General
A Belgian shopping centre is introducing a navigation tool based on Augmented Reality (AR), which shows shoppers the quickest way to the shops. The app will be tested extensively in the coming weeks.
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Facebook subsidiary WhatsApp expands its options for businesses: while some retailers already let customers order via the messaging app, buying via WhatsApp will soon become an official option.
Food
A few years after expanding to Belgium, Dutch chain Albert Heijn has now also launched its app in Belgium, showing customers recipes and discounts.
Lidl is rolling out its Lidl Plus loyalty app to Belgium. The programme provides customers with extra benefits, such as promotions via digital coupons. A payment option is in the pipeline.
The French health app Yuka is quickly becoming popular in Belgium, with many consumers often following its advice. Consequently, large companies are starting to adjust the composition of their products in order to achieve a better 'Yuka score'.
Cosmetics
How do you combine digitisation, hyper-personalisation and wellness? Shiseido puts them together, blending them into a new, luxurious subscription formula.
Furniture
Ikea has launced an app with which customers can place products in their own house using augmented reality, then buy the items online. This means customers do not need to go to suburban physical stores as often, reducing the stress on environment and mobility.
Fashion
Nike will be adding a tool to its app that uses AR to scan and measure your feet in order to suggest the best shoe size. The American company now considers itself to be more of a tech company than a sports brand.
Discounter Lidl will be launching an app-based loyalty card in Germany, after a successful trial in four other countries. The Lidl Plus scheme will be rolled out to customers in Berlin and Brandenburg first.
Walmart is adding augmented reality to its iPhone app in a tool that helps customers to compare products.
Paying at the cash register remains the most annoying moment at a supermarket. Many food retailers are now trialing smartphone apps to help customers scan and pay: will the cash register become superfluous soon?
Albert Heijn’s new app, AH Productscanner, will use augmented reality to give customers additional information about products, including ingredients, nutritional value, recipes and country of origin.
French clothing brand Petit Bateau added a new service to its app, which now allows customers to sell and buy second-hand clothing. Petit Bateau will manage the ads, but everything else is handled by the consumers themselves.
m-Tail
In its past quarter, German fashion web shop Zalando performed very well once more. Turnover grew 25 % to 916 million euro and its gross profit tripled to 77 million euro, thanks to the mobile shoppers.
Carrefour and French bank BNP Paribas have developed a free payment app together, called Wa!. Customers can use the app to do mobile payments, keep track of their loyalty cards and take advantage of coupons.
Make up manufacturer Sephora has expanded its app with a new augmented reality-based feature, which gives users a chance to immediately see how a certain make-up colour looks on their face.
