2024 RTIH Innovation Awards judges assemble! Our biggest retail technology articles on LinkedIn this week
We’re big fans of LinkedIn and are busy building an amazing community of retail tech enthusiasts on the social media platform. As we head towards the 20,000 followers mark, these are the articles that are currently on their radars, including føtex, AiFi, Primark, Deliveroo, wilko, Autone, Retail Technology Show 2025, Asda, and The Co-op Media Network.
An expert line up: introducing our star studded judging panel for the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards
We have brought together a broad spectrum of independent experts, who have experience and insight into different aspects of the retail technology industry.
Our 2024 judges as follows:
Nina Mimica, Chief Innovation and Digitalisation Officer, Studenac market (pictured below)
Vineta Bajaj, Group CFO, Rohlik Group
Andy Baldauf, former Product Manager Digital Services - Total Store, Migros Supermarkt
Alan Dickson, Principal Technology Partner for Retail, BT/EE
Mike Cadden, Chief Technology Officer, Marie Curie
Peter Waugh, Director, International Digital (EMEA, LAC & AP), Starbucks
Carole Kingsbury, Chief Technology Officer, C&C Group
Christine Russo, Industry Analyst and Retail Influencer
Paula Bobbett, Chief Digital Officer, Boots
Natalie Berg, Retail Analyst and Founder of NBK Retail
Matt Bradley, Director and Founder, Retail Technology Show
Eugene Mischenko, Founder and President, E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association
Scott Thompson, Editor and Founder, Retail Technology Innovation Hub
Karanveer Anand, Technical Programme Management, Google
Toby Pickard, Retail Futures Senior Partner, IGD
Matt Taylor, Partner at EY, Technology Strategy and Transformation Leader
Leonid Gladilin, Partner, ECDMA (e-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association)
Gary Newbury, Supply Chain Advisor and Delivery Executive
Nadine Neatrour, Marketing Director, Selfridges
Further details on our 2024 judging panel can be found here.
All eyes on Aarhus, Denmark as retailer føtex opens its first autonomous store, powered by AiFI technology
Powered by AiFi technology, the checkout-free shopping location is open 24/7. This is the retailer’s first venture in to the autonomous stores space.
Customers check in with their payment card, take goods off the shelves and leave the store. Cameras in the ceiling register the purchase of goods.
Morten Møberg, Executive Vice President, Director at føtex, says: “There are already many customers who have stopped by during the "test week" and the store has received a lot of praise. There is a good reason for this.”
“The team has created a super store, and we can offer our customers a really wide selection with 1,500 items in just 120 sqm. But the most important thing of all is of course that it is super easy.”
Chryssi Soteriades, Strategic Account Manager at AiFi, says: “Honoured and thrilled to have brought this innovative project to life with føtex, Salling Group and AiFi technology. The Føtex Go store is now officially live to the public. Such a seamless 24/7 offering of shopping, pioneering in the region. Well done to the whole team.”
Primark notches up a self-service checkouts first in Portugal as retailer opens its 452nd store globally
Primark has opened a new store in Montijo, Portugal, its first in the country to feature self-service checkouts.
In a LinkedIn post, Stephen Regan, Group Board Executive at Primark, dated Friday, 11th October, said: “Wrapping up the week in a very special way by celebrating the opening of our brand new store in Montijo, Portugal. This is a very special moment for the Primark Portugal team as it's the first new store in the Portuguese market in seven years, the 11th store in Portugal, and the 452nd globally.”
“It's also the first Portuguese store to offer self-service checkouts and the first to open as part of our €40 million investment announcement in the market.”
He added: “I was delighted to visit the store yesterday and it looks amazing. I am sure our customers will love the modern aesthetic and the immersive shopping experience they will have in Montijo, which includes a distinct scent and curated soundtrack.”
“The team has done a fantastic job, so huge congratulations and a big well done to everyone who supported with this opening. An incredible achievement for everyone involved and our business. Best of luck to the Montijo team with their opening weekend!”
Deliveroo announces on-demand delivery partnership with UK home and garden retailer wilko
Deliveroo and wilko, a home and garden retailer, are teaming up to give customers access to delivery of the latter’s products directly to their doors in as little as 25 minutes.
As the 90-year-old retailer continues its return to the high street, following a collapse into administration last year, with new stores across the country, the tie up will see more than 3,000 products made available on the platform spanning garden, home, kitchen, DIY, cleaning, petcare and storage.
Initially launching across ten wilko hub locations this month - Edinburgh, Bristol, Nottingham, Bournemouth, Eccles, Manchester, Bedford, Harlow, Plymouth and Leeds - this will be the first time the retailer has offered an on-demand, rapid delivery service.
The partnership will be expanded to a further 50 locations across the country by the end of the year.
Retail Technology Show extends e-commerce content and connections tie up with Commerce Futures at RTS 2025
Retail Technology Show (RTS) is extending its partnership with Commerce Futures, an e-commerce event and networking specialist.
Having staged a one-day digital track takeover at RTS 2024, with sessions from e-commerce luminaries including CREED, All Saints, Snug and Raging Bull, Commerce Futures will take the helm of the Retail Futures stage across RTS 2025, set to take place at London ExCel (its home until this point being London Olympia) on 2nd-3rd April, doubling digital retail content at next year’s show.
Matt Bradley, Event Director at Retail Technology Show, comments: “Commerce Futures live and breathe e-commerce through their handpicked retail community. And that’s why they delivered such a knock-out track last year – and our show audiences just couldn’t get enough of it.”
“With demand for e-commerce content growing among our visitors, Commerce Futures are the perfect partner to deliver the highly curated, immersive levels of insight from the sharpest innovators in online trading, as we expand our focus on digital retail for RTS 2025.”
Paris and London based AI powered inventory platform Autone raises $17 million from General Catalyst
Autone, an AI powered platform helping retailers with inventory management, has raised a $17 million Series A funding round led by General Catalyst.
All existing investors from its seed round also reinvested in the Series A. This includes Speedinvest, YCombinator, Seedcamp, 2100VC, Motier, Financière Saint James, and business angels from LVMH, Sephora and Moncler.
The funding will be used to accelerate product development and continue Autone's expansion and hiring across the US and Europe.
CEO Adil Bouhdadi and CTO Harry Glucksmann-Cheslaw met at Alexander McQueen in 2016 where they created a data driven inventory decision platform..
Founded in 2021, Autone is used by more than 50 global brands like Courreges, Roberto Cavalli, Stussy, and Zadig & Voltaire to help them accurately forecast demand, accelerate sales, while minimising waste and cutting time spent on manual tasks.
The latest funding round takes the total raised by the company to more than $20 million and comes less than a year after its seed round.
The Co-op Media Network to deploy 300 new front of store digital media screens across its estate
The Co-op Media Network (CMN) is set to install 300 new front-of-store digital media screens to boost its retail media offering, taking the total number of screens to over 9,000 across its store estate.
In partnership with SMG, the move will expand CMN’s digital capabilities and enable FMCG brands to deepen their engagement across Co-op’s stores, which see over 16 million transactions each week.
The roll-out – in collaboration with installation partners, Commercial, and software partners, Grassfish – will see digital screens introduced to 300 of Co-op’s highest footfall, urban locations, including Greater London (12%), Greater Manchester (5%) and North Yorkshire (2.5%), with 24 stores planned to go live each week until January 2025.
This will take the total number of digital screens across Co-op’s 2,400 stores to over 9,300 – including its current kiosk and customer facing screens at manned tills – providing multiple opportunities for brands to work with CMN on their in-store campaigns, focusing on key missions such as food-to-go, food-for-later and treat occasions.
Matt Hood, Managing Director at Co-op Food, says: “We’re the experts in convenience, and given our unparalleled shopper footfall, we want brands that invest with us to realise that retail media spend in Co-op stores can yield significant results that can importantly be measured, with a consistent return on investment across the board."
Dobbie co-founder Daniel Rees slams ‘bad for business’ UK and heads Stateside to pursue American dream
Daniel Rees, co-founder of Dobbie, a startup pitched as an AI control centre for e-commerce businesses, has taken to social media to hit out at a ‘bad for business’ UK and praise the US which, he argues, leads in innovation and entrepreneurship with more startup accelerators and venture investment firms than anywhere else in the world.
In a LinkedIn post, dated 14th October, Rees said: “I am leaving the UK for good, and I think other entrepreneurs should too. I'm heading to the US embassy right now to get my O1 Visa stamped.”
In the UK, 39% capital gains tax is on the cards, he added (NB: this has yet to be confirmed by the recently elected Labour government).
“The 60% tax trap still hasn't been closed. The healthcare system sucks. Public transport is extortionate. The population actually chose to leave the EU...and in my experience it has the most anti-entrepreneur public attitude in the world,” Rees stated.
By contrast, the "American dream" is actually real.
“Tell someone in the US that you're starting a business and they'll cheer you on, help out, make introductions. Better yet, failure is viewed as a badge of honour! Nothing but lessons to take to the next venture. Florida and Texas have no state income tax and no capital gains tax. Health insurance is really affordable. The weather is better, and the people are just more ambitious.”
Virtualstock tapped as technology platform of choice by Asda to extend supermarket chain’s online product range
UK grocery giant, Asda, is working with Virtualstock as it extends its online product range, across multiple categories.
One of the first sellers to go live on george.com is Decathlon, which will be ranging a selection of sporting equipment, and more sellers are expected to be added in the coming weeks.
"Working with Virtualstock has enabled us to extend our range to customers by onboarding trusted brands such as Decathlon. This has given us the opportunity to appeal to a wider customer audience and grow our revenue," says Andrew Thompson, Senior Manager eCommerce Portfolio at Asda.
“We are delighted to have partnered with Asda. This is a continuation of an emerging trend to grow online sales through carefully selected partners to create a curated online extended range,” says Ed Bradley, CEO at Virtualstock.
Retail technology startup Wayvee Analytics bags $5 million in pre-seed funding as it emerges from stealth
Wayvee Analytics has emerged from stealth with $5 million in pre-seed funding led by Tetrad.vc.
By uniting radio frequency (RF) waves with proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, Wayvee’s technology anonymously analyses emotional responses based on physiological signals in real-time, evaluating customer satisfaction score (C-SAT) and key performance metrics for retailers.
After leading product development and launching several augmented reality (AR) campaigns for Shazam’s Eastern European division, CEO and founder Alex Ovcharov leveraged his neuroscience background in collaboration with developers and former CERN physicists to engineer an algorithm capable of detecting breathing rate and micro-movements using a standard WiFi router, ultimately leading to the development of a proprietary 4D radar device.
Wayvee not only measures C-SAT and other key engagement metrics instantly, it also identifies sources of dissatisfaction and offers actionable recommendations for improvement.
The technology analyses emotional responses based on physiological signals such as breathing, heart rate, and micro-movements, and directly correlates this data with customer satisfaction.
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