2025 RTIH Innovation Awards ready to roll: these are our biggest retail technology articles on LinkedIn right now
We’re big fans of LinkedIn and are busy building an amazing community of retail tech enthusiasts on the social media platform. As we power towards the 25,000 followers mark, these are the articles that are currently on their radars, including Circle K, Quorso, Spur, Vinted, InPost, Boxbar Tech, Aldi UK, and SPAR.
Circle K announces roll out of Quorso Intelligent Management Platform across its European stores
Circle K is deploying Quorso Intelligent Management Platform technology across 12 European countries in 11 different languages.
“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Circle K to bring simpler, more effective operations to their teams," says Julian Mills, CEO at Quorso.
“Our partnership with them has broadened our ability to work on an international scale and localise the Quorso platform for users across many countries.”
Finn Legaard Kopart, Head of Operations Excellence Europe at Circle K, says: “Quorso’s store first approach, utilising data to support personalised actions, has received overwhelming support from our Store and Sales Market Managers."
"We’ve initially started on improving sales and cutting waste in our stores but are really excited by the flexibility to target every aspect of operations. Quorso will enable our ‘Fast, Friendly, and Customer Ready’ strategy by allowing our store teams to spend more time with customers and on the sales floor, knowing they are focusing on actions that will drive the most value.”
2025 RTIH Innovation Awards opens for entries, with winners announced at Central London event in October
The seventh edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards, sponsored by 3D Cloud, EdTech Innovation Hub, and Retail Technology Show, is now open for submissions.
The awards celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our latest winners will be revealed at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 16th October.
Key dates
Friday, 12th September: Award entry deadline
Tuesday, 16th September: 2025 finalists revealed
Wednesday, 17th September - Wednesday, 1st October: Judging days
Thursday, 16th October: Winners announced at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 16th October.
Spur raises $4.5 million from various investors to build out agentic AI solution for online retailers
Spur, which provides e-commerce retailers and travel booking platforms with AI powered quality testing that emulates real consumer shopping behaviour, has secured $4.5 million from investors including First Round, Pear VC, Neo, Conviction, Liquid2Ventures, and Predictive Venture Partners.
This takes the total raised to date to $4.625 million.
Other notable angel investors in the round include Mihika Kapoor, Director of Product @Figma, Shyamal Anadkat, Applied AI – OpenAI, Ayush Sood, Director of Eng at Figma, Matt MacInnis, Chief Operating Officer, Rippling, Arash Ferdowsi, Dropbox CEO, Kulveer Taggar, CEO at Zeus Living, and Sachith Gullapalli, Director of Engineering at Rippling.
Spur will use the cash to continue to build out its AI QA Engineer and hire for roles in applied AI, business ops and GTM.
“QA testing is the bane of existence for every single company,” says Sneha Sivakumar, Co-founder and CEO at Spur. “QA tools have never lived up to expectations, but Spur is leveraging AI fully to really make a big swing in the space.”
“We are already seeing massive success and ROI today with our clients - putting QA on complete autopilot, 10Xing release cycles and catching business critical bugs before hitting production, saving our customers millions of dollars. We are thrilled to work with this set of investors who have deep expertise in AI and QA and really understand and support our mission.”
InPost set to handle Vinted parcels in UK, Poland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Spain
InPost has inked an eight country, multi-year delivery contract with Vinted, which will will run through to the end of 2027 and will see the former handling the latter’s parcels across the UK, Poland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, including services through Vinted’s Mondial Relay unit.
Sellers of second-hand items on Vinted’s platform will be able to use InPost’s network of more than 82,000 lockers and PUDO points.
Rafał Brzoska, Founder and CEO at InPost, comments: "We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Vinted, demonstrating our ability to support the largest marketplaces and merchants across Europe with our extensive out-of-home delivery network.”
“This agreement underscores our commitment to providing reliable and more sustainable delivery solutions, and we look forward to contributing to Vinted’s continued success. This partnership is also a testament to our strategic vision of becoming the number one player in European logistics. Commercial wins, such as the contract with Vinted, are key to InPost's strategy and help us further strengthen international presence, including in the UK, where we recently elevated our business through the acquisition of Yodel."
Vytautas Atkočaitis, Vice President at Vinted Go, says: "We are excited to continue our collaboration with InPost and Mondial Relay across multiple European markets. This partnership aligns perfectly with our commitment to providing our users with efficient, affordable delivery solutions."
Aldi UK Chief Exec Giles Hurley reflects on big retail technology changes as firm crosses 1,000 stores mark
In a LinkedIn post, he said: "In 1990, we opened our first store in the UK with a simple idea: bring great value and quality to communities. There were no barcode scanners, no middle aisle, and certainly no Kevin the Carrot! Back then, our store managers wore white coats, and if you needed to update a price you reached for a pen and showcased your best handwriting."
Fast forward to today, and Aldi UK has grown to over 1,050 stores across Britain.
Hurley commented: "We've seen some big changes, like the debut of our now famous Specialbuys, and the shift from handwritten price cards to electronic shelf labels. But despite all of these innovations, the things that matter the most to us haven’t changed: amazing quality products, at simple everyday low prices - made possible by our incredible colleagues and supported by the loyal customers who’ve been with us every step of the way."
He concluded: "We’re incredibly proud to have been part of British communities for 35 years, and we believe everyone should have access to an Aldi store nearby. From our humble beginnings to our award winning products and middle aisle that’s become a national favourite, we’re still the same Aldi - committed to providing award winning quality at the lowest possible prices. Here’s to the next 35 years and beyond!"
Former The Range COO Glen Richardson joins RTIH AI in Retail Awards judging panel for 2025
PoundFun recently appointed Glen, former COO at The Range, as Non-Executive Director.
This coincided with the launch of a £2 million investment round, which aims to fuel expansion, create over 200 jobs in Keighley, and position the business for a projected £60 million valuation by 2027.
The company was created to provide affordable high quality toys from trusted brands amid rising costs. Offering over 800 items at £1 or less, including ranges from LEGO, Barbie, Marvel, and Disney, PoundFun has shipped more than 143,000 orders since launching in July 2023. It has grown to £3.9 million in sales, with no outside capital and a 32.18% repeat customer rate.
“We’re building the go to destination for value toys, where families can say yes more often without breaking the bank,” said Rob Owlett, CEO and Co-Founder at PoundFun. “Saying no all the time sucks, whether it’s to a birthday treat, a surprise gift, or just something fun. We make it possible to say yes to those little moments of joy. Glen coming onboard is massive; he’s scaled the big guys, and now he’s helping us build something really special.”
As COO at The Range, Glen led digital growth for the retailer, including e-commerce, fulfilment, customer experience and marketing. He also served as CMO at Fruugo, helping drive the global marketplace through exponential growth.
He said: “From the moment I saw what PoundFun are doing, I was hooked. It’s a brand built on heart, value, and serious commercial firepower. I’m thrilled to bring my experience to the board and help shape what will be one of the standout retail growth stories of the next few years.”
Another festival chooses Boxbar Tech as drum and bass focused Tribes Unite opts for self-serve bars
In a LinkedIn post, Boxbar Tech said: "We’re thrilled to announce that Tribes Unite festival, brought to you by the minds at JBM Music, has joined the Boxbar Tech revolution. We will be supporting the festival as it takes over The Milton Keynes National Bowl this summer with a huge automated, self-serve bar delivery featuring 54 points of sale and 108 serving taps."
It added: "With Pendulum (Live), Andy C, Wilkinson, Netsky, Friction, Dillinja and so many more on the billing this is going to be one of the drum and bass highlights of the summer - we can’t wait!"
Convenience retailer SPAR live with Bitcoin payments over Lightning Network in Switzerland store
Bitcoin payments are now accepted at SPAR stores in Switzerland, starting with Zug.
Customers can scan a QR code at the register, and complete their payment using Bitcoin over the Lightning Network - with fees said to be as low as $0.04.
This has gone live on BTC Map, a community driven project highlighting stores that accept Bitcoin payments, DFX Swiss, a crypto-to-fiat payment solution firm, announced last week.
“This SPAR location is among the first supermarkets in Switzerland where you can pay directly at the checkout using Bitcoin (via LNURL), thanks to our new Open Crypto Pay solution, an open P2P standard for in-person crypto payments,” DFX Swiss said.
There are currently over 13,900 SPAR branded stores in 48+ countries on four continents, serving around 14.7 million consumers every day.
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