Ocado’s virtual shopping wall opens for business

The integrated window display at London’s One New Change shopping centre was erected overnight and allows shoppers to purchase groceries on their mobile phones, then have them delivered to their door.

The move gives Ocado its first physical presence on the high street.

The shopping wall mirrors an experiment by Tesco earlier this year in South Korea. Tesco circulated footage of how a shopping wall would work in a subway, prompting consumer excitement.

The Ocado virtual store, at Unit 23 in One New Change, will be accessible 24 hours a day and customers just have to download the Ocado app and start scanning barcodes.

Mobile devices are now used in 15% of Ocado checkouts.

Ocado co-founder Jason Gissing said: “The virtual shop window is a bold move for Ocado and something we are very excited about.

“We hope this trial is a hit, and based on its success, we’ll be looking at options around continuing this ‘virtual window shopping’ approach in other locations UK-wide.”

Jennifer Creevy for Retail Week

Nike Sportswear: Ice Cream Truck

We All Scream for Exclusive Shoe Releases

Nike does its part to break up the mid-summer heat by holding exclusive releases--from an ice cream truck. The Nike Sportswear "Always On" ice cream truck will be attending eight basketball events in New York City providing those in attendance with exclusive shoe releases, tees, stickers, shoelaces and actual ice cream. The blue truck is carrying items ranging from Nike Air Force 1 NYC Editions and Air Force 1 Hyperfuse to Spider-man ice cream and push pops. All ice cream is free to players and audience members.

Along with apparel and ice cream, Nike will be handing out "golden tickets for prizes" and encourage individuals to enter in their Twitter contest. At each stop the truck makes, Nike (@nikesportswear) will tweet a "fill in the blank" question and contestants can answer @21_Mercer (referring to the brand's flagship Soho Store) via the #alwayson hashtag. Three winners will be picked on the spot, and on August 20th, those winners will be entered into a raffle to win the grand prize of a bespoke appointment at the Soho flagship.

Creativity
The Sportswear ice cream truck's trip began on June 24th and will come to an end on August 20th when the winners will be announced. See more details on the Nike Sportswear site.