DELIVERY

Rover madness

The future is now, and it’s on college campuses. 

We’re not trying to be corny—we’re talking about autonomous delivery robots. They’re coming to campuses in droves this fall, as the pandemic upped demand. Starship Technologies, for one, plans to deploy new fleets to at least four campuses this year, and more are in the pipeline.  

“It may be difficult to get humans to do the deliveries between midnight and 4am, but particularly on a college campus, that might be their busiest time of day,” Ryan Tuohy, SVP of business development and sales at Starship Technologies, told Retail Brew.

Aside from their inherently contactless nature, robots work around the clock, providing restaurants a continual supply that’s able to meet any level of demand, Tuohy said. 

• Starship has more than 1,000 robots and says it’s made 1.6+ million deliveries since it was founded in 2014. 

Back in session

Starship first took to college life in 2019, partnering with George Mason University. This fall, with additions including the University of Illinois Chicago and University of Kentucky, the company’s bots will be on 20+ campuses. 

• Across these schools, chains like Panda Express and Qdoba can deliver via Starship. 

During the pandemic, Starship’s grocery delivery volume quadrupled, Tuohy said, but did not provide specific figures. At Bowling Green State University, for example, Starship’s fleets served in and around the school’s community, demonstrating the value of having close ties to these local campuses.  

• “We have a situation, whether it be a campus or wherever, that we see that volume growing,” Tuohy told us. “We’re able to increase capacity, and we’ll do that until we meet the capacity and always stay ahead of it.” 

Done deal: Delivery giant Grubhub partnered with Yandex’s self-driving unit in July to deploy delivery rovers to “select college campuses” among the 250+ schools that Grubhub partners with. Students are able to integrate their meal plans into their Grubhub accounts for on- or off-campus delivery. 

• “While college campuses are notoriously difficult for cars to navigate, specifically as it relates to food delivery, Yandex robots easily access parts of campuses that vehicles cannot—effectively removing a major hurdle universities face when implementing new technology,” Brian Madigan, vice president of corporate and campus partners at Grubhub, said in a release. 

Wait and see

Robotics company Nuro doesn’t partner with universities, but its similarly styled R2 delivery vehicle can be used by students wherever available, Amy Satrom, VP of operations at Nuro, told Retail Brew. 

• Earlier this year, Nuro partnered with Domino’s Pizza to introduce autonomous delivery in Houston. 
• During the pandemic, Satrom said the use of their delivery vehicles increased 3x thanks to partners like Kroger and CVS, which has the company thinking about how it can serve more communities like colleges. 

“One of the biggest things we wrestle with is—between neighborhood operations, access to roads, locations of our partners—where there is that sweet spot that we can really provide meaningful support to the industry and the consumer as a whole,” Satrom told us.—KM

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FOOD & BEVERAGE

Fall in line

Pumpkin spice szn is very much upon us—and going strong. 

Starbucks and Dunkin’ added their popular pumpkin-flavored coffee drinks back to the menus last month. With that came more foot traffic for the chains, according to Placer.ai data. 

• Starbucks saw a 3.5% two-year increase in visits during the week it brought back its pumpkin spice latte, beginning August 23. That was also a 12.3% bump from the week prior. 
• Dunkin’s visits climbed 8.4% compared with the same week in 2019 when it reintroduced its pumpkin spice latte, the week of August 16. 

Pumpkin spice’s impact really shows when examining daily visits. The weekend after Starbucks brought back its PSL, the chain’s visits spiked 20.8% and 19.3% on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. 

• “The sales bump is usually the strongest during the initial first few weeks of the launch, which is why we’ve seen the release date continue to move back earlier in the year,” R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, told Retail Brew. 

For Dunkin’, it’s a little more complicated. While the chain did see a 12.2% bump the first four days following the August 18 drop compared with the previous three weeks, the following Sunday saw a 5.2% decline. 

The big picture: PSL szn is helping Starbucks ride the wave to recovery that began in May, per Placer.ai, when visits returned to pre-pandemic levels after falling more than 20% YoY.

“A lot of coffee and other restaurant chains have their own versions of PSL, though the foot traffic bump isn’t as significant as Starbucks and Dunkin’,” Hottovy told us. “This competition is the reason Starbucks is experimenting with other seasonal products like the Apple Crisp Macchiato.”—KM 

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING…

• Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” tech will be coming to two new Whole Foods stores, set to open in 2022. 
• The e-comm giant meanwhile faces calls from Senator Elizabeth Warren to better combat Covid misinformation on its platform. 
• PayPal will acquire Paidy, a buy now, pay later startup in Japan, for ~$2.7 billion. 
• On, the running shoe company, is seeking a $6+ billion valuation in its IPO. 
• JD.com introduced a new resale platform. 

SWAPPING SKUS

Today’s top retail reads. 

Bite-sized: From yurts to QR menus, a guide to how the pandemic has changed eating out. (the New York Times)

Smells like...Brandy Melville sells the teenage dream. The inner workings of the company appear to be more like a nightmare. (Insider) 

Future design: Inside the mind of creative director Alessandro Michele: “I think that Gucci is a brand that needs new blood every month, every year. It’s a way to make it alive.” (Vanity Fair) 

COMMUNITY

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

After years as an analyst and building two startups of her own, Diana Melencio now searches for the next big thing in retail tech as a partner at XRC Labs. We’ll let her tell you more. 

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I invest and advise the new brand you saw on Instagram and/or at CVS; same for the companies that enable you to purchase and return that product—faster and easier. 

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile: I take an average of five calls every day with a company you’ve never heard of...but, hopefully, will soon.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? I'm spending a lot of time looking at grocery technology, companies like KanduAI that enable faster self-checkout and Pod Foods, which brings emerging food brands to your local grocery shelves.

Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about this year? I’m excited about all the trends! Covid really pushed retailers to innovate and that’s brought on more experimentation in how they think about true omnichannel (social selling and live-streaming), how they leverage their stores and store associates (remote clienteling), how they handle returns (refreshing clothing, creating their own recommerce sites), and how they can serve an Amazon-trained audience by bettering their supply chains (backroom tech). 

ICYMI

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• A look inside Jokr, the rapid grocery delivery company
• Retail’s digital-first approach to back-to-school marketing
• Nuuly president talks thrifting: “We saw it as a gap that we wanted to fill”