News Briefs

European fruit juice company Eckes-Granini have completed the first stage of their plan to digitize and augment their global supply chain processes. 

The group have enlisted AI software platform provider o9 Solutions and professional services firm Genpact to oversee the plan and provide guidance throughout the project’s execution. 

Combining Genpact insights and o9 Solutions’ Enterprise Knowledge Graph technology, the teams have laid out a comprehensive digitalization strategy that aims to consolidate Eckes-Granini’s multisystem processes and siloed databases into more streamlined, knowledge-sharing ecosystems. 

[See Also: How Pressed Revamped IT Infrastructure to Support Expansion and Accelerate Digital Transformation]

The first phase of implementation involves rolling out the Valorized Demand Planning process in Spain, Germany, Hungary, Austria, France, Finland, and Sweden. In this initial phase of the plan, supply chain, finance, sales and marketing have also integrated to use the same processes and tools. 

Ultimately, the brand hope to reduce supply chain costs, waste, and excess inventory as well as do away with repetitive processes, and improve operational efficiency for vendors, suppliers, and Eckes-Granini themselves. Becoming more sustainable as a brand is also a key consideration as the fruit juice and beverage company move through this initial phase of supply chain digitization and beyond. 

Commenting on the news, Eckes-Granini CIO Tobias Rudolf said that by digitizing supply chains, the company hopes to “gain transparency to make more meaningful decisions with our alliances and inventories across the value chains,” highlighting their aim to “become one of the most sustainable companies in the juice and fruit beverages sector.”

Artificial intelligence and advanced analytics provider Fractal has launched a new company dedicated to the retail and CPG industries. 

Known as Asper.ai, the new company seeks to provide an end-to-end AI platform, unifying demand planning, sales and distribution, inventory planning, and pricing and promotion. The tech strives to alleviate tight budgets in retail and consumer goods, and its test release has been shown to help businesses unlock nearly 10 percent top-line and bottom-line growth, according to the company. 

These users were also reportedly able to free 40 to 60 percent of their existing manual bandwidth so they could focus on more strategic initiatives, said Fractal. 

“The opportunity for AI to unlock efficiency and drive growth is massive,” said Pranay Agrawal, Fractal co-founder and CEO, in a statement. “At Fractal, we are constantly looking for ways to help consumer brands tap into new revenue and growth opportunities and Asper.ai is the next step on the journey.”

Victoria’s Secret will acquire Adore Me, the digitally native lingerie and apparel brand. The deal is expected to accelerate the modernization of Victoria’s Secret e-commerce platform and improve consumer experiences. 

The tech-savvy Adore Me, which leverages natural language processing within its content creation, will also provide access to a complementary consumer base for the retailer.  

The deal includes an initial upfront $400 million cash payment, with a further cash consideration including both fixed and performance-based growth targets over a two-year period. It’s expected to close by the end of January 2023. 

Adore Me and its proprietary tech platform serve a reported 1.2 million-plus active customers, leveraging personalization algorithms and a subscription model that’s said to generate strong customer retention, all of which Victoria’s Secret hopes will complement its physical retail.  

“Adore Me is a technology-led, digital-first innovator in the intimates category that will help us bring differentiated experiences to Victoria’s Secret and PINK customers,” said Martin Waters, CEO, Victoria’s Secret & Co., in a statement. “This acquisition will be a significant accelerant as we pivot toward growth and modernize the foundation of our company with an entrepreneurial mindset that puts technology at the forefront of everything we do. In partnering with the incredible team at Adore Me, we will move to the future much faster.”

Unilever is furthering its ice-cream-on-demand mission through a new partnership with Waitr Holdings’ ASAP.com delivery arm. 

Under the deal, ASAP.com will deliver such brands as Ben & Jerry’s, Bryers, Good Humor, and Magnum from Unilever’s virtual storefront, The Ice Cream Shop, to consumers in more than 2,000 locations in the United States. 

Unilever will also coordinate with ASAP’s existing restaurant partners to add ice cream to their menus.

“We are thrilled to begin this partnership with ASAP as Unilever continues to expand the many ways customers across the country can enjoy our frozen treats,” said Russel Lilly, Unilever general manager, North American ice cream, in a statement. “It’s not only exciting to further grow The Ice Cream Shop’s customer base with ASAP, but we are also honored to build out restaurant partners’ menus with our variety of offerings to bring something sweet to every customer.”

[See also: How Unilever Uses Consumer Insights in High-Risk Marketing] 

Getting the last mile right is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for CPGs when it comes to selling direct-to-consumer thanks to high fulfillment costs. Unilever for its part is leaving no channel left untested in its frozen DTC ambitions, having previously partnered to deliver ice cream via both drone and Robomart delivery. 

The company even brought ice cream into the metaverse, with a Decentraland experience that married virtual and physical worlds through NFTs and home delivery. 

Beauty brand Coty has launched a new corporate identity, centered around its new purpose — “together, we unleash every vision of beauty” — and value: “fearless kindness.” This is the latest phase of growth under the leadership of CEO Sue Y. Nabi. 

As part of this mission, Coty looks to break down barriers in beauty, creating innovative and science-based solutions that allow consumers to create their own vision of beauty. The brand hopes to work alongside the beauty industry to accomplish this mission.

[Read more: Coty Dives Into Sustainable Fragrance Production With Carbon-Captured Ethanol]

To encapsulate the new identity, which has been codified within the brand's corporate values, Coty is introducing a new tagline: “Coty, Fearless. Forward. You.”

According to Nabi, beauty has always been, and will continue to be, at the heart of society and culture.” The question of what is beautiful has built and fueled our industry through time,” she said in a statement. “We believe that today, no one can control or should dictate what is or is not beautiful. Beauty is formless, like water, a constantly evolving and adapting concept. Therefore, we need to undefine the notion of beauty.”

Nabi added that this is something the industry needs to face together by creating synergies that lead to innovations. 

“Collaboration is the catalyst for creating forward-thinking beauty,” said Nabi. “In synchrony with our people, our partners, and our customers, we will develop products that provide new, innovative, and simply better science-based solutions. Together, we will make over the world of beauty."

Google Cloud is extending its partnership with global tech consulting firm HCL Technologies. 

The move aims to accelerate digital transformation across Google Cloud Infrastructure, products and services, allowing for quicker enterprise cloud adoption, more efficient mass migrations, and the modernization of legacy systems.

The tech firm partnered with Google Cloud back in 2019 to form the Google Cloud Ecosystem Unit, which assisted businesses in carrying out large-scale migrations. As part of the new terms, the companies will have two new offerings — Google Cloud Global Migration and Modernization Factory. Efficiency and scalability are the overarching goal of these initiatives, providing the tools, knowledge, expertise and frameworks needed for businesses to gain quicker value-add from cloud-based investments.

Under the expanded partnership, HCLTech intends to train up to 18,000 tech and consulting staff in Google Cloud capabilities. The newly-formed HCLTech Cloud Acceleration Team will also be on hand to provide dedicated insights into enterprise data, the companies said.  

The two companies will also work together to drive “Google Cloud-first” processes across retail and CPGs, financial services, healthcare and other key industry segment.