British retailer Next continues to deliver for investors: presenting the retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Including JYSK, Whole Foods Market, Retail Technology Show 2025, Morrisons, Lekkerland SE/REWE Group, Studenac market, Asos, AiFi, and Ikea.
1...AiFi has announced a partnership with Primm Valley Resorts to power the Star of the Desert Arena’s first cashierless store, Swipe & Go, in the Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino.
Affinity Gaming, which operates Primm Valley Resorts and Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino, has been working on refurbishments for two years with new slot machines, restaurants, etc. for both properties but was interested in developing additional amenities that lined up with both the customers' and staff’s needs.
It identified AiFi’s solution to simplify the checkout process and expedite the experience. The Swipe & Go store in the Star of the Desert Arena will be located as you enter the venue.
“We’re thrilled to launch our partnership with AiFi as we continue to implement technology driven services at the Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino,” says Steve Neely, Vice President and General Manager at Primm Valley Resorts. “Our goal is to consistently seek ways to enhance our offerings, and AiFi’s spatial intelligence will not only elevate the fan experience but also drive concession sales growth in the arena.”
The Star of the Desert Arena tested its Swipe & Go store with AiFi’s technology at a recent concert and says it outsold the four other standard concession stands combined sales. The resort and casino franchise hopes to expand AiFi into other stores within the arena this year based on the initial success so far.
Here are the people who made a splash in 2024 and are set for a barnstorming 2025.
RTIH has scoured the retail technology world to find the most influential figures for this comprehensive list of people and trends that shape the industry and help drive it forward.
We’re living in unprecedented times.
In a post-Covid world, we’re witnessing a seismic change in shopping habits. Retailers are taking innovative technologies like AR, AI, machine learning, and finding ways to use them to boost business efficiency and make customer experiences more exciting and dynamic.
Which is where the RTIH Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers List comes in, presented, we should stress, in no particular order.
Such disruption requires new ways of problem solving and thought leaders who can both evangelise and execute on the likes of digital transformation and omnichannel success.
We hope you enjoy reading through it and, as always, if you would like to give feedback or believe that there are some glaring omissions, please feel free to get in touch (a contact us form can be found at the end of this article).
Many thanks to 3D Cloud, which provides 3D product visualisation software trusted by top furniture and DIY retailers, for sponsoring the report.
£6.3 billion...Next reported this week that its full-year sales rose 8.2% to £6.3 billion. Underlying pre-tax profit climbed 10.1% higher to £1,011 million. Full-year guidance was upgraded, with underlying pretax profit of £1,066 million expected.
Aarin Chiekrie, Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: “Next continues to deliver for investors, with yet another profit upgrade continuing its hot streak. In 2024, online sales remained the driving force behind performance, helping to offset small declines in retail stores which have come under a bit of pressure given the structural decline of the high street. Overseas sales continue to grow at an eye-watering pace, up at double digit rates."
"Given the untapped size of foreign markets, there’s a big opportunity ahead if Next can execute its expansion plans well. Positive momentum has spilt into the new financial year, with sales over the first eight weeks coming in well ahead of expectations. That’s given management the confidence to upgrade full-year profit guidance yet again, expecting pre-tax profits to rise around 5.4%. There were some notes of caution though."
"Sales in the second half of last year were strong, making for a tough comparable period ahead. Tax rises in April are also expected to weaken the UK employment market and dampen consumer confidence as the year progresses. Regardless, cash generation is healthy and if overseas expansion continues, there could be a long runway of growth ahead.”
$25 million…Adyen reports that its Giving product has generated more than $25 million in donations, with brands around the world using the solution to let their customers support causes directly at checkout.
Since its launch in 2020, people have contributed via their favourite brands through 35 million individual micro-transactions. To mark this milestone, Adyen is matching all donations made through Giving through 2025.
“We turned checkout into a purpose driven touchpoint,” says Dominique Simons, Adyen’s Head of Impact. “By embedding donations directly into our payment infrastructure, we remove operational barriers so brands can focus on driving impact, while giving their customers a simple way to support the causes they care about.”
The solution now serves 150+ brands across 30 markets including Guess, H&M, Decathlon and Etsy, channelling funds to causes that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals through their nonprofit partner(s) of choice.
2...JYSK is entering the African market with the opening of two stores in Casablanca, Morocco on Thursday, 10th April.
Since opening its very first store in Denmark in 1979, the retailer has grown to more than 3,500 locations.
“Expansion is part of our DNA, and we are very excited to introduce JYSK and our great offers to customers in Morocco and to see how it will be received on this new continent,” says JYSK President and CEO, Rami Jensen.
JYSK is also opening a webshop, and by the end of the year, the number of physical locations is expected to increase to three. The first two will launch in Viva Park and Aeria Mall, located at opposite ends of Casablanca. In addition, from 10th April, customers will also be able to shop online at jysk.ma.
It will now be present in 50 countries. Of these 50, 29 are operated directly by the company, including Morocco, while the remaining 21 are operated by its franchise business.
21,800...Whole Foods Market has opened a new 21,800 square foot store located at 120 King’s Road, SW3, London marking an exciting expansion of the company’s presence in the United Kingdom.
“I am thrilled to open the doors of our first Whole Foods Market in the UK in more than ten years here on King’s Road, an iconic street and London destination that is continuously evolving,” says Bianca Rojas, Store Team Leader at Whole Foods Market.
“This store showcases the best of Whole Foods Market and what our customers have come to expect from our stores with fresh, high-quality foods, a strong focus on local producers, and innovative product discovery on every aisle. We can’t wait to welcome customers and bring a unique shopping experience to this neighbourhood.”
€50 million...Ikea has uunveiled its redesigned Soroksár store in Budapest, pitched as a major step in the retailer’s efforts to adapt its physical locations for an omnichannel world.
For the first time ever, it has merged the Market Hall and the Showroom into one floor, dedicating the other floor to online fulfilment.
The latter area brings under one roof automation and digital solutions that Ingka Group, the biggest Ikea retailer, has tested separately in different markets but not until now utilised together in one place. The result is its biggest fulfilment store in Europe, and the largest fulfilment store in the world by 2026.
The nearly Euro 50 million investment has doubled the store’s online sales capacity to almost a million orders a year, and aims to enhance in-person shopping and e-commerce fulfilment while ensuring a full product range remains available for customers.
“It’s really a different kind of experience if you’re going through the Soroksár store compared to any other Ikea store around the world. The shopping journey is shorter, more interactive and automated, and it still offers our customers the full Ikea experience - complete with our entire product range, expertise of our co-workers, and of course delicious food,” says David McCabe, Country Retail Manager & Chief Sustainability Officer at Ikea Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Features like the Rug Projector tool bring products to life, while digital kiosks and the Ikea app simplify browsing, in-store navigation, and post-purchase engagement.
€1.69 million...Ireland-based digital loyalty platform, SQUID, has closed a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube, raising €1.69 million, and exceeding its initial target of €1.15 million to €1.35 million. The campaign attracted 2,624 investors.
Investor breakdown:
Majority retail investors: 2,045 Irish investors participated, demonstrating strong local support.
Broad age distribution: The campaign saw 900 investors (33%) aged 18-30, followed by 778 investors (31-40) and 521 investors (41-50).
Balanced gender participation: 1,172 female investors, 1,443 male investors, and 66 identifying as other.
Most common investment range: 905 investors contributed between €101-€500.
The funds raised will be deployed to accelerate the roll-out of Wave, SQUID’s next-generation universal points system, designed to streamline loyalty rewards across its network of over 2,000 business clients in Ireland and the UK. Additionally, it will use the investment to further expand into new markets and enhance its marketing tools for small businesses.
40%...Greater consumer awareness of AI within retail isn’t translating into increased trust around the use of the technology, prompting shoppers to call for greater transparency and governance from retail businesses, according to the latest research from Retail Technology Show (RTS).
As consumers become increasingly well versed at interacting with AI in their personal lives, with Deloitte estimating that over 18 million people in the UK have now used GenAI technology, customers are becoming more cognisant of AI within their shopping journeys.
A survey of over 1,000 UK shoppers by RTS showed that 40% are now aware of retailers using AI when shopping, a rise of +13 percentage points compared to last year. This increases to 54% of Gen Z, rising sharply by +23 percentage points versus 2024, and 52% of Millennials (up from 41% last year) who are aware of retailers’ use of AI within their shopping experiences.
Yet, despite increasingly levels of personal adoption and knowledge retailers’ use of AI, this is not necessarily translating to greater levels of trust around the use of the technology, with shoppers becoming less trustful of AI compared to last year.
Now 48% remain mistrustful of brands’ use of AI – an increase of +9 percentage points year-on-year - and 72% say they are concerned about the use of their data when retailers use itI, jumping +10 percentage points compared to 2024. Meanwhile, 73% of consumers feel retailers must do more to build their trust about the use of AI within their shopping journeys, also up +4% year-on-year.
And this lack of trust is prompting consumers to demand greater levels of transparency and governance when retailers deploy AI. 84% want retailers to be transparent about using it within their buying experiences, a rise of +9 percentage points compared to last year, while 77% want retailers to spell out governance procedures around AI use, an increase of +6% compared to 2024.
52 and 17...Morrisons is to shut 52 cafes and 17 convenience stores. The grocery giant will also close meat and fish counters, pharmacies and market kitchens at some sites.
It plans to redirect cash to other parts of the business. The announcement comes after a similar move by Sainsbury’s and amid speculation Asda is going to compete with a wave of price cuts.
Susannah Streeter, Head of Money and Markets, Hargreaves Lansdown, says: ’Morrisons is on the defensive, as trolley wars threaten to break out in the supermarket sector. The supermarket chain is closing services seen as nice-to-have, but not essential, and scaling back its convenience footprint as it readies for a round of cost cutting from rivals."
"It comes after Asda’s new chair Allan Leighton boasted that he had a ‘war chest’ to spend on turning around the struggling grocer. At the same time, discounters Aldi and Lidl are already proving to be formidable competition. Morrison’s clearly wants to free up cash to be as value-focused as possible as an intense period of competition is forecast. It follows a similar move by Sainsbury’s earlier this year, as the grocer refocused on improving its core offerings and closed cafes and more counters to streamline the business."
"Shares in Sainsbury’s as well as listed rivals Tesco and Marks and Spencer are lower on the news. They had already lost significant ground, amid expectations that a price war in the aisles may affect profits, especially as it coincides with upcoming payroll increases.”
“For shoppers though, it’ll be welcome relief. They had been bracing for further rises to be passed on by the grocers later this year due to their higher tax burdens, so a price war may lighten the load for struggling families, particularly those lower income households, where the weekly shop makes up a significantly greater proportion of their incomes.’’
36,000...Croatian retailer Studenac market has provided an update on the status of construction of a new logistics and distribution centre in Velika Gorica, pitched as a key step in strengthening its supply chain.
On 36,000 square metres of warehouse space, with an investment of over €10 million, the aim here is to optimise distribution, improve logistics processes and create over 400 new jobs.
In a LinkedIn post, Studenac market said: "In addition to advanced digital solutions, we also focus on the energy efficiency of the building, so about 80% of the roof will be covered with solar panels. In this way, we continue to raise our logistics and distribution to the highest level of excellence."
"By mid-2026, we will operate as many as two completely new, technologically advanced, sustainable and environmentally efficient facilities. While the works in Velika Gorica are progressing, in the meantime, a contract has been signed for the new LDC Split in Dugopolje, which will cover 23 thousand square metres. Ready for the future - because growth never stops!"
1...Lekkerland SE/REWE Group has debuted its new train station kiosk concept at Cologne Central Station in Germany.
In a LinkedIn post, Michael Mayer-Sonnenburg, Vice President, REWE To Go Convenience Stores, said: “Who doesn't relates to this? The train is coming soon, but you should quickly take a coffee or a snack with you - preferably directly on the platform. This is exactly what our new concept makes possible.”
“Yesterday (20th March) we opened the first REWE To Go track kiosk on tracks 10/11. And that's just the beginning: In the next few weeks, four more kiosks will follow on the other platforms.”
These offer: Fresh baked goods and sandwiches; Bananas and apples for a healthy snack on the go; Coffee, from espresso to cappuccino; Cold soft drinks – non-alcoholic and alcoholic; Chewing gum, confectionery and tobacco products on the go.
£34 million...Online fast fashion big hitter Asos is eyeing a much improved start to 2025. The group has given a sneak peek into first-half trading ahead of its results on 24th April.
"Profitability looks set to improve significantly, albeit from a very low base. The group’s been working hard to clear excess inventory off its books and that’s starting to bear fruit in the form of less discounting and healthier profit margins. Alongside a tight grip on costs, underlying cash profit (EBITDA) looks set to land ahead of market expectations of £34 million in the first half," says Aarin Chiekrie, Equity Analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.
"Signs of progress have piqued some outside interest, and according to a regulatory filing late on Wednesday, Danish billionaire Povlsen - who is also the second largest shareholder in Zalando and owner of clothing chain Bestseller - upped his stake from 27.1% to just over 28%."
"Despite the positive momentum, investors should keep in mind that there are still plenty of challenges to navigate as Asos attempts to turn its fortunes around. Key metrics like active customer numbers were heading in the wrong direction at the last count. And there’s plenty of competition from the likes of Next, Shein and Temu which could put downward pressure on pricing and weigh on Asos’ ability to rebuild its profitability.”
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