Inclusion initiatives and automation pushes: February's biggest retail technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from February, including Ikea, Flying Tiger Copenhagen, Poundland, Circle K, Boden, Vinted, Officeworks, Deckers Brands, Collect&Go, and Ben Sherman.

Ikea

Ikea has announced the roll-out of new digital accessibility and inclusion initiatives.

This includes partnering with the Vantaa store in Finland to test out a live navigation tool to help blind and low vision customers. Additionally, the tool can help those who do not speak the local language by providing voiced directions in over 30 languages.

Ikea is also investing in an automated crawler to enhance accessibility checks across the company. This will complement the existing self-assessment guide and template that product teams already use, with the aim of ensuring more comprehensive and consistent accessibility improvements. 

Flying Tiger Copenhagen

Flying Tiger Copenhagen is launching a new app and customer club across 21 stores in Ireland. 

This is part of a global roll-out aimed at gaining deeper shopper insights and enhanced customer experiences.

It went live in late February and customers who sign up via the app will instantly receive discounts ranging from 10% to 20%, applicable to in-store purchases

Andre Filomeno, Senior Vice President for "Customer & Digital" at Flying Tiger Copenhagen, comments: "We have seen a successful launch of the app across the Nordics, Germany and England in 2024. The roll-out to Irish customers is the first market expansion of 2025, and we're delighted to introduce the app here, as Ireland holds significant importance for our business. This launch will enable shoppers in Ireland to access exclusive discounts and offers." 

The Flying Tiger Copenhagen Club is free to join and the app can be downloaded via the App Store and Google Play.

Collect&Go

Exotec has been selected by Collect&Go, Colruyt Group's online grocery service, to further automate one of its warehouses in Londerzeel, Belgium.

The installation of Exotec’s next generation of Skypod system will aid the Belgian firm with the ongoing optimisation of its online grocery picking process.

Collect&Go has more than 200 collection points throughout Belgium, reaching more than half of the country’s households. The Collect&Go service has been operating for 25 years.

Poundland

Motorola Solutions has announced deployment of its VT100 body cameras to employees across Poundland stores in the UK. Since a pilot, the retailer has reported a decrease in incidents, including an 11% drop in violence against store employees and a marked reduction in shoplifting and theft.

“A safer environment for frontline workers and shoppers alike underpins everything retailers do,” says Neil Thomas, Corporate Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Motorola Solutions. “The VT100 empowers in-store staff with the information they need to decisively protect their employees, customers, and stores.”

Poundland’s Security and Loss Prevention team also an objective record of events to help conduct investigations. Poundland is using Motorola Solutions’ VideoManager digital evidence management solution to prepare, store and process video data, including the ability to tag and match body camera videos with CCTV footage and other incident data.

Circle K

RELEX Solutions has expanded its collaboration with Circle K. RELEX Diagnostics will be implemented by the retailer to support the improvement of visibility into root causes of stockouts and increasing product availability.  

With over 4,800 stores operating under the Circle K brand in Europe, Circle K has a broad retail network offering fuel, electric vehicle charging stations, fresh food and beverages.

Since partnering with RELEX in 2016,  it has rolled out a unified set up for space planning and supply chain optimisation across its European business units. In addition to this, demand forecasting and replenishment will be implemented at Circle K and Couche-Tard in the US and Canada. 

With RELEX Diagnostics, Circle K will benefit from functionality that is integrated with the planning processes and offers detailed insights into the reasons for stockouts and spoilage. This includes root causing that spans end-to-end operations, indicating whether supplier performance is the main factor, for example, or if pack size is causing issues, or in-store balance corrections are affecting KPIs. 

With this information, RELEX can help Circle K understand the root causes and then focus on fixing those issues with the relevant parties. Circle K offers a variety of perishable and fast selling products, and with this added end-to-end visibility, it can take steps towards more precise management of inventory for improved KPIs. 

Vinted

PayTech firm Checkout.com has announced a partnership with Vinted, a European online marketplace for second hand fashion. 

A key component of the tie up is the former’s Intelligent Acceptance offering, which aims to deliver a boost in acceptance rates by applying bespoke AI optimisations tailored to Vinted’s specific traffic patterns.

This has reduced failed transactions, driving greater engagement on the platform. As a result, Vinted reports  a 4.15% overall acceptance rate uplift on payments processed by Checkout.com  in 2024.

The latter’s regulatory expertise and localised acquiring network across Europe have been critical in enabling Vinted to navigate complex market demands. The partnership ensures compliance with region specific regulations while supporting local currencies.

Modestas Tursa, VP Payments, at Vinted, says: “Delivering exceptional digital experiences is core to our mission of making second hand first choice, and our partnership with Checkout.com has been instrumental in helping us achieve that. Its powerful technology and deep expertise across European and UK markets allow us to scale confidently while achieving high performance payments and delivering the digital experience our users expect.”

Boden

Boden, a UK-based online apparel retailer, is leveraging First Insight’s AI powered decision intelligence to integrate real-time consumer demand signals into product, merchandising, and pricing strategies.

Through an expanded partnership with the company, Boden says it is ensuring that every design, pricing, and inventory decision is aligned with what consumers actually want, not just what past sales data suggests. Following an initial engagement, it is now deploying First Insight’s predictive analytics and proprietary Value Score across womenswear, swimwear, accessories, and childrenswear.

"Boden has always been about delivering fashion our customers love - bold, joyful designs that make them feel great," says Katherine Danneberg Mattey, Chief Commercial Officer at Boden. "But getting it right every time isn’t easy. First Insight’s AI helps us truly think like our customers, ensuring every product, every price, and every decision aligns with what they really want. This partnership is helping us move faster, bet bigger on winners, and stay true to what makes us special."

Officeworks

Officeworks is expanding its retail media offering with the addition of digital screens in 170 of its stores in Australia.

The roll-out follows a trial in key stores and builds on an offering which offers the opportunity for partners to access a range of owned and paid media advertising. Officeworks’ screen network will display a combination of branded and supplier content on new digital screens positioned throughout the store.

Officeworks General Manager of Customer and Online Jessica Richmond says: “Reflecting our commitment to making bigger things happen, this evolution of our retail media network will provide our customers with an improved in-store experience and give brand partners the opportunity to connect with them at scale. We’ve seen a strong response from supplier to our current retail media offering so we're excited to now give them and new brand partners access to digital screens across our store network nationally."

reo, powered by oOh!media will deliver and manage the in-store screen network, including hardware, software and services, under a multi-year agreement. 

CAPRI GROUP

Nedap has been chosen by CAPRI GROUP to deploy iD Cloud for its brands Alcott and Gutteridge. The roll-out will encompass all stores across Italy, as well as Austria, Germany, Spain, Greece, Armenia, and UAE.

Marco Buono, COO at CAPRI GROUP, says: "RFID will enable us to achieve our strategic objectives of improving the overall customer experience at all stages of the buying process.”

“In such a competitive and volatile environment, reliable information is always crucial to meet our international growth objectives. Having the security of being accompanied by a partner with the experience and capabilities of Nedap in the fashion industry gave us full confidence that we were in the best hands to help us realise our full potential."

With the initial phase focusing on optimising in-store operations and customer experience, CAPRI GROUP plans to expand the iD Cloud implementation to loss prevention and supply chain solutions.

Deckers Brands

Legion Technologies is working with Deckers Brands, parent company of UGG, Koolaburra, HOKA, Teva, and AHNU, to better align the retailer’s workforce management with the evolving needs of its business.

By promoting data driven decision-making, automating key administrative tasks, and enabling flexible scheduling, the Legion WFM Platform is designed to enable Deckers Brands to improve its labour operations while simultaneously boosting employee satisfaction across its retail locations worldwide.

It supports efforts to streamline workforce compliance by helping managers navigate local requirements and jurisdiction specific scheduling insights.

The solution, built on the Legion AI framework, supports more than 70 workforce management use cases, including scheduling, demand forecasting, compliance, and frontline communications.

Osprey London

Osprey London, a British brand known for its leather bags and accessories, is working with Sitoo, a cloud native PoS and unified commerce platform.

In a LinkedIn post, Sitoo said: "Reimagining British premium, Osprey London's digital transformation over the past year has been designed to support future growth. Today, we’re proud to collaborate in creating a seamless shopping experience for their customers - an immersive destination where heritage meets innovation, blending timeless elegance with playful energy for an authentic brand experience."

"We warmly welcome the team to the Sitoo family and look forward to a successful partnership built on innovation and shared achievements. It’s a privilege to be part of their journey."

Ben Sherman

Customer data and experience platform Ometria has added Ben Sherman as a customer.

The company says: “British brands don't get much more iconic than this. For over 60 years, the Ben Sherman shirt and brand have been a mainstay of youth culture; from the mods of the 50s to the Britpop stars of the 90s.”

“To continue cementing their fashion legacy, they needed a partner that would help them unify their data and, consequently, gain a full understanding of their customers.”

"Partnering with Ometria will give us a deeper and clearer understanding of our customers than we've ever had. We're excited to explore the entire customer journey, pinpoint different customer segments and their behaviours, and ultimately create personalised experiences that boost growth and loyalty,” says Steven Moriarty, Head of CRM and Insight at Ben Sherman.