estimated $7 billion in 2028, according to data from Fortune Business Insights, driven by rising pet ownership worldwide, pet humanization, growing demand for sustainable pet clothing and an increasing number of brands, including new dog apparel brands and well-established human brands now designing for the pet market.
Human fashion brands now offering pet apparel include Urban Outfitters, H&M, Moschino, Moncler, and Ralph Lauren, MySize said.
As with human brands, pet apparel shoppers are making sustainability a priority. By providing an accurate size recommendation, MySizeID can reduce size-related returns for online apparel shoppers and associated environmental impacts. These sustainability benefits can now be extended to pet apparel purchases.
Drones
Verity
Verity, an inventory tracking solution powered by fully autonomous indoor drones, has completed a $32 million Series B funding round.
The investment was led by Maersk parent A.P. Moller Holding with participation from Exor Ventures and existing and new investors. This funding allows Verity to scale up operations to address the growing backlog of deployments with systems already installed in 30 sites across 13 countries on three continents.
The funding comes as Verity sees inventory management as a prime use case for automation: manual inventory scanning is costly and laborious, and errors frequently lead to lost productivity and sales. Verity’s system allows users to fully automate the manual scanning process, using self-flying warehouse drones that require no operator and can fly in the dark.
Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Verity’s is used in warehouses to gather valuable insights that enable greater operational efficiencies. The system can cut labor and equipment costs, eliminate errors and disruptions, improve customer service and reduces waste and CO2 emissions.
The new round comes as the company is expanding into international markets and is actively recruiting across the organization. Already with a combined footprint of more than 1,500 warehouses, the Verity system can offer an automated solution to the more than 150,000 warehouses worldwide that still rely on manual inventory checks.
Product listings
Jungle Scout
Jungle Scout, a platform that provides e-commerce data insights to Amazon sellers, has launched AI Assist, an artificial intelligence integration with its Listing Builder feature that generates content for Amazon listings with the click of a button.
This enhancement is designed to allow Amazon sellers to automate the task of creating optimized product listings.
Despite product listing optimization playing such a key role in the success of Amazon sellers, with potential for a higher search ranking and increased product discoverability, it is a top pain point for Amazon sellers.
AI Assist is built to use Jungle Scout’s lists of Amazon keywords and leverages OpenAI’s model to generate listing copy, including a title, description, and more. The integration generates listing copy, which sellers can edit and refine as needed. It can also generate new ideas for product benefits for Amazon sellers to highlight when marketing their products.
Non-English speakers can generate listings for a global customer base without needing translation aids.
Listing Builder AI Assist is currently available for Jungle Scout Professional Plan subscribers.
Logistics
Circle Logistics
Full-service logistics company Circle Logistics is using internal grading systems and resources including enhanced visibility to guide its team on matching freight with the best-fit carriers to minimize claims.
The company is using combined data from digital freight matching and enhanced visibility Transport Pro tech integration resources to provide more value to shippers and carriers. In an attempt to track 100 percent of its loads, Circle encourages enhanced visibility to increase on-time deliveries and to reduce late, theft and damaged freight claims.
Based on informal research led by senior vice president Andrew J. Smith and the company’s Chicago team, when freight is not tracked there’s a 23 percent increase in chance that the loads will result in a claim. Circle’s enhanced visibility tracking data comes from sources like electronic logging devices (ELD) and cell phone tracking, in addition to auto-arrive and auto-depart dispatch geofence notifications.
Combined with the team’s use of data to examine the best fit for matching freight with carriers, this data has made an impact on the amount of successful, on-time, claim-free loads the team manages.
Founded in Fort Wayne, Ind. in 2011, Circle Logistics services over $700 million in freight spend. The asset-based 3PL provides coverage across all modes of transportation in the continental U.S. and Mexico, including dry van, flatbed, reefer, LTL, expedite, oversize and air.
ProShip
ProShip, an automated multi-carrier shipping software for parcel, has unveiled a new LTL Config App for its customers.
With the mobile app, the firm wants to build on its ability to simplify partners’ complex parcel shipping challenges, and ProShip is now expanding its value offering to better cater to enterprise shippers with Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) delivery needs.
The LTL Config App is an add-on to the ProShip multi-carrier shipping software solution, which allows customers to manage their LTL carrier services from a browser-based app without the help of IT resources or numerous hours of ProShip Professional Services work.
Within the LTL Config App, customers can gain access to features specific to their LTL program including LTL premise carriers, services, rates, accessorial fees, tracking numbers and more. Because the app is browser-based, logistics teams can manage the configuration internally, without the need to spend budget on a third-party vendor.
In addition, the LTL Config App can enable high-speed rate shopping with LTL carriers. When negotiations come up or as contracts may change, users can update rates and load them into the LTL Config App to instantly access them and avoid any outdated information and possible related fees.
If your team is bogged down with supply chain and logistics issues, the ProShip Services staff can also access a user’s LTL Config Application. With a team familiar with the procedures and processes associated with the app, any updates and changes can be performed in a timely manner, avoiding extra professional services fees.
Robotics
DB Schenker/Geek+
DB Schenker, a supply chain management and logistics service provider, has deployed more than 200 robots and an optimized packaging system in its recently built 50,000-square-meter e-commerce facility in Guadalajara, Spain.
Servicing DB Schenker’s retail customers in Spain, Portugal and France, the site is equipped with a goods-to-person picking system to handle around 120,000 units per day based on autonomous mobile Robots (AMR) provided by robotics technology provider Geek+. The system features pick-and-pack solutions built for a faster and more flexible online-order fulfillment process, as well as a more efficient handling of returns.
The automated solutions within the Guadalajara facility were installed in four months, and already operated through Black Friday and the Christmas season.
An automated conveyor system within the warehouse ensures on-time processing and faster delivery times to establish the best customer experience for Adidas, which is DB Schenker’s leading customer in this site. In order to optimize the volume of parcels and use of transport vehicles, packaging is adjusted to the exact size of the product that is shipped through an automated solution. This results in reduced CO2 emissions throughout distribution.
The logistics hub is certified as “Very Good” by environmental building rating system BREEAM, aligning with sustainability as a strategic priority for DB Schenker, which seeks to grow in an environmentally friendly way and is committed to innovative and low-impact digital solutions. Among other features to protect natural resources, the warehouse combines skylights with high-tech LED systems and natural ventilation.
Shipping
ShipStation
ShipStation, a cloud-based e-commerce shipping solution, has released ShipStation Dropship Manager, a solution developed for dropship managers to streamline and automate order fulfillment processes with their vendors and reduce errors caused by manual vendor management.
The company says that thousands of its customers use a curated network of vendors to fulfill their orders. ShipStation cited a survey from The Insight Partners, indicating that nearly 7 percent of e-commerce businesses use dropshipping as their means of fulfillment, and the segment is expected to grow to $78 billion by 2027.
When businesses grow their dropship networks, it can become more challenging to efficiently aggregate orders, route those orders to each vendor and maintain real-time order statuses between vendors and end customers. Dropship managers who take on these tasks manually run the risk of increased errors and reduced customer service levels, which ultimately prohibits their ability to scale.
ShipStation Dropship Manager is built to address those challenges head-on by automating and optimizing critical workflows for dropship managers. Key features include order routing and real-time order status updates between dropship managers and their vendors, as well s branded tracking and custom email domain capabilities to maintain high levels of customer communication, from the time an order is placed until final delivery. Dropship managers can invite their vendors to the platform, which can enable them to complete onboarding and go to market faster.
Returns
Samsonite/ReverseLogix
Travel luggage retailer and manufacturer Samsonite has selected ReverseLogix, a provider of end-to-end returns management systems, to provide a warranty and repair portal for its customers.
With ReverseLogix’s configurable and flexible workflows, increased visibility of the consumer journey, supply chain software agnostic integration capabilities, as well as more control over returns management processes, Samsonite can better enhance its customer service.
“When we were ready to look at enhancing our warranty process, one of our biggest needs was finding a consumer-facing returns solution,” said Stephanie Kalch, senior director of customer service of North America at Samsonite, in a statement. “It was also critical for us to find a return management system that had the ability to easily integrate into our other systems. ReverseLogix met our requirements across the board and when we turned ReverseLogix on, we immediately gained visibility into our returns and warranty volume like never before.”
Implementing the ReverseLogix returns management system also provides Samsonite with insight into specific parts or products being returned. This visibility equips Samsonite with the data to analyze and predict future warranty claims and consumer behavior, enhancing Samsonite’s knowledge of product performance across the entire consumer journey.
“We wanted to offer our customers a better warranty experience through a customer-centered interface,” continued Kalch. “ReverseLogix enabled our customers to go onto our brand sites and self-activate their warranty rather than relying on our call centers or our repair centers.”
Additionally, the experience Samsonite customers have at its repair centers is central to their overall brand experience. By being able to track the productivity of the repair centers, the Samsonite team can hold them accountable to quality assurance and turnaround time to ensure customers are getting their bags fixed and back in their hands quickly.
Warehouse management
ACI Brands/Tecsys
ACI Brands, the parent company of fashion accessories brand Accessory Concepts, beauty products brand ACI Beauty and activewear apparel division Sport Fitness, will deploy Tecsys‘ SaaS-based Elite WMS as part of a modernization initiative that will enable them to tap into system-driven technologies and automation solutions.
Founded 40 years ago as a ladies’ fashion wallet supplier, ACI Brands has developed into a multinational supplier and distributor of consumer products focused on all channels of Canadian and U.S. retail, including brands like Buffalo David Bitton, Kiss, Everlast and Timberland. With its expanding range of products and brands and increasing e-commerce activity, ACI Brands’ priority turned to modernizing its technical infrastructure and reducing their internal IT burden to better support the continued growth of their business.
“Tecsys’ software has supported our business evolution for decades,” said Helder Valentim, vice president of IT and operations at ACI Brands. “Despite being a longstanding Tecsys customer, due diligence required us to confirm which solution would best meet our needs as a growing distributor and 3PL with demanding SLAs. With the help of KPMG, we determined that Tecsys was indeed the best WMS to allow us to retain operational efficiencies and robust system capabilities while preparing for more complexity and higher demands on operational resources.”
Designed to control all warehouse activities, Elite WMS optimizes inventory management by managing stock levels, improving order fulfillment and purchase requisitions, and reducing order cycle times.
Integrated with ACI Brands’ tech stack, the fashion company hopes Tecsys’ SaaS-based supply chain platform will drive unity across data silos and complex supply chain operations, better enabling the company to connect their back-end core supply chain execution activities together with ACI Brand’s front-end system.
“Elite WMS is highly agile, feature rich, functionally robust and very intuitive for the user, while allowing us to be flexible in meeting 3PL customer expectations and our internal targets,” Valentim continues. “Leveraging Tecsys’ Elite WMS gives us operational stability while instilling confidence as we scale and drive toward more automated operations.”