This month, Digital Transformation Monthly reports on the latest developments in travel, retail and grocery, beauty and financial services, looking at Uber’s moves towards ‘super app’ status, further brand experimentation with loyalty schemes and membership programmes, plus beauty companies partnering with technology firms to offer uniquely personalised experiences. The stories covered include:
- Super ambitions: Uber is continuing to diversify with trials of new travel and leisure product offerings in a bid to become a ‘super app’. What challenges and opportunities lie ahead for the brand as it expands on its mission to deliver ‘seamless travel experiences’?
- Social travel: A new networking platform for Hostelworld travellers will allow users to connect, share recommendations and plan ‘LinkUps’. As a revitalised travel industry kicks back into gear, how are companies looking to leverage the emerging trends of social travel and remote working?
- Online success: Primark’s new browse-only website sees traffic double in the first two weeks since its launch, while Co-op more than doubled its revenue in online sales from 2021. Yet both companies have emphasised the importance of the bricks-and-mortar shopping experience. What different approaches are the retailers taking to striking a balance?
- Personalised beauty: From AI ‘selfie analysis’ to neurotechnology, what do the latest partnerships between technology firms and brands like Shiseido and Yves Saint Laurent Beauté reveal about the future of beauty?
- Ombudsman in demand: How have advances in fintech impacted demand for the Financial Ombudsman Service, the UK’s long-running settler of disputes between consumers and financial services providers?