Operations
06 May 2022
Unilever is testing on-demand ice cream delivery
The company's latest ice cream innovations explore instant delivery, and warmer freezers.

Robomart will deliver Ben & Jerry's. (Courtesy photo)
The company's latest ice cream innovations explore instant delivery, and warmer freezers.
Robomart will deliver Ben & Jerry's. (Courtesy photo)
Welcome to Near Future. In this weekly feature, The Current spotlights innovations powering the next wave of commerce.
When ecommerce successfully enables an item's fast journey from order to door, it can feel like magic. But for the humans making it all work, there are many problems to solve to get there.
One area that requires lots of innovation involves figuring out how to send items that don’t seem to be natural candidates for shipping and delivery.
Take frozen foods, like ice cream. Keeping the sweet treat cold during transport is the difference between a pint of joy and a melted mess.
However, one should never underestimate how much people love ice cream.
Ice cream ecommerce exists.
One of the companies at the forefront of this area is Unilever. The consumer goods company also happens to be the world’s largest ice cream company, per its own data, with brands in its freezer including Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Good Humor, Magnum and Talenti.
The company saw at-home ice cream sales rise 26% over the first months of the pandemic in 2020. And even before lockdown, Unilever was exploring new ways to get ice cream to doorsteps, from an instant delivery service called Ice Cream Now that piloted drone delivery service to a partnership with software company Deliverect that helped it connect with delivery platforms.
This summer, Unilever has a new way to bring the ice cream store to the doors of Los Angeles residents. It is partnering with Robomart, a store-hailing startup that sends a store on wheels to people’s homes, to deliver ice cream.
The companies will stand up a virtual storefront called The Ice Cream Shop on Robomart’s marketplace, where users can order ice cream via app. In turn, a fleet of ice cream-only Robomarts will be at the ready, available to deploy to a location when hailed. When one arrives, a customer swipes their app to open a van door. Then, they can pick out ice cream and walk away.
Think of it as a new version of the ice cream truck, minus the music.
“Putting a spin on the classic ice cream truck by bringing it to consumers on-demand, we have pioneered a new way for everyone to get their favorite ice cream treats in as little as two minutes,” Ali Ahmed, Robomart CEO and cofounder, said in a statement. “This rollout brings to life the original vision my cofounder and I had over a decade ago while working at Unilever to create ‘The Everywhere Store’ – the fastest and most accessible way to get all your essentials.”
Founded in 2017, Robomart launched in West Hollywood in 2021, and has a patent on “one-tap grocery ordering” technology. The ice cream Robomart will join pharmacy and snacks-focused mobile stores in the company's line. It says it is finding loyal customers, as users hail a store 2.3 times a week, on average.
The company said it has delivered items in as little as two minutes. It's an evolution of the quick commerce models popularized by Gopuff and Gorillas. Instead of sending one person out to deliver a few items, Robomart brings the store to its customers.
For Unilever, working with the startup on a pilot holds the promise of “making it even faster to get our beloved brands to our ice cream fans,” said Russel Lilly, general manager of North American ice cream at Unilever, in a statement. “What better way to shop for your favorite ice cream than just a few steps from your front door?”
By \u2018warming up\u2019 our ice cream freezer cabinets, we could use much less energy and reduce our carbon footprint. \n\nIt\u2019s part of our work towards net zero emissions by 2039. \n\nRead how we\u2019re testing this idea in Germany and Indonesia. \n\nhttps://www.unilever.com/news/press-and-media/press-releases/2022/unilever-warms-up-ice-cream-freezers-to-help-tackle-emissions/?utm_source=UT&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=OSM_AlwaysOn\u00a0\u2026\n\n#UniquelyUnileverpic.twitter.com/oXUNPCM6gT— Unilever (@Unilever) 1651829115
With a separate pilot initiative, Unilever is innovating with ice cream at the freezer level.
The company is set to explore how lowering ice cream freezer cabinet temperatures can reduce energy consumption.
It comes at a time when mitigating climate change is focal point of the operational plans at many companies. For its part, Unilever wants to get to zero emissions for its operations by 2030.
Freezers have a big environmental impact. Unilever said emissions from its retail ice cream freezers account for 10% of the company’s value chain greenhouse gas footprint.
Current industry standard calls for ice cream to be kept at -18°C (right around 0° Fahrenheit). The company is setting a target to raise the temperature to -12°C (about 10° Fahrenheit). Pilots in Germany and Indonesia will help to determine how to get there. If successful, the company plans to warm up its last-mile freezers through a phased-in approach.
"These pilots will provide valuable information on how much energy we can save and how our ice cream products perform in warmer freezers to ensure we deliver the same great-tasting ice cream,” Matt Close, president of ice cream at Unilever, said in a statement. “We’re actively seeking to collaborate with partners from across the ice cream and frozen food sectors to drive industry-wide change, so the collective positive impact is far greater.”
With the temperature a little higher, perhaps ice cream delivery will get a little easier, too.
Amazon partnered with Hexa to provide access to a platform that creates lifelike digital images.
A 3D rendering of a toaster from Hexa and Amazon. (Courtesy photo)
Amazon sellers will be able to offer a variety of 3D visualizations on product pages through a new set of immersive tools that are debuting on Tuesday.
Through an expanded partnership with Hexa, Amazon is providing access to a workflow that allows sellers to create 3D assets and display the following:
Selllers don't need prior experience with 3D or virtual reality to use the system, according to Hexa. Amazon selling partners can upload their Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) into Hexa’s content management system. Then, the system will automatically convert an image into a 3D model with AR compatibility. Amazon can then animate the images with 360-degree viewing and augmented reality, which renders digital imagery over a physical space.
Hexa’s platform uses AI to create digital twins of physical objects, including consumer goods. Over the last 24 months, Hexa worked alongside the spatial computing team at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the imaging team at Amazon.com to build the infrastructure that provides 3D assets for the thousands of sellers that work with Amazon.
“Working with Amazon has opened up a whole new distribution channel for our partners,” said Gavin Goodvach, Hexa’s Vice President of Partnerships.
Hexa’s platform is designed to create lifelike renderings that can explored in 3D, or overlaid into photos of the physical world. It allows assets from any category to be created, ranging from furniture to jewelry to apparel.
A Hexa 3D rendering (Courtesy photo)
The result is a system that allows sellers to provide a new level of personalization, said Hexa CEO Yehiel Atias. Consumers will have new opportunity see a product in a space, or what it looks like on their person.
Additionally, merchants can leverage these tools to optimize the entire funnel of a purchase. Advanced imagery allows more people to view and engage with a product during the initial shopping experience. Following the purchase, consumers who have gotten a better look at a product from all angles will be more likely to have confidence that the product matches their needs. In turn, this can reduce return rates.
While Amazon has previously introduced virtual try-on and augmented reality tools, this partnership aims to expand these capabilities beyond the name brands that often have 1P relationships with Amazon. Third-party sellers are an increasingly formidable segment of Amazon’s business, as they account for 60% of sales on the marketplace. Now, these sellers are being equipped with tools that enhance the shopping experience for everyone.
A video displaying the new capabilities is below. Amazon sellers can learn more about the platform here.
Hexa & Amazon - 3D Production Powerhousewww.youtube.com