Stranger Things pops up on the high street: our most read retail technology articles from last week
Check out our most clicked retail technology articles from last week, including Nestlé, SAP, M&S, TCS, Whatnot, Reckon.ai, Tesco, and the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Nestlé claims SAP first with digital upgrade enabling AI and automation deployment at scale
Nestlé has completed the first part of an overhaul of its global digital core with what is pitched as the world's largest ever SAP upgrade to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private edition.
It says that this will enable the deployment of AI at scale to achieve better insights as well as the automation and improvement of processes across the company's business operations.
It includes embedding SAP's AI copilot directly into Nestlé's core business systems to help employees access insights, automate routine tasks, and make faster, more informed decisions. This will help Nestlé better respond to changing consumer trends and retailer needs and improve efficiency in areas such as supply chain management, procurement, order fulfilment for retailers and investment prioritisation.
Anna Manz, Nestlé CFO and responsible for Integrated Business Services, says: "Driving growth through innovation is a top priority. We are transforming our business to invest more boldly in the best opportunities. We need to combine great consumer insights and innovation with flexibility and scale, to provide great quality products to consumers around the world when, where and how they want them."
"This upgrade will help us build multi-year innovation pipelines, more agile production and digital-first marketing and sales platforms for areas like cold coffee, therapeutic pet food and modern cooking aids."
M&S ditches IT service desk tie up with TCS following high profile cyber attack on UK retailer
Marks and Spencer has called time on a contract with Tata Consultancy Services to run its IT service desk.
This closely follows on from the Indian provider conducting an internal investigation over being the origin of a cyber attack that hit the UK retailer’s systems at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds.
“TCS provides a number of technology and IT services for M&S and we value our partnership with the TCS team,” M&S said in a statement.
“Regarding the IT service desk contract specifically, as is usual process, we went to market to test for the most suitable product available, ran a thorough process and instructed a new provider this summer.”
“This process started in January and this change has no bearing on our wider TCS relationship,” it added.
TCS claimed that the termination and the cyber attack were “clearly unrelated”. M&S had followed a regular competitive procurement process initiated in January, and chose another service provider “much prior to the cyber incident in April”, it said in a statement.
2025 RTIH Innovation Awards winners announced, including Tesco, White Stuff, and EE
VoCoVo, Everseen, Sensei, Gander, Iceland, Olio, Trust Retail, East of England Co-op, Lekkerland SE, Poq, Mamas & Papas, Varner, Sitoo, and Zebra Technologies were among the winners last month at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, sponsored by Vista Technology Support, STRATACACHE, VenHub, 3D Cloud, EdTech Innovation Hub, and Retail Technology Show.
We received a record number of entries this year and many fantastic examples of the continued resilience and dynamism of the retail space during hugely challenging times.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC in Central London and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our 2025 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended last night’s gathering.
2025 RTIH Innovation Awards winners announced. Congrats to our winners including @poqcommerce @LiveRamp @Nextail_co @currys @hanshowofficial and thanks to our sponsors, judges, event attendees and the legend that is @tiffstevenson for hosting #RTIHAwards25 https://t.co/YtWksWh6NE
— Retail Technology Innovation Hub (@RTIH_RetailTech) October 17, 2025
Whatnot bags Series F funding co-led by DST Global and CapitalG as its valuation hits $11.5 billion
Whatnot, a live shopping platform in the US, UK, and Europe, has secured $225 million in Series F funding, co-led by DST Global and CapitalG. New investors Sequoia Capital and Alkeon Capital joined the round, alongside returning backers Greycroft, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), avra, and BOND.
The company has raised approximately $968 million since its founding in 2019.
The new financing values it at $11.5 billion, more than double its valuation at the start of 2025.
“The conversation around live shopping has changed. We’re no longer asking if it will catch on. Whatnot is proving that live shopping is retail’s new normal,” says Grant LaFontaine, Co-founder and CEO at Whatnot.
“This funding represents both investor conviction and consumer confidence in our vision for the future of live commerce. With this capital, we will create more opportunities to help sellers build profitable businesses from their passions to delight buyers around the globe.”
Ana Pinto departs autonomous retail tech startup Reckon.ai, seeks new challenge
Ana Pinto has ended her time at Portugal-based unattended retail startup, Reckon.ai, where she served as CEO and Co-founder.
In a LinkedIn post, she said: “Wrapping up as CEO of Reckon.ai, it has been both the end of an incredible chapter and the start of new one. Over the past eight years, I've had the privilege of meeting and working with amazing people - great customers and partners who shared a vision, took risks together, and helped us turn ideas into something real.”
She added: “Since announcing my transition, seeing so many reach out with curiosity about what's next has been deeply humbling. For me, that curiosity is more than interest - it's a reflection of the trust, respect and genuine relationships built along the way that are beyond projects or contracts.”
“To me, that's the real measure of success: when people don't just care about what you did, but are excited to see and to be part of whatever I'll do next! For now, I am just taking time to reflect on ideas with a full heart and grateful.”
Pinto told RTIH that she will have no further involvement with Reckon.ai and will now be seeking new challenges.
Tesco adds new feature to Scan as you Shop solution as retailer's store shopping trip evolves
Tesco has launched a new feature for its customers on the UK grocery giant’s Scan as you Shop solution.
Here’s how it works: customers build an in-store shopping list on the Tesco app (find it on the in-store section). They head to the scanner wall and unlock their handset with a Clubcard in the Tesco app (no sign up required).
They then tap the List tab to see their shopping list and tick items off automatically as they scan. People can order it by aisle number and see stock levels for each item. The aim here is to help customers remember everything they came to buy and be more efficient with their route around the store, saving time and avoiding the frustration of forgetting that one thing they came in to get.
In a LinkedIn post, Nazma Ali, Head of Product at Tesco, said: “We have lots planned in this area so watch this space. Massive thanks to the brilliant teams across Product, Engineering, Data and Design, who helped bring this to life, and to all our list building customers for the feedback so far. Excited to see how our roadmap evolves in this part of the store shopping trip.”
Virgin Media O2 and Netflix bring Stranger Things to high street with in-store immersive pop-ups
Virgin Media O2 is teaming with Netflix for a Stranger Things immersive pop-up experience at eight O2 stores across the UK, including Edinburgh, Manchester and London, starting from now and running until January.
Visitors can step back into the 1980s through zones filled with nostalgic touchpoints - from posing on the famous Byers’ sofa beneath the alphabet wall to taking part in an interactive quiz that sees the room light up with every correct answer.
Fans can relive their favourite moments with a retro wall phone playing iconic lines, a boombox pumping out 80s hits, and test their gaming skills on Dig Dug. A themed coffee table will also feature a vintage viewfinder and calendar revealing key season five dates.
AI robotics moves beyond pilot and single site phase: last week’s biggest technology plays at a glance
Including Rohlik Group, Grubhub, Avride, Wonder, Instacart, Zalando, Amazon, Tesco, bol, Asda, Frasers Group, Shoprite Group, Ikea, and Krystal Restaurants.
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