Including Onvo, Temu, and Represent: last week’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, launches, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Including Rovertown, Lyft, Millesima, La Tua Pasta, Luckin Coffee, Stripe, Albertsons Companies, SheerID, Instinct Pet Food, Royal Mail, Sainsbury's, Southern Co-op, and Aptos.

Onvo

Onvo, a convenience store retailer with 41 locations across Pennsylvania and upstate New York, has announced the launch of a new mobile app.

"We’re committed to creating memorable experiences at every stop,” says Harman Aulakh, Vice President - Marketing at Onvo. “Launching this app is a significant step forward for our brand, amplifying our ability to reward loyal guests, strengthen our community ties, and deliver meaningful value to everyone who visits.

Introduced in 2020 as part of a rebranding of Liberty Travel Plazas, the Onvo brand has seen investment in store designs and proprietary food offerings. The new mobile app extends this into the digital realm.

Onvo Rewards, powered by Paytronix, enables guests to earn Hoots - Onvo’s loyalty currency - on fuel and in-store purchases, unlock personalised deals, and track and redeem rewards. The app also integrates PDI Age Verification, enabling targeted offers on age restricted items within a compliant, in-app experience.

Built on the Rovertown platform, it provides the flexibility to manage dynamic coupons, deliver targeted push notifications, and promote app exclusive offers. This May, Onvo will leverage the app to run a summer sweepstakes initiative, featuring prizes like a Caribbean cruise, sports tickets, and exclusive products. Additionally, through its partnership with Penn State Athletics, users gain exclusive offers and experiences tied to the Nittany Lions.

“Our guests choose Onvo for convenience, quality, and value,” says Aulakh. “This next-generation app is designed to reward their loyalty, enrich their visits, and deliver more moments of delight. It represents not just where we are today, but where we’re heading tomorrow.”

La Tua Pasta

La Tua Pasta has rolled out Podfather's logistics software.

Based in London, La Tua Pasta specialises in making fresh pasta to authentic Italian recipes, supplying hotels, independent restaurants, and caterers.

Operating a fleet of delivery vehicles, within the M25, it is using Podfather to plan and optimise routes, provide real-time tracking and notifications, and to capture detailed electronic proof of delivery (ePOD) evidence. Since implementing the system, it has reduced the time and resource required to manage the delivery operation and boosted service with a better flow of information to the customer.

“Before Podfather it could take a couple of hours, every day, to allocate deliveries to drivers and plan routes, and that was with an experienced driver who had been working with us for years,” comments Melinda Nagi, Transportation Logistics Manager at La Tua Pasta.

“Customer queries were also a time and resource intensive issue as, although we did have a system in place, we only captured a signature as proof of delivery and this information was difficult to access and almost impossible to share.” 

Chelsea Football Club

Chelsea Football Club has announced a partnership with FPT Corporation, a Vietnam-based technology solutions provider which specialises in supporting digital transformation journeys with AI enabled services and solutions.

Todd Kline, President of Commercial at Chelsea Football Club, says: "As we celebrate our 120th anniversary, we know our future will be shaped not only by our commitment to success on the pitch but by the transformation of our club using technology.”

“Vietnam has experienced significant growth in recent years and emerged as a global digital hub, thanks to the energy and spirit of its people. FPT’s expertise in core business systems, data intelligence, and AI makes them the perfect partner to propel Chelsea FC into this new era.”

Lyft

Lyft Media and StackAdapt have announced a programmatic in-app ad solution, enabling brands, agencies, and merchants to connect with millions of Lyft riders daily through hyper-localised, intent driven advertising. The partnership is powered by Kevel.

“Partnering with Lyft and Kevel opens an extraordinary advertising avenue for agencies to engage a mobile, diverse audience,” says Greg Joseph, VP of Inventory Development at StackAdapt. “Together, we’re transforming the local ad experience by connecting brands, agencies, merchants, and restaurants to consumers at meaningful points in their daily lives.”

“We’re thrilled to create new opportunities for brands to connect with riders seamlessly and in ways that elevate the ride experience,” says Shane Dwyer, Head of Sales, Lyft Media. “Lyft’s partnership with StackAdapt provides a unique way for programmatic buyers to reach consumers at key moments through strategic placements in the rider journey, delivering value for both riders and advertisers.”

With more than 40 million active riders per year, Lyft’s platform reaches a variety of audiences, including commuters, event goers, and travellers. Lyft Media’s digital offerings are available in the app across the US and include formats such as video and poster units, complemented by first-party targeting and measurement capabilities.

Temu

Temu has announced a partnership with PlentyONE, an e-commerce ERP software provider.

By integrating PlentyONE’s marketplace ecosystem, sellers on Temu can enhance their operational efficiency from inventory to order processing and unlock new opportunities as they grow internationally.

Merchants from PlentyONE’s ecosystem are also tapping into Temu’s marketing and logistics approach, benefit from competitive pricing led by streamlined supply chains, and expand their global presence with the support of Temu.

Uber Advertising and Instacart

Uber Advertising is set to leverage Instacart’s Carrot Ads solution in the US to help extend the reach of its Sponsored Items formats to CPG advertisers.

Beginning this month, CPG advertisers in the US will be able to reach millions of high intent grocery and retail marketplace customers on Uber Eats via the Carrot Ads solution.

Instacart’s Carrot Ads performance advertising capabilities will also enhance the user experience on the Uber Eats grocery and retail marketplace with increased discoverability of relevant products and brands.

“By enabling access to Uber Eats Sponsored Items in the US via Instacart’s Carrot Ads solution, we believe we can better meet the needs of more CPG brands - especially those making network buys,” says Travis Colvin, GM of Grocery & Retail at Uber Advertising.

“Our advertising team already works with many of the world’s largest brands directly, but we want to be there for brands of all sizes to help them easily reach our engaged audience in a way that suits them. For the US market, we believe this integration best achieves that goal.”

Albertsons Companies

SheerID has announced a partnership with Albertsons Companies, a food and drug retailer in the United States whose banners include Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME and Shaw's.

Albertsons Cos. stores are now offering SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme) customers a 50% discount on the FreshPass programme.

For $49 per year, SNAP recipients can get a range of benefits and exclusive perks at all Albertsons’ stores including free delivery on grocery orders over $30; additional savings on Albertsons Cos.’ O Organics and Open Nature brands; and points that don’t expire.

Weee!

Weee!, the largest ethnic e-grocer in the US, is now accepting SNAP/EBT benefits, formerly known as food stamps. This is made possible through a partnership with Forage, a USDA approved EBT payments processor.

For the one in eight Americans who rely on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme), access to familiar, culturally relevant ingredients can be a challenge. By integrating EBT payments, Weee! says it is ensuring that Asian and other diverse communities can shop for the foods that bring comfort and nourishment to their tables.

"Food is more than sustenance - it’s culture, tradition, and identity," says Larry Liu, Founder and CEO at Weee!. "By accepting SNAP, we’re reaffirming our commitment to making cultural discovery through food, accessible and affordable for all.”

Stadium

Swedish sporting goods retailer Stadium has partnered with PostNord TPL to tackle a major supply chain challenge.

In a LinkedIn post, PostNord TPL said: "Together with Stadium, we have developed a logistics solution for marketplace vendors, where TPL will handle and deliver the items to the end customer. In this way, vendors no longer need to have their own warehouses - a solution that is sustainable both economically and from an environmental perspective."

"For several years, we have had Stadium Connect, a marketplace where brands within sports and sports fashion have the opportunity to sell directly to the customer through our channels,” says Peter Carlson Hellqvist, Supply Chain Development Manager at Stadium.

“Over these years, we have received feedback from some brands that they struggle with shipping directly to the end customer and maintaining our delivery times. Through our partnership with PostNord TPL and their expertise in logistics, we have now solved this challenge.”

WHSmith North America

WHSmith North America has gone live with multiple SaaS-based solutions from Aptos to support improved inventory performance and data driven decision-making across its retail network.

As part of this initiative, WHSmith North America upgraded to the latest versions of Aptos’ Merchandising, Warehouse Management and Sales Audit solutions - and transitioned from on-premises to a cloud-based SaaS model. Additionally, it deployed Aptos Analytics to gain a comprehensive view of its enterprise wide data.

WHSmith is a travel retailer with more than 1,700 stores across 30 countries. In 2018, WHSmith acquired InMotion, the largest airport-based technology retailer in North America, and in 2019, it bought Marshall Retail Group (MRG), an American specialty retailer in the airport and casino resort marketplace. WHSmith North America, incorporating MRG and InMotion, now operates 340+ specialty retail stores located in airports and resorts across North America.

Millesima

Millesima, a fine and rare wine merchant, wants to accelerate its European development and strengthen its carrier network in Europe in 2025. To support this strategy, it has implemented the nShift delivery management and experience platform.

Since late 2024, Millesima has been working with nShift. It initially implemented nShift Ship to manage and optimise its shipping processes. This solution is accelerating Millesima’s European expansion by providing easy access to over 1 000 carriers in more than 190 countries. Millesima no longer has to identify and set-up carriers individually, saving money and time.

It was eager to improve the delivery experience further and implemented nShift Track to provide customers with branded, real-time tracking updates on their orders. With notifications at every stage of the delivery journey, Millesima customers will have complete visibility on their orders from warehouse to doorstep with a personalised experience befitting the quality and value of their orders.

François D'Hautefeuille, Head of Finance at Millesima, says: “Our customers count on us to deliver their orders – which can be high valued - in premium condition, regarding delay and service. We needed a solution with the carrier connections and customer experience capabilities to help us successfully engage new customers in new markets. nShift offers a platform and tools necessary to achieve this goal.”

Represent

British luxury streetwear brand Represent says that it has transformed its approach to customer retention since migrating its loyalty programme to LoyaltyLion, a platform for Shopify stores.

Since integrating with LoyaltyLion and launching its Prestige programme, it has seen:

• 19.6% of total revenue driven by loyalty programme members

• 4x higher lifetime value (LTV) from members compared to non-members

• 3.4x more orders from active Prestige programme members than non-members

• 79,000 new loyalty signups in 12 months

• 313,500 loyalty activities completed by programme members in the past year

Prestige offers tiered benefits, including early access to limited product drops and 20% discounts for top-tier members, fostering strong customer loyalty. This approach has significantly increased repeat purchase frequency and engagement, with members shopping 3.4 times more often than non-members.

George Heaton, Co-Founder at Represent, comments: “Our community is at the heart of everything we do, and LoyaltyLion has helped us take our loyalty programme to the next level. The Prestige Programme not only rewards our most engaged customers but also strengthens our brand’s connection with them. We’re prepared to sacrifice margin for really engaged, loyal customers because we know the lifetime value and frequency of purchase is unmatched.”

Instinct Pet Food

Demand Chain AI, a provider of supply chain and demand planning solutions, has announced a partnership with Instinct Pet Food, a specialist in raw, natural pet nutrition for dogs and cats, to enhance its sales and operations planning (S&OP) capabilities.

The tie up aims to optimise Instinct’s supply chain execution, enabling greater efficiency, agility, and reliability as the company grows.

"We are dedicated to delivering the highest quality raw nutrition to pets while maintaining operational excellence,” says Beau Mainous, CEO at Instinct Pet Food. “By partnering with Demand Chain AI, we are taking proactive steps to enhance our supply chain processes, allowing us to better serve our customers and support our long-term growth.”

Royal Mail and Sainsbury's

Royal Mail lockers are being installed outside Sainsbury's supermarkets across the UK. The first six are ready to go, and plans are afoot to grow this number quickly in the coming weeks and months.

In a LinkedIn post, Jack Clarkson, Group Strategy & Transformation Director at Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services (IDS), said: “If you live in Clapham, Desborough, Kempshott, Low Hall, Kidderminster or Chislehurst, go check them out. Thank you to the teams at Sainsbury's, and well done to the Royal Mail lockers team who are working tirelessly to drive forward our business. More partnership announcements very soon.”

The Sainsbury’s deal marks the first such agreement between Royal Mail and a UK supermarket.

Prices start from £1.55 online for a small parcel that fits through the letterbox. The lockers feature label printing. Customers need to pay for postage online and print the label by scanning a QR code at the locker or request a QR code if they are returning a purchase.

Patrick Dunne, Chief Property and Procurement Officer, Sainsbury’s, says: “We’re always looking for innovative ways to deliver the best value, quality and service for our customers. That’s why we're delighted to be partnering with Royal Mail to offer this fantastic new proposition at our stores. The lockers will be available seven days a week, giving customers an easy, convenient way to drop off and collect parcels via Royal Mail as they shop.”

Royal Mail launched its parcel locker network in December. It now has 1,500 lockers, compared with around 8,000 operated by InPost and 5,000 operated by Amazon in the UK.

Luckin Coffee

Stripe has announced a partnership with China’s Luckin Coffee to support its international expansion plans.

Luckin Coffee recognised the operational complexities of entering new markets and prioritised a streamlined payments strategy. Having built an online-to-offline (O2O) model in China’s mobile first payment environment, it needed to adapt to new consumer habits in Southeast Asia, where credit cards and a variety of digital wallets dominate. 

With Stripe’s support, Luckin Coffee says it completed its payment integration in just one month while delivering consistent user experience across Singapore and Malaysia. 

Additionally, Stripe’s localisation support ensures its ability to support a full suite of local payment methods, including credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, GrabPay, PayNow, and FPX. With the FinTech firm’s checkout optimisation tools, its Payment Elements system intelligently surfaces each user’s preferred payment method, while Link offers a one-click checkout experience for returning customers.

Stripe also provided Luckin Coffee with insights into local payment ecosystems, consumer behaviour, and regulatory requirements.

Ritter Sport

Ritter Sport has unveiled its first ever digital in-store activation across Tesco stores nationwide. Running until 22nd April, the initiative features POP digital screen displays in 155 locations.

This supports an ongoing Tesco Clubcard promotion across Ritter Sport’s full UK range, including its top performing Pistachio variant.

This off feature display is secondary to the main fixture, showcasing six key SKUs, spanning core variety promotions and dedicated nut focused offerings.

Among the highlighted flavours are Marzipan, Milk Whole and Dark Whole Hazelnut, and Rum Raisin.

Benedict Daniels, Managing Director at Ritter Sport UK, says: “This is another milestone moment for us in the UK. Our first nationwide in-store activation with Tesco allows us to better engage with shoppers at the point of purchase, and we’re eager to analyse the impact to inform future retail strategies. With dunnhumby data showing that 67% of our sales are incremental to the category, we’re excited to introduce even more consumers to the square and watch their love affair begin.”

GAIL’s Bakery

GAIL’s Bakery has partnered with Verkada, a specialist in cloud-based physical security, to streamline its security and operational processes across its more than 170 locations.

Led by Brett Parker, Property Director at GAIL’s Bakery, the business has deployed Verkada video security cameras, access control, and air quality sensors to enable remote management of its retail storefronts and bakeries, which not only protect critical assets and reduces security investigation times, but also improves employee safety and boosts operational efficiency and quality control.

"Verkada has been a game-changer for us," Parker says. "The ability to remotely monitor our bakeries, track food preparation, and investigate incidents has delivered tangible benefits."

Southern Co-op

Southern Co-op is leveraging WasteInsight from Retail Insight.

Southern Co-op is a regional co-operative with 195 stores in the South of England. It identified the need to optimise markdown processes to cut the volume of food going to landfill while also improving sell-through rates (STRs) on reduced to clear (RTC) produce.  

Southern Co-op was already implementing markdowns on fresh and ambient goods to reduce food waste from its store estate. However, this relied on traditional fixed price markdowns based on time of day, which did not account for factors like volume, weather, or intra-day sales profiles. It resulted in imbalances in STRs of short-life, RTC items, which in turn impacted customer availability, waste levels, and profitability.

It implemented the WasteInsight offering, tapping the solution’s dynamic markdown feature. The product uses cognitive driven technology to analyse a wide range of data points - from product type to seasonality - enabling grocers to calculate a product’s optimal discount price and markdown time to reduce waste while maximising STRs and minimising loss. 

By standardising and automating markdown processes, the solution now gives Southern Co-op more visibility into the impact of markdown decisions, allowing it to analyse and optimise markdowns. It also meant the retailer could track store compliance, ensuring markdowns were being carried out on time and to the correct price.