2021 RTIH retail technology awards: shortlists at a glance

Shein, Walmart, Situ Live, Asda, Albertsons, Zalando, Farfetch, Tesco, and Starbucks are among the nominees at the 2021 RTIH Innovation Awards.

Now into their third year, the awards are sponsored by PMC, StoreSpace, Critizr, Marxent, QVALON and Selazar.

“PMC is delighted to again support the RTIH Innovation Awards as headline sponsor. These unique awards recognise achievements across a wide range of retailers and retail categories, from global players to startups,” says Simon Curtis, Sales and Marketing Director, PMC.

“Post-2020, innovation in retail is more critical than ever, with consumers looking for the same personalised, engaging and safe shopping experience in-store as they enjoy online.”

He adds: “Innovation and technology together play a critical role in the success of retailing and we look forward to recognising standout examples though these RTIH Awards.”

Shortlists as follows…

Category 1

Bricks and mortar innovation - Sponsored by StoreSpace

This award will go to a retailer enabling physical spaces to thrive via innovative technology, even as online shopping continues to grow. 

We’re looking for examples of reducing friction in the customer journey, offering improved experiences, and blurring the lines between channels.

Shortlist:

Asda

Choice Market/AiFi

Lifvs/Pricer

Situ Live

Sports Direct/inurface media

TeeGschwendner/Snabble

Category 2

Supply chain innovation 

This award highlights companies that are re-inventing and re-thinking retail supply chains via innovative advancements in technology.

Shortlist:

Detego

Food Rocket

MyFBAPrep

Metapack

Category 3

Payments innovation

This award recognises payment initiatives that are both innovative and customer and retailer friendly.

We’re looking to reward a project that has the potential to increase a retailer’s competitiveness and effectiveness, and to improve the shopper experience. Bonus points if the project could be considered a first in the market.

Shortlist:

ACI

Checkout.com

DailyPay

Divido

Epos Now

Gr4vy

KICKS/Avensia

SensePay

Category 4

Most innovative UK retailer - Sponsored by QVALON

Who has been the UK’s most innovative, customer focused retailer this year? 

Judges are asked to look at the tech deployments, pilots etc listed alongside each retailer and decide which one has been the most consistently forward thinking and customer centric in 2021. 

Shortlist:

Asda

Currys

Ted Baker

Sainsbury’s

Tesco

Category 5

Most innovative retailer (rest of world) - Sponsored by QVALON 

Who has been the most innovative, customer focused retailer (rest of world) this year?

Judges are asked to look at the tech deployments, pilots etc listed alongside each retailer and decide which one has been the most consistently forward thinking and customer centric in 2021. 

Shortlist:

Albertsons Companies

Amazon

Carrefour UAE

Kroger

Walmart

X5 Retail Group

Category 6

Most innovative pureplay - Sponsored by Selazar

Who has been the most innovative, customer focused pureplay this year? 

Judges are asked to look at the tech deployments, pilots etc listed alongside each retailer and decide which one has been the most consistently forward thinking and customer centric in 2021. 

Shortlist:

Asos

Farfetch

Shein

Shop.com

Zalando

Category 7

Technology vendor of the year (UK)

This category celebrates companies that have developed innovative technologies and worked with retailers to transform the customer experience or back-end operations or both.

Shortlist:

Clekt

Edgify

Go Instore  

Jisp

Mention Me

Peak

Personify XP

Salazar

Category 8

Technology vendor of the year (Rest of World)

This category celebrates companies that have developed innovative technologies and worked with retailers to transform the customer experience or back-end operations or both.

Shortlist:

Bambuser

BigCommerce

FindMine

NewStore

Perfect Corp.

Quicklizard

Standard AI

Zakeke

Category 9

Startup of the year

This award will recognise the startup with the most innovative technology offering and the company which is best placed to succeed in the long-term (management, funding, the retailers it is working with etc).

Shortlist:

Confer With

Halla

Imagr

Noumi

ORQUEST

Pairzon

Treet

Trigo

Category 10

Best coronavirus innovation - Sponsored by Critizr

The pandemic has had a major impact on the way that we shop and the way that retailers operate.

This award will go to the company who has best turned to technology to solve the challenges presented by the Covid-19 era, improving in-store and/or online experiences for both staff and customers.

Shortlist:

Burger King/Qvalon

Halla

Red Ant

Scantranx

Sunspel/Sitoo

Uberall/Okaïdi

Category 11

Technology implementation of the year (UK)

This award recognises UK retail technology project excellence, both in delivery and outcomes.

Implementation should have been completed between November 2020 and November 2021.

Judges will be looking for clear project objectives, effective and innovative implementation and tangible and demonstrable results.

Shortlist:

B&Q/Marxent

Clarks/Wunderkind

Jigsaw/Clekt

L.K. Bennett/Retail247

Sofology/Hullabalook

Sports Direct/inurface media 

Category 12

Technology implementation of the year (rest of world)

This award recognises rest of world retail technology project excellence, both in delivery and outcomes.

Implementation should have been completed between November 2020 and November 2021.

Judges will be looking for clear project objectives, effective and innovative implementation and tangible and demonstrable results.

Shortlist:

Burger King Russia/Qvalon 

Gina Tricot/Sitoo

H20 Retailing/Imagr

Prada/Intelligence Node

Starbucks/Oracle

SUPERSPORTS/Mercaux

Category 13

Best Retailer/Technology Supplier Relationship (UK)

This award recognises a successful partnership between a UK retailer and a technology supplier, with an emphasis on the last 12 months and how said partnership has gone from strength to strength during that period.

Shortlist:

Boulevard/eDesk

Piglet in Bed/Wunderkind

Reiss/Retail247

Ribble/Go Instore

Seasalt/Klevu

Thought/Clekt

Category 14

Best Retailer/Technology Supplier Relationship (Rest of World)

This award recognises a successful partnership between a UK retailer and a technology supplier, with an emphasis on the last 12 months and how said partnership has gone from strength to strength during that period.

Shortlist:

Albertsons/Firework

Bealls and TruRating 

Decathlon/PAL Robotics

1822 Denim/3DLOOK

Schnucks/Simbe Robotics

The Kooples/Yoobic

Category 15

Overall Winner - Sponsored by QVALON

Our judging panel will pick the stand out entry from across the 14 aforementioned categories.

Category 16 - Sponsored by Marxent

RTIH Editor’s Choice Award

RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, will pick his stand out entry from across the 14 aforementioned categories.

What’s next?

We will now ask our judging panel to cast their votes and provide their feedback. The winner will be revealed on 8th December at a roundtable discussion/networking event in central London.

Our thanks to the following retail leaders for offering their assistance and expertise this year.

Mike Cadden, IT Director (Sales, Marketing and Customer Services), Office Depot 

Hayley Meenan-Wilkin, E-Commerce Manager, Fishpools

Martin Newman, Founder, The Customer First Group 

Paula Bobbett, E-Commerce Director, Boots UK

Tiffany Lung, Retail Analyst 

Nadine Neatrour, Marketing Director, Selfridges 

Simon Curtis, Sales and Marketing Director, PMC Retail 

Christine Russo, Digital and Physical Retail Consultant

Gerald Dawson, Business Consultant and Finance Director, The iOutlet and HANX

Sharon Peters, Head Of Technology - Marks and Spencer, HR, Finance, Corporate Services and M&S Bank 

Luke Phillips, Head of IT Delivery, Studio Retail

Matt Taylor, Technology Transformation Leader at EY, Retail and Consumer Products