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Pret A Manger Turns to YOOBIC to Fuel Global Expansion

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Frontline Employee Experience Platform helps global fast-casual leader to grow quickly without compromising quality or safety

NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Acclaimed freshly made food and organic coffee chain, Pret A Manger, today announced that it is partnering with digital workplace pioneer YOOBIC to support its frontline teams and power its ambitious global expansion plans. By deploying YOOBIC’s game-changing suite of tools across 525 shops in 15 international markets, Pret is empowering its fast-growing global team to deliver consistently excellent brand experiences while prioritising customer and employee safety at every step of the way.

Over the next 3 to 5 years, Pret plans to double its total footprint to more than 1,000 shops through a growing global network of franchise partnerships. While rapid expansion brings challenges, there is no room for compromise or inconsistency when it comes to brand standards, customer and employee safety, or Pret’s hard-won reputation for serving freshly prepared food in clean and welcoming environments.

That’s where YOOBIC comes in. By bringing to life some of Pret’s extensively documented standard operating procedures into a unified virtual hub, YOOBIC gives frontline teams immediate access to the digital tools and information they need to succeed — while enabling senior leaders to maintain full visibility into and control over its global operations.

From routine cleaning to brand standards to compliance with health and hygiene regulations, YOOBIC now ensures that every Pret team member at every level knows exactly what Pret expectations are. Already, Pret’s team members are using YOOBIC to monitor and manage over 65,000 monthly tasks across the company’s network of shops, with full tracking of task completion, follow-up action items, and compliance rates.

“Our customers expect the best possible experience each and every time they shop with us, and YOOBIC helps us provide that consistently at both directly operated and franchised locations,” explains Mark Corney, Pret’s Global Operations Development Director. “Quality and safety are paramount at Pret, and partnering with YOOBIC enables us to expand with confidence while empowering both fresh hires and seasoned team members to deliver amazing experiences for our customers.”

YOOBIC’s digital task management helps employees stay on top of daily duties, allowing them to easily access information via their mobile devices, keep abreast of new procedures or promotions, and complete tasks more efficiently. By treating frontline team members as valued knowledge workers, YOOBIC helps Pret make food service a career to be proud of and gives every employee the tools they need to create value and share insights and feedback with their peers and supervisors.

The YOOBIC hub also gives shops and regional managers real-time visibility into key shop tasks, ensuring that best practices can be identified and scaled, and that any problems are quickly spotted and remedied. Alerts can be quickly pushed out to all affected locations when tasks are needed to be completed quickly. Additional checks can be included to ensure teams consistently meet Pret’s rigorous standards for hygiene, health and safety, environmental impact, and more. Take, for instance, the routine temperature checks on produce items that must take place multiple times a day — with YOOBIC, team leaders can establish automated alerts and recourse plans to ensure prompt action is taken if temperatures ever slip out of recommended ranges.

“When it comes to food service, there’s no room for error. Providing safe, hygienic, and brand-appropriate experiences requires meticulous attention to detail from every single frontline team member — and that’s the challenge that YOOBIC helps to solve,” explains Fabrice Haiat, YOOBIC CEO and co-founder. “We’re thrilled to be working with Pret to support their frontline teams, and to provide the visibility and consistency needed to fuel their ambitious global expansion plans.”

About Pret A Manger

Pret A Manger is a beloved sandwich and organic coffee chain commonly referred to as Pret and based in the United Kingdom. The first shop opened in London in 1986 where the company is headquartered today. Pret’s sandwiches, salads and wraps are freshly handmade each day in shop kitchens using quality ingredients and all coffees, teas and hot chocolates are organic. Pret operates more than 650 shops worldwide with more than 9,500 team members in 18 markets (United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Hong Kong, France, Dubai, Kuwait, India, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, Singapore, Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain, Qatar, Greece). For more information, please visit www.pret.com.

About YOOBIC

YOOBIC is an AI-powered frontline employee experience platform. Our mobile app gives business leaders and frontline teams the performance tools they need to communicate, learn, and work—all in one place. With streamlined communications, mobile learning, and digitised task management, YOOBIC drives operational excellence while drastically improving the frontline employee working experience. 350+ companies around the world including Boots, GameStop, Lacoste, Lidl, Mattress Firm, Michaels, Peloton, Pret, Puma, and Vans trust YOOBIC to improve operational consistency and agility, get real-time visibility into multi-location business execution, and improve customer experience. To learn more about YOOBIC, visit www.yoobic.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pret-a-manger-turns-to-yoobic-to-fuel-global-expansion-302252906.html

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Lexmark Showcases New Printers and Technology Solutions for Retailers at NRF 2025

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NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Lexmark, a global imaging and IoT solutions leader, will showcase its cutting-edge, retail-ready printers and solutions at NRF 2025, Retail’s Big Show and Expo, Jan. 12 to 14, at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York. The Lexmark showcase will be in booth #6321.

“Lexmark kicks off the year with a bang by showcasing our latest 9-Series family of A3 printers and MFPs at NRF for the first time,” said Tim Speller, Lexmark’s head of retail and manufacturing. “These sophisticated devices will usher in a new era of opportunity for retailers to maximize operational efficiency while increasing sales.”

Here’s what will be on display in Lexmark booth #6321:

New Lexmark 9-Series printers and MFPs are designed for challenging retail environments

Built by evolving Lexmark’s renowned A4 technology, the 9-Series delivers versatility, simplicity and sustainability. These solutions are easy to use and manage – perfect for any retail salesfloor or back office.

Key highlights of 9-Series:

Versatile and easy to use. The 9-Series offers a broad range of media size support (A6 to SRA3), high-volume duty cycles, a common set of modular paper-handling options, finishing capabilities and professional color features including PANTONE® calibration.Simple and easy to manage. The 9-Series’ intuitive interface streamlines workflows by providing simple instructions and prompts. For routine maintenance, toner cartridges can be replaced with one hand, easily understood visual cues are displayed, and serviceable areas are easy to access and identify.Sustainable and easy to feel good about. The 9-Series’ total post-consumer recycled (PCR) content is 56% by weight for all base-model MFPs and 73% by weight for the line’s base-model printer, based on IEEE calculation procedures. *Built to last. The 9-Series is designed and built to last seven years or more. Having few components helps reduce the likelihood of technical failure while also minimizing the service time required for repairs and maintenance. Experienced technicians can perform most common service actions, even highly complex tasks, in less than 15 minutes, according to Lexmark testing.

Lexmark Engagement Automation Platform (LEAP) helps retailers drive sales and foot traffic with hyper-local social media ads

LEAP automates one-to-one promotions that drive footfall to local stores. Store leaders can trigger hyper-personalized sale posts and boost ads based on individual store inventory conditions through loyalty program apps and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. With advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, LEAP provides the insights needed to measure success and make data-driven decisions.

Key highlights of LEAP:

Engagement: To engage shoppers, center promotions around customer buying patterns with an engagement automation platform that posts localized content – such as store-specific offers, events and locally grown produce initiatives.

Automation: Schedule and manage automatic localization and delivery of corporate promotional messaging with an engagement automation platform to reach consumers through social media with hyper-local content around each store or audience region.

Loyalty: Attract local customers with an engagement automation platform that sends store- and corporate-initiated offers to geo-fenced social media apps like Facebook and Instagram and loyalty program applications.

Supporting resources

Learn more about Lexmark’s booth at NRF 2025.

Read Lexmark’s NRF blog.

Schedule a booth meeting with our retail experts during NRF 2025.

Get more details about the Lexmark 9-Series.

Get more details about the Lexmark Engagement Automation Platform (LEAP).

Watch a video about LEAP.

Get the details on NRF 2025.

Follow us on LinkedIn for live NRF updates.

About Lexmark

Lexmark creates cloud-enabled imaging and IoT technologies that help customers worldwide quickly realize business outcomes. Through a powerful combination of proven technologies and deep industry expertise, Lexmark accelerates business transformation, turning information into insights, data into decisions, and analytics into action.

Lexmark and the Lexmark logo are trademarks of Lexmark International, Inc., registered in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

* PCR content measured in accordance with IEEE Std 1680.2a™ – 2017 Standard for Environmental Assessment of Imaging Equipment – Amendment 1 — which is the standard used by EPEAT.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lexmark-showcases-new-printers-and-technology-solutions-for-retailers-at-nrf-2025-302348628.html

SOURCE Lexmark

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Pricer and Focal Systems Announce Strategic Collaboration to Drive the Next Step in Physical Store Digitalization

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Pricer, a global leader in digital shelf-edge solutions, and Focal Systems, a leader in shelf-edge AI, today announced a strategic collaboration to accelerate the digitization and optimization of the physical store for retailers worldwide.

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — This collaboration brings together Pricer’s innovations in dynamic pricing and shelf-edge communication with Focal Systems’ advanced computer vision and product availability solutions to maximize shopper satisfaction while optimizing retail operations.

As a pioneer in enabling dynamic pricing and digitizing shelf-edge shopper communication, Pricer has led the first step of the retail digitalization journey. Focal Systems has pioneered the application of computer vision to digitizing what products are available on-shelf or not in near real-time. Together, Pricer and Focal Systems will empower retailers to improve labor efficiency, reduce out-of-stocks, increase sales, and enhance shopper satisfaction like never before.

Enhancing the Shelf Edge Through Collaboration

By integrating Focal Systems’ AI-powered shelf vision cameras with Pricer’s leading electronic shelf label (ESL) platform, retailers will benefit from:

Real-Time Shelf Insights: Automated detection and alerting of out-of-stock or low items powering rapid replenishment and increased shopper satisfactionDynamic Task Automation: Streamlined workflows and prioritized tasks to improve operational efficiency for store staff.Patented Innovation: Camera-based out of stock detection and communication, flashing ESLs, alternate location communication.Seamless Integration: Standardized API connections that deliver out-of-the-box value, offering synchronized ESL flashes, messaging updates, and shelf-edge intelligence.

Together, Pricer and Focal Systems demonstrate that the combined offerings deliver measurable value for the retailers by enabling a fully digitalized shelf-edge ecosystem.

Strategic Collaboration for the Future of Retail

“We are proud to combine our leadership in ESL technology with Focal Systems’ AI-powered shelf vision,” said Chris Chalkitis, CDO at Pricer. “Both companies share a belief in the digitalization of the physical store. Pricer has been a pioneer in dynamic pricing and shelf-edge communication. With Focal Systems, we take the next step, digitizing what’s on the shelf – and what’s not – to drive greater efficiency and performance for retailers.”

Focal Systems’ AI technology transforms retail operations through real-time shelf monitoring and replenishment task optimization.

“Partnering with Pricer, a global leader with groundbreaking ESL technology and innovation, creates tremendous value for retailers,” said Kevin H. Johnson, CEO at Focal Systems. “Together, we deliver an integrated, data-driven solution that reduces operational complexity, automates workflows, and enhances the in-store experience. We look forward to demonstrating this powerful collaboration to retailers and their customers.”

Showcasing the Future at NRF 2025

The collaboration will officially debut at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show in January 2025, where Pricer and Focal Systems will showcase the integrated solution at Pricer’s booth. This marks the beginning of an exciting journey to redefine the shelf edge and set new standards for retail innovation.

For further information, please contact:
Chris Chalkitis, Chief Digital Officer, +46 70 4849812
Finn Wikander, Chief Product Officer, +46 705 233077
info@pricer.com

About Pricer

Pricer is a leading global provider of digital shelf-edge solutions, helping retailers optimize pricing, improve operational efficiency, and enhance the customer experience. With patented innovations like camera-based product identification by ESL, Pricer continues to set the standard for dynamic, intelligent shelf-edge solutions. For more information, visit www.pricer.com.

About Focal Systems

Focal Systems is a leading provider of AI-powered computer vision solutions, helping retailers automate operations and optimize product availability through real-time shelf monitoring. Its advanced technology delivers actionable insights that drive efficiency and profitability. For more information, visit www.focal.systems.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/pricer/r/pricer-and-focal-systems-announce-strategic-collaboration-to-drive-the-next-step-in-physical-store-d,c4090287

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Blue Owl Capital Expands Tennis Player Sponsorship to All Grand Slam Tournaments in 2025

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Blue Owl to place logo patches on dozens of athletes competing across the Australian Open,
French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open

Jordan Thompson named as Blue Owl’s dedicated athlete ambassador for the Australian Open

NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Blue Owl Capital Inc. (“Blue Owl”) (NYSE: OWL), a leading alternative asset manager, announced today a marquee sponsorship agreement to expand their presence at all Grand Slam tournaments in 2025 and become the exclusive financial services partner for professional tennis’ Player Patch Program.

Blue Owl’s logo will be featured on the shirt of select players competing across men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles competitions at this year’s Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open tournaments. In addition to Blue Owl’s presence on the courts, the firm will be featured in iconic Melbourne transit hubs, social media and digital media during the Australian Open in an effort to raise brand awareness within the country and the broader APAC market.

Blue Owl Chief Marketing Officer Suzanne Escousse said, “Just as Blue Owl is redefining alternative investing, we are supporting established and emerging professional players who are redefining the game of tennis. Tennis is a truly worldwide sport requiring peak performance in critical, high-pressure moments. This is the same ethos that underpins Blue Owl and allows us to focus on delivering results for our international client base. Following the success of our involvement with the Patch Program at the 2024 US Open, and given Blue Owl’s established presence within the country, Australia is the perfect place to kick off our presence across Grand Slam tournaments.”

Blue Owl has also partnered with Australian tennis professional Jordan Thompson, who will serve as the firm’s Athlete Ambassador at the 2025 Australian Open – January 12-26 in Melbourne. Most recently, Thompson won the men’s doubles at the 2024 US Open, where he was wearing a Blue Owl patch, and was a men’s doubles finalist at Wimbledon in 2024. He has also registered victories over several top-10-ranked opponents in singles competitions and previously represented Australia at the Olympics and the Davis Cup. Thompson will be one of several competitors wearing Blue Owl’s logo throughout the tournament.

Jordan Thompson said: “Blue Owl is focused on delivering excellence for its clients, which makes it a great fit for a partnership with professional tennis players. Support from firms like Blue Owl is tremendously beneficial for players who are preparing for career-defining events, especially the four Grand Slams. Our shared core values, including striving for success in every step of our journeys, whether that be in the financial services industry or competing as a professional athlete, is a perfect match. Alongside my coaches, my doubles teammate(s) and tennis fans, Blue Owl will play a key role for me here in Melbourne at the 2025 Australian Open.”

About Blue Owl

Blue Owl (NYSE: OWL) is a leading asset manager that is redefining alternatives.

With $235 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2024, we invest across three multi-strategy platforms: Credit, GP Strategic Capital, and Real Estate. Anchored by a strong permanent capital base, we provide businesses with private capital solutions to drive long-term growth and offer institutional investors, individual investors, and insurance companies differentiated alternative investment opportunities that aim to deliver strong performance, risk-adjusted returns, and capital preservation.

Together with over 1,050 experienced professionals, Blue Owl brings the vision and discipline to create the exceptional. To learn more, visit www.blueowl.com.

Media Contact

Nick Theccanat
Principal, Corporate Communications & Government Affairs
Nick.Theccanat@blueowl.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-owl-capital-expands-tennis-player-sponsorship-to-all-grand-slam-tournaments-in-2025-302348626.html

SOURCE Blue Owl Capital

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