McMillanDoolittle recently visited Aldi’s first-of-its-kind automated checkout store in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, IL. Located about 8 miles away from company’s U.S. headquarters in Batavia, IL, the store is adorned with signage inside and outside promoting the trial of its new automated checkout technology,…
Gangnam Market, Chicago’s highly anticipated “American-Asian hybrid” grocery store, fully opened its doors in early December – bringing with it a full supermarket, food court, and bar to the city’s River West neighborhood. Named after the same South Korean district that garnered worldwide recognition from…
As consumer shopping preferences have begun to normalize in a post-COVID retail marketplace, an increasing number of retailers and consumer brands have come to recognize that eCommerce and legacy brick & mortar retail are increasingly becoming complementary platforms to serve and engage shoppers rather than…
As always, our team is here to help you understand the leading trends shaping retail, breakout brands across categories, and white space opportunities to catalyze your company’s growth. With 2022 coming to a close, we are taking a break from our typical content to highlight…
Earlier this month, ALDI opened its first checkout-free store in the Netherlands in the city of Utrecht. Frank Quix, Managing Director from our Dutch partner Q&A Insights & Consultancy, visited this innovative store, and talks to Jan Oostvogels, CEO of ALDI The Netherlands, about this…
Trend Spotlight from RI 2022: TYPY Unveils Fully Automated Store for Unmatched Convenience This week we are highlighting a grocery innovator from our recently published Retail Innovations 2022 report under the Efficiency-in-store theme. This section includes companies that offer game-changing in-store digital tools, smart…
Whole Foods recently opened a 21,000 square foot store in the Glover Park neighborhood of Washington D.C. It is notable for being only the second “full sized” supermarket to incorporate the Just Walk Out technology that first appeared in Amazon Go stores and more recently…
Ultra-fast delivery startups have emerged as key investment trends among today’s venture capitalists. Startups promise to deliver goods to the consumer in less than 20 minutes. Alongside the pandemic-fueled acceleration of Ecommerce adoption, the rapid DtC Ecomm space has become fertile ground for institutional investment….
Earlier this spring, we had the opportunity to travel to the Monterrey area in Northern Mexico to visit leading retailers with one of our valued client teams. As the pandemic began to ebb, we saw crowds of shoppers, bustling restaurants, and innovative retail concepts. Here…
Today’s pandemic environment has retailers stepping up to implement solutions that make shopping safer, faster, and as touchless as possible. While some tactics may only be relevant in the short-term, the increased adoption of tech-driven solutions that broadly remove friction from the shopping process will…
