Individuality matters in a digital world: last week’s biggest technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, launches, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Including VenHub, Weis Markets, VoCoVo, River Island, Shopify, Tryzens, Waitrose, Glory, Currys, Jellyfish, Blaze Pizza, Landsec, Fanatics, and The Sole Supplier.

VenHub

VenHub Global has announced that it will demonstrate a fully operational smart store at CES 2026, taking place on 6th-9th January in Las Vegas.

CES attendees will be able to experience the company’s unattended retail solution firsthand at booth #8863 in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, where a complete 24’ x 10’ x 10’ smart store will be live and open for real-time use.

Visitors will have the opportunity to browse and purchase from hundreds of products directly from their smartphones, and watch the automated fulfillment process in action.

“CES is where the future gets real,” says Shahan Ohanessian, Founder and CEO at VenHub. “We’re not coming to show slides or talk theory. We’re bringing a live, fully functioning smart store that people can use, touch, and experience for themselves. This is how retail should work today - always available, easy to use, and built to serve people wherever they are.”

Ohanessian adds: “What excites us most and demonstrates the power of our autonomous retail solution is watching people interact with the store for the first time. They see how simple it is, how clean the experience feels, and how quickly it delivers. That moment says everything about where retail is headed. We’re proud to bring that experience to CES and to share what our team has built.”

River Island

UK fashion retailer River Island is migrating to Shopify with the latter’s partner Tryzens Global.

Phase one of the project focuses on international operations, with Shopify at the core, with the aim of reducing complexity and unlocking growth quickly.

In a LinkedIn post, Deann Evans, Managing Director EMEA at Shopify, said: “Shopify + Tryzens is a powerful combination for enterprise brands ready to move beyond legacy platforms and grow internationally. It’s engineered for speed, governance, and outcomes, so retailers can spend less time wrestling systems and more time serving customers.”

She added: “For multi‑market retailers, this is the blueprint: de‑risked delivery, predictable timelines, and continuity for teams and customers. Congratulations to the River Island, Tryzens, and Shopify teams on this next chapter. I can’t wait to see this come to life.”

Deichmann

fulfillmenttools has landed a deal to support Deichmann in streamlining its order processing across different channels.

The company’s platform connects and manages the retailer’s inventory and order management across several countries, online shops, physical stores, and marketplaces.

“We need a system that unifies our inventory management and ensures that customers always have accurate information regarding delivery and availability. At the same time, it must enable us to fulfill orders efficiently. With fulfillmenttools’ order management system, we’ve found the right solution,” says Deichmann CIO Severin Canisius.

Southern Co-op

​​​Southern Co-op has launched a new partnership with Deliveroo across 139 stores, bringing its products direct to doors across the South of England.

Customers within a 2km radius of the participating stores, including Guildford, Wimbledon, and Winchester, will be able to choose from up to 6,500 product lines, from everyday essentials, through to specially selected locally sourced brands which are unique to each location. 

Once customers place an order through the Deliveroo app, products are picked and packed by Southern Co-op colleagues before being delivered by Deliveroo’s network of riders in as little as 20 minutes.  

Weis Markets

US retailer Weis Markets is set to implement VoCoVo’s voice technology following a pilot.

The roll-out will equip associates in stores across Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, and Virginia with VoCoVo's Series 5 Pro Headsets, call points, and keypads.

Associates can make and receive calls directly from their headsets, while call points and keypads streamline communication at service counters and registers.

"Our store teams are looking forward to using VoCoVo's technology, which will help them enhance customer experience," says Greg Zeh, Weis Markets Chief Information Officer/Senior Vice President. "This investment helps our teams collaborate in real time, which make our stores more efficient, connected, and responsive to customer needs."

e.l.f. Beauty

e.l.f. Beauty has announced the launch of Glow Up!, a makeup game and immersive beauty experience on Roblox.

Designed for players 13+ in collaboration with eGen and Exclusible, Glow Up! includes a livestreaming option and launches with four characters that champion women in sports, business, music, and gaming.

The livestream mode enables players to interact with each other’s creations based on theme fit, creativity, and overall vibes, with the aim of encouraging friendly competition and community engagement.

“Our community doesn’t want to be marketed to - they want to be invited in to play, create, and express themselves,” says Patrick O’Keefe, Chief Integrated Marketing Officer at e.l.f. Beauty.

“With Glow Up!, we build an experience rooted in co-creation and belonging to support the majority of gamers who use character personalisation to reflect who they are and what they stand for. Self-expression isn't a feature - it's essential.”

The Salvation Army

ZigZag has partnered with The Salvation Army in a bid to help divert more unwanted clothing from disposal. The Donate by Post initiative will supply consumers with a returns portal that routes unwanted goods to The Salvation Army via post.

The scheme aims to raise awareness about the ease and impact of donating pre-loved clothing and accessories through a postal donation service.

Donate by Post uses InPost lockers to deposit charitable donations. There are over 17,000 lockers across the country.

Al Gerrie, CEO at ZigZag, says: “Most people would love to see their unwanted items go to a good home or recycled. However, the uplifting willingness to donate can pose its own challenges to charities, particularly in managing the often unpredictable surges heading back to their brick-and-mortar stores. It can also be difficult for retailers to easily get involved.”

“Our smart portal will provide digital visibility for charities whilst providing a barrier free route for retailers to help facilitate hassle free donations from the public and championing more eco-friendly practices.”

“ZigZag’s technology and returns expertise paired with the Salvation Army’s unparalleled commitment to social improvement will significantly improve the efficiency of donations, giving products a new lease of life. All profits will allow The Salvation Army to continue doing the fantastic work they do supporting the community.”

The Sole Supplier

The Sole Supplier has selected Ocula Technologies to power product catalogue discoverability.

In a LinkedIn post, Thomas McKenna, CEO at Ocula Technologies, said: “Managing a catalogue with this velocity of "new drops" requires more than just standard product copy and data - it requires enterprise grade content engineered for the new wave of search (Google SGE, Perplexity, ChatGPT etc.”

He added: “A huge thank you to Maya Traykova (Chief Product Officer) for bringing us into the fold and recognising the opportunity to automate high performance product content at scale. We are now working closely with Jamie Hyam (Product Manager) to deploy across the platform.”

Hyam commented: "Ensuring our community can effortlessly find the latest drops and shop our range has never been more important. Partnerships like Ocula help us remain AI enabled and agile in this area, ensuring our product data works as hard as our team does."

PLUS

Dutch co-operative supermarket chain PLUS has signed an approximately 140 MSEK agreement with Pricer to upgrade 265 of the retailer’s stores with new electronic shelf labels (ESL). The roll-out is planned for 100 stores during 2026 and 165 during 2027.

Since an agreement was agreed in 2020, it has equipped 440 locations with Pricer’s solution based on the store operation platform Pricer Plaza and ESLs, with the aim of increasing the efficiency of several in-store processes, such as supporting in-store picking of online orders, as well as optimising the processes for inventory and stock management.

“This agreement is a testament to our collaborative partnership with PLUS. By transforming aisles into digital gateways, we are transcending the physical shelf to provide the transparency and choice shoppers demand, ensuring they always find exactly what they need, when they need it,” says Kajsa Blixth, Chief Commercial Officer at Pricer.

DRESSX

DRESSX, a specialist in avatar fashion and AI styling technologies, reports its first experience on Meta Horizon Worlds with the launch of DressX Fashion Rivals, a competitive styling experience available on both VR and mobile.

“Bringing DRESSX to Meta Horizon is a breakthrough moment for our company and for the evolution of digital fashion,” say Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova, DRESSX co-founders.

“Since founding the company, our vision has been to empower people to express themselves freely across virtual environments. With DressX Fashion Rivals, Meta Horizon gives us the scale, the tools, and the community to take digital fashion into an active cultural space where millions can dress, play, compete, and connect.”  

Players receive a themed prompt, build an outfit from a curated digital wardrobe, walk the runway with custom animations, and rate each other’s creations. 

“We are excited to introduce a new category of experience into Meta Horizon and to give millions of users a space where creativity is celebrated, individuality matters, and fashion becomes a medium for connection,” say Shapovalova and Modenova.

Yoti

Yoti has launched Digital ID Connect ID Checker, a free app that enables UK businesses to verify customers’ digital IDs when they use them to prove their age or in future identity.

This is pitched at businesses across retail, hospitality and other sectors as they prepare for forthcoming UK government legislative changes that will allow digital IDs to be used as proof of age when buying alcohol.

The new app lets businesses scan and verify a customer’s digital ID presented on a smartphone, checking that the digital ID is legitimate, valid and belongs to the customer. It is designed for businesses of all sizes, from independent shops to national chains.

Changes to the alcohol laws, expected in early 2026, mean businesses will legally only be able to accept digital IDs that are certified to the UK government’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF).

To support early adoption, the ID Checker app will be available free of charge to single location businesses, helping pubs, bars, retailers and other small enterprises verify age without adding extra costs enterprise versions will also be available for larger organisations and partners, offering reporting and APIs to enable integration with existing hardware and software.

Medi-Market Group

RELEX Solutions has been chosen by Medi-Market Group, a European health and well-being retailer, to advance forecasting and replenishment across its 200 stores and two distribution centres.

As the company has grown from Belgium and Luxembourg into Italy, and more recently into the Netherlands and Spain, it is taking the opportunity to modernise its planning processes to manage thousands of SKUs more efficiently. 

“Moving to RELEX will allow us to optimise control of our inventory and support exponential growth,” says Peter Bos, Director Supply Chain and CIO at Medi-Market Group. “Our priority is to balance strong in-store availability with responsible inventory investment. With RELEX, we expect quick wins in inventory capital reduction and improved availability that directly benefit our customers and store teams.” 

The tech will replace manual spreadsheet-based processes with automated, data driven forecasting and replenishment, providing visibility across Medi-Market’s supply chain and helping the company respond faster to changing customer demand.

Autogrill

Diebold Nixdorf and Autogrill, part of Avolta and a provider of food and beverage services for travellers, have expanded their partnership in Italy.

Acting as a single point of contact for Autogrill’s entire multivendor IT ecosystem in the country, Diebold Nixdorf will provide a suite of managed services and retail technology solutions.

Francesca Porta, Head of IT - Italy, Avolta, says: “Our mission is to ensure every traveller enjoys an outstanding, frictionless experience. Smooth and swift processes are essential for orders and payments in our travel sector's hospitality industry, which requires reliable technology that runs flawlessly.”

“By partnering with Diebold Nixdorf for their comprehensive expertise and advanced solutions, we are actively delivering on our promise to keep the traveler at the centre, providing an optimised service experience across our Italian restaurants.”

Blaze Pizza

Bikky, a customer data platform built for restaurants, has announced a partnership with Blaze Pizza, which currently has more than 275 restaurants across the US, Canada, and the Middle East.

Siloed data and an incomplete understanding of guest behaviour was making collaborative decision-making a challenge. “We had a lot of great partners on the tech stack side, but we didn’t have very good actionable data insights,” says Chief Marketing Officer, Casey Terrell. “We could pull information from lots of different places, but we couldn’t marry it together.”

Terrell had previous experience with Bikky, and felt a CDP was the only way to build a shared perspective rooted in real guest insights. “You cannot connect online and offline transactions to get a single view of your guests without a CDP,” he says.

Blaze Pizza is now leveraging Bikky across the organisation to build a unified view of guest behaviour and a data backed foundation for future decisions.

Waitrose

Glory reports that Waitrose has selected the company’s CI-100X solution to streamline and improve its back office cash management process in its stores across the UK.

Glory is installing 285 CI-100X back office cash recycling devices in the UK grocery retailer’s stores with the roll-out now underway. 

Mark McCallum, Senior Vice President EMEA, Managing Director UK & Ireland at Glory, says:  “We are very much looking forward to working closely with Waitrose as we install our CI-100X devices across their back office UK store network. The CI-100X will also be fully integrated with our Flooid1 cash office software solution.” 

“Waitrose is one of the most well known and loved retailers in the UK and we are hugely excited to play a part in helping to support their continued success.”  

Currys

Currys is partnering with digital marketing specialist, Jellyfish, as the electrical and technology retailer looks to make finding the right tech online easier for its customers.

The tie up will focus on upgrading Currys’ website search visibility across traditional and emerging AI powered platforms. Jellyfish will start by reviewing its current search performance, using its Share of Model tool, which looks at how visible ‘Currys’ is across search engines and emerging AI platforms.

It will then will launch a generative engine optimisation (GEO) programme. Jellyfish will also roll out its ‘One Search’ approach, which combines paid ads and organic listings. This will be supported by digital PR to further boost visibility.

“We know that customers are searching in more ways than ever before. We want to be there, showing up and being visible across all search platforms, whether that be the large language models like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, or the well established search engines like Google and Bing. Making it super easy to find the right tech for customers is our key focus at Currys,” says Chris Holyland, Digital Director at Currys.

“That’s why we’re partnering with Jellyfish, to deliver stronger visibility wherever our customers choose to search and shop. It’s all part of our bid to embrace the changing landscape of generative engine optimisation and agentic commerce, and ultimately help everyone enjoy amazing technology. I’m excited to see the benefits our partnership will bring to our customers and Currys.”

River Island

Fashion retailer River Island has selected Akeneo Product Cloud as its core PIM solution.

In a LinkedIn post, Andrew Simpson, Enterprise Account Executive at Akeneo, said: “We’re excited to partner with River Island, one of the UK’s leading fashion retail brands, as it embarks on a digital transformation project to modernise how it manages product data.”

“River Island came to us with a complex technology landscape. Multiple product masters, legacy workflows and a spreadsheet-based enrichment. By selecting Akeneo Product Cloud as the core PIM solution, it established one of the foundations for its e-commerce platform. Akeneo will serve as the central backbone powering structured product data and enabling efficient enrichment workflows.”

He concluded: “We look forward to supporting River Island through this transformation and driving smoother data operations, faster go to market, and powerful retail execution with product experience at the core.”

Landsec

Landsec has appointed Ocean Outdoor UK as its exclusive digital out of home (DOOH) media partner for Gunwharf Keys, a Portsmouth-based retail and leisure outlet centre.

Spanning 330,000 square feet, Gunwharf Keys ranks among the UK’s top three outlets, accommodating more than 90 brands with a 67% premium retail mix, including BOSS, Guess and Kurt Geiger. The centre attracts upwards of 7.3 million shoppers with a spend potential of £321 million (source: CACI 2025).

The first DOOH location is an external large format portrait screen measuring 5.76 metres x 3.84 metres which sits in an elevated position overlooking City Quay Square with uninterrupted views across the square and beyond. The space below is also available for experiential activations and brand sampling.

Proximity retailers are L’Occitane, Molton Brown, Nike, Boots, Le Creuset and Swarovski. The screen will deliver 290,000 impacts per fortnight (proxy number, source: ROUTE).

It launched on Monday with the Royal Navy’s 2025 Christmas advert, Silent Night: On the Frontline. The film draws directly on the experiences of HMS Diamond during her 2023 deployment in the Red Sea, using both recreated scenes and operational footage shot during a real drone interception.

Fanatics

Fanatics is to use Rokt’s AI powered e-commerce technology to surface highly relevant, exclusive content and offers to sports fans before and after checkout across its owned platforms including Fanatics.com, and team and league sites.

“Our focus remains on relentlessly enhancing the fan experience, and that includes constantly thinking of ways to make shopping with us more seamless and relevant,” says Michael Rubin, CEO at Fanatics..“Rokt’s technology will help us deliver on our promise to fans.”

“Fanatics has redefined what it means to deliver an exceptional fan experience,” says Bruce Buchanan, CEO at Rokt. “We’re thrilled to see Fanatics returning to the Rokt network, and we believe we’ll be able to help Fanatics unlock even greater relevance throughout the e-commerce journey , beginning with Rokt Thanks and Pay+.”

Damiani

Italian luxury jewellery brand Damiani has announced a partnership with XY Retail. The aim here is to unify store operations and client engagement on a single, cloud-based retail platform as it continues its international growth. 

Since launching the partnership in 2024, Damiani has gone live with XY Retail across boutiques in Italy, France, and the Middle East. The phased roll-out will continue across key markets in Asia-Pacific (Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong) and Europe/Americas (Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Albania).

By implementing XY Retail’s PoS and retail operating system (Retail OS), Damiani gains real-time visibility and centralised control across its global network, while preserving its boutique experience in every location. 

Arsenal FC

Deel has announced a multi-year partnership with Arsenal, becoming the English football club's official HR platform partner. 

The agreement marks Deel’s first major venture into world sport and reflects the company’s ambition to grow its global presence. Its branding will appear across Emirates Stadium and Arsenal’s digital channels, including all home fixtures across the Premier League, Women’s Super League (WSL), FA Cup and League Cup.

Through the partnership, Arsenal will use Deel’s HR platform to streamline the management of its workforce and operations.