Retail News CRM

Tag: concierge

  • E-Mart rolling out robot concierge

    E-Mart rolling out robot concierge

    South Korean discount store chain owner E-Mart Inc says it has started testing a robot to provide an automated concierge service to shoppers.

    Dubbed “Pepper”, the robot concierge will be stationed at an E-Mart outlet in Seoul for about three weeks, the company says.

    Developed by Japan’s Softbank Robotics Corp., the 1.2m-tall robot provides product information, introduces sale items and answers frequently asked questions, E-Mart says.

    This follows E-Mart unveiling an autonomous shopping cart, Eli, for a test run at its warehouse-style supermarket Traders in Hanam, just southeast of Seoul.

    This week, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Seoul National University to carry out joint research on the implementation of auto-driving robots in the retail sector.

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  • Online Shopping Concierge & Delivery Service honestbee Celebrates Thai New Year with Freebies

    Online Shopping Concierge & Delivery Service honestbee Celebrates Thai New Year with Freebies

    Honestbee, Asia’s leading and trusted online concierge and delivery service, is following its Bangkok launch in March 2017 with 3 free water-festival weekly giveaways with all shopping orders from now until April 17th, 2017. A bonus gift of a traditional Songkran Aloha shirt is also delivered on the next order for those shop-happy customers who have already collected the trio of Songkran freebies. 

    With no minimum spend, honestbee customers will receive a free pair of goggles on all shops until April 1st, 2017, with a free water gun included in the delivery between April 2nd – 8th, 2017. In the final week, from April 9th – 17th, the last day of the Thai New Year celebrations in Bangkok, honestbee customers will find a waterproof phone pouch in with their delivered groceries.

    As a Happy New Year wish, honestbee is also gifting every customer with a one-time B200 discount on orders over B890 to be used at any time from now until April 17th, 2017.

    honestbee customers who are Songkran-ready, with their goggles, water gun and mobile-phone case can happily venture out and join in some water-splashing festival fun. At the same time, they can rest assured that with personal shoppers –  so-called honeybees-  will be picking out the freshest quality produce and delivering straight to their doorstep at their convenience with a same-day service available; fast, reliable and more importantly during Songkran, dry!

    The ethos behind honestbee is to be lifestyle-friendly according to the Singapore company’s Co-Founder and CEO Joel Sng. “We want to celebrate the real community spirit of Songkran and how life is really about spending time doing what we enjoy with those we care about, from friends and family to neighbors. honestbee enables busy people in the city to outsource the time and effort of shopping whilst still getting that personalized service that fits in with them. This also benefits our shoppers with sustainable employment on a full-time or part-time basis, offering a main or supplementary income. This is truly the spirit of New Year!”

    Along with the Songkran freebies and discount special, new customers can take advantage of FREE DELIVERY on first-time orders over THB 590 to celebrate the honestbee Bangkok launch.

    honestbee offers its personalized shopping concierge service from Bangkok’s 26 Villa Market supermarket outlets as well as bistro and cooking studio The Gastro Just For You hamper gifts and the Villa Market Holiday Store all of which are owned by Villa Market. Other brand specialty partners comprise K-Market; Wishbeer; Ja Guem Song; Happy Flavour; Pierre Hermé; Perfect Earth Organics; Ahmad Tea London; Pipper Standard; Simply W, La Paloma and Meyer.

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  • Introducing Antony, the virtual concierge built by Red Ant

    Introducing Antony, the virtual concierge built by Red Ant

    Visitors to the recent Retail Asia Expo in Hong Kong found themselves taking part in a unique experience – chatting to Antony, an AI bot fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin and eager to help them find their way around the expo.

    Built by connected retail technology specialist Red Ant, Antony was developed as a proof of concept AI and speech recognition platform. Attendees interacted with him as a virtual concierge, getting details about food and beverage options, key locations within the expo and background information on Red Ant.

    Antony was created by using a speech to text API for the input – voice commands are sent to an AI platform where they are processed – and output generated using a text-to-speech API. Users simply walked up to his terminal and were prompted to greet him. Then, through a series of guided questions, Antony was able to give information about the venue and catering arrangements.

    He proved very popular among the visitors, generating enquiries from a number of representatives from malls, office blocks, transport hubs and hotels.

    Jonathan Cummings, Managing Director of global creative agency StartJG, said: ‘It was brilliant to have Antony and his Red Ant colleagues be part of our Interact Zone at the Expo. We curated the space to demonstrate the best and most innovative things happening in retail right now and Antony was a huge hit with visitors. We hope to see much more of Antony and bots just like him in the future.’

    Elisa Harca, Red Ant’s Regional Director for Asia, said: ‘The Retail Asia Expo attracts more than 10,000 visitors from 60 countries – it was the ideal arena for showcasing Antony and what he can do. The right technology in the right place is key to ensuring customers have a first-class experience, and Antony demonstrates just how innovative and engaging the latest tech can be.’

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