Retail Week Hackathon: Top-ten shortlist revealed

Clear Returns

Team name: Clear Returns

Hacks: Vicky Brock, CEO; Arturas Moldavas, software developer; Stephen Budd, Product manager; Pawel Kublas, software developer

What they say: “Clear Returns was recently named top Tech Start Up in Europe and are Winner of IBM SmartCamp, Ecommerce Innovation 2014 and Best New Product 2013. The team has developed innovative data modelling and predictive technology that closes the knowledge gap around retail returns. Clear Returns team are delivering predictions ahead of the buy, automated alerts and actionable insights, meaning retailers can focus on maximising profit, margin and customer experience.”

Dalziel & Pow

Team name: D&P Warriors

Hacks: James Croker, senior interactive designer; Kamilla Weinhardt, design project leader; Richard Marking, design project leader; Elly Bowness, creative lead; Justas Motuzas, creative technologist

What they say: “We’re a London-based agency with over 30 years’ experience in brand and retail design. Our passion is creating great customer experiences. We are excited about how technology can alter the customer experience and see the divergence of the physical and digital customer journeys as key to the future of retail experiences. This should not just be about the functional transaction but how we can bring inspiration, engagement and playfulness into retail spaces. We look forward to creating something exciting.”

Deloitte Digital

Team name: Deloitte Digital

Hacks: Edward Greig, UX and creative lead; Peter Hempsall, mobile engineering lead; Carla Lindarte, UX lead; Audrius Zujus, developer; Vitaly Kondratiev, front end development lead

What they say: “Deloitte Digital are a dedicated team of professionals who are passionate about all things digital. Building upon the best of Deloitte’s core values of professionalism and collaboration we focus on injecting innovation and creativity into our solutions for our clients. Here at Deloitte Digital we are proud to do things differently while having fun and without forgetting what makes us the distinctive professional services firm. We operate globally and get a kick out of working with leading edge digital technologies to enable our clients to stay ahead of the game in this fast changing digital age.”

Halfords

Team name: #HalfordsHackMonsters

Hacks: David Willis, customer experience manager; Abhi Punj, social media manager; David Taylor, merchandising manager; Matt Evans, digital content manager; Dan Townson, assistant test manager

What they say: “Halfords is the leading retailer of leisure and car products. We’ve got over 460 stores nationwide and a strong online presence - on both web and social media. The #HalfordsHackMonsters team has five members. First up is David Willis, Customer Experience Manager, who’s responsible for continuously improving the purchase customer journey - all the way from checkout to store collection/direct delivery. David W is a father of two, and as a skydiver, motorcyclist and extreme skier it’s safe to say he’s a bit of an adrenaline junkie! Abhi Punj is the Social Media manager. She’s responsible for managing Halfords social media presence across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube - and absolutely  loves all things social.

“The self-proclaimed geek of the team is Dan Townson, Web Development Manager for Halfords.com - who is obsessed with anything to do with technology and science! Next up is the Digital Merchandising Manager for Halfords.ie, David Taylor. David T has worked for Halfords for 4 years and is a real cycling enthusiast! Completing the line-up is Digital Content Manager Matt Evans. Matt’s responsible for design, UI, and UX across Halfords.com and .ie sites, mobile, careers and apps. He also leads a team of designers who work together to produce an engaging customer experience.”

JOYLAB

Team name: JOYLAB

Hacks: Fergus Roche, CX director; Phil Sherwin-Nicholls, UX designer; Darius Pocha, design director; Kieran McBride, planning director; Jon Pearse, lead dev

What they say: “JOYLAB designs customer centric digital products & services for the world’s most ambitious brands. We design and optimise consumer touch points for omnichannel - creating engaging experiences and ROI…We do hackathons too eh? Nice.”

Kega

Team name: The Dutchies

Hacks: Anton Evers, lead developer; Nicole Kanters, online designer; Tim Honders, lead developer; Tim Hofman, lead developer; Dirk van Eunen, retail creative strategist

What they say: “Kega is taking retail further. We operate on the interface between marketing and IT. We offer integrated solutions with which clients can make the most of their potential. As an inspiring sparring partner, we have the capacity to combine strategic thinking with organisation and action.

Kega targets (inter)national retailers and A-brand manufacturers. Our passion lies in taking retail further, based on our brand values: innovative, strategically smart and enterprising.”

Locappy

Team name: Locappy

Hacks: Chris Howard, operations; Guiseppe, business development; Roland Hagan, product development – business and technology; Sanjay Lal, product design; Sebastian S Lyall, CEO/ founder

What they say: “Locappy is a start up - currently based out of London’s Rainmaking Loft - that’s building a real time marketing tool for small businesses around London. We believe in local neighbourhoods and the local economies that small businesses provide. We give them a simple, easy to use tool that utilizes Google’s Geo Targeting to give those small independents reach and presence within their neighbourhoods- getting their offers and notice boards to the people around them that matter.”

Metail

Team name: Metail

Hacks: Diana Nikolova, junior UX designer; Nic Marks, products and UX manager; Rob Murphy, web engineer; Nick Day, lead web engineer; Keri Farrow, account management

What they say: “Founded in 2008, Metail is a British company developing online fitting room technology, which enables consumers to create a bespoke 3D model of them. The technology aims to increase consumer confidence in buying clothing online, whilst also reducing return rates for the retailer. Metail’s technology can be incorporated into any e-commerce platform and consumers, after entering a few simple measurements, can then generate a MeModel, which is 94-96% accurate to their specific size.

“Established by Cambridge graduate Tom Adeyoola, Metail has raised over £5.4 million in funding and officially launched with their first customer – Clothing at Tesco – in February 2012. The company has since developed an international client base, spanning from Warehouse and House of Holland in the UK, to Zalando in Germany and Singtel in Singapore. Metail have also created a BAFTA nominated segment for ITV’s This Morning called ‘Take Over the Makeover’ which is currently being developed for a new season.”

Ometria

Team name: Team Ometria

Hacks: Rui Ramos, head of front-end; Barak Chamo, front-end developer; Dr Alastair James, CTO; Joshua Pierson, business development executive; Edward Gotham, head of demand generation

What they say: “Ometria is the all-in-one software solution to acquire and retain better customers, sell them the right products and maximise profitability.”

Tesco Labs

Team name: Tesco Labs

Hacks: Adrian Bracewell, head of engineering, Tesco Labs; Mike Brearley, engineer; Alex Chrysandreas, senior designer; Rebecca Fereday, engineer; Pablo Coberly, engineer

What they say: “The team is made up of developers and designers from Tesco Labs, the innovation group of the global retailer. It’s their job to envisage the future of Tesco… today. Tracking emerging trends, researching the latest technology, and working out how it can be adapted for Tesco and their customers.”