Walmart Unlimited gamified mini-series sees double: check out this week's coolest retail technology plays

RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail’ systems launches and deployments from the past week, including Oh Polly, Nibble, Unilever, Digimarc, Ikea, Mashgin, Debenhams, be Retail Social, Buzzfeed, Shopsense, Morrisons, Simbe, Sam's Club, Holland & Barrett, and Ridelogix.

Walmart

Walmart Unlimited, a new, gamified mini-series, has returned with a second chapter.

This made its debut earlier in the year, brought to you by Walmart, Unity and Spatial in collaboration with animators and producers Martian Blueberry and game development studio PIGIAMA KASAMA.

The first episode introduced characters inspired by Walmart’s real-life suppliers, including A Dozen Cousins founder Ibraheem Basir.

It’s the US retail giant’s latest attempt to tap immersive commerce - a form of online shopping that combines VR with 3D visualisations and gamification - to connect with the next generation of consumers.

Following Milo’s quest in episode one, players can now journey with Raya as she leaps through the portal to meet the powerful mentor Shaira and embarks on a mission to recover the vibrant pigment stones scattered across the enchanted Luna Magic Island.

Fans can help Raya become ‘Unlimited’ by collecting Luna Magic stones, unlocking Ancient Wisdom, breaking open Power Crates with her voice and discovering rare Sparks of Inspiration for major score boosts and hidden surprises.

For the first time, fans can purchase the Luna Magic ‘Goddess Palette’ exclusively in-game after collecting each pigment stone inspired by the collection, or explore the full episode two beauty collection in the Walmart Commerce Hub, featuring brands like like BLK/OPL, Body by TPH, The Lip Bar, and The Shop.

Episode three drops in May.

Oh Polly

Online fashion retailer Oh Polly has announced a new feature that lets customers haggle for lower prices with an AI chatbot named Nibble. 

One TikTok user shared her experience after successfully bargaining an extra 14% off her order. She purchased a dress originally priced at £175, marked down to £88 in a sale, and managed to get it further reduced to £76 through Nibble.

Her video gained over 41k views, sparking discussion in the comments. One user wrote: “This just proves the price shouldn't have been what it was to start with in the first place”. While another said: “I’ve just done this! Got the Jailene dress down to £98 from £150”. 

Skechers

Skechers has deployed Luna, an AI powered retail assistant created by We Are Social, at its new store in Punggol Coast Mall, Singapore.

Customers can converse with Luna through an interactive kiosk in-store or via Telegram, receiving real-time personalised style advice and product recommendations. Using real-time data from the conversation, Luna acts as a personal stylist, suggesting garments based on the customer’s current outfit or helping them piece together a look from the rack based on their preferences.

The month long activation celebrates Skechers’ new store opening in the heart of the Punggol Digital District.

Irene Lee, Senior General Manager, Skechers Singapore, says: “As a comfort technology brand, harnessing new and innovative solutions to connect with our customers is part of our DNA. With the opening of our new store in Punggol Digital District, it enhances customers' retail journey with a unique, social, and interactive experience with Luna." 

Polytag and Citeo

Polytag and Citeo are laying claim to a major breakthrough for the recycling industry, detecting 100% of UV tagged single use plastic bottles entering one of Europe’s busiest materials recycling facilities (MRF) in France.

This follows the recent announcement that UK supermarket chain Waitrose & Partners has joined Biffa, Ocado Retail and Marks & Spencer in supporting Polytag’s Ecotrace programme.

Through the programme, Polytag’s plastic detection units (PDUs) have been installed in MRFs across the UK. This enables brands and retailers to UV tag their packaging and obtain real-time insights into the collection and sorting of single use plastic at recycling centres nationwide.

Citeo detected UV tags printed using food safe fluorescent ink applied directly on packaging labels using standard printing methods, including digital, flexographic solvent-based and UV cure inks.

During its collaboration with Polytag, Citeo was able to access barcode level data captured as UV tagged items entered the recycling stream and were detected by Polytag’s detection units. Companies applying UV tags to their packaging will be able to view their own unique data in real-time via the Polytag dashboard, providing a comprehensive view of each item’s journey through the recycling process.

Combining this barcode level data with Polytag’s on pack QR codes, which are powered by GS1 standards, will prepare brands and retailers for the switch from traditional stripy barcodes to QR codes, while also enabling them to tailor consumer marketing initiatives, create loyalty programmes and deliver engaging on pack instructions.

Kyndryl

Kyndryl has opened an AI Innovation Lab in Liverpool at the Royal Liver Building. The goal is to grow the team and create up to 1,000 software engineering and AI related roles within three years.  

The facility will be used to advise businesses in adopting and implementing AI, emerging technologies and software and platform engineering  solutions. It will include a Kyndryl Vital Studio, led by Kyndryl Consult, allowing customers to tackle complex and real-world business challenges through designer led, open collaboration and co-creation. 

As part of the opening, Kyndryl is expanding its partnership with The Very Group,  the Liverpool-based operator of digital retailers Very and Littlewoods, through a new multi-year agreement. Kyndryl will provide software and platform engineering  support, helping The Very Group launch new products at speed and enhance the digital customer experience. 

Charlotte Tilbury

This week marks the launch of Charlotte Tilbury's first ever gaming collaboration, via a Genshin Impact tie up.

In a LinkedIn post, Kelsey Christou, Senior Gaming Projects Manager, said: “Many of you know my love for gaming, makeup and all things beauty so it's been incredibly exciting to work on this project and I am so proud to have been a part of making it happen.”

“So many people were involved in this, but special shout out to Sam Wahab, Jodie Tuley, and Harminder Matharu from Charlotte Tilbury for championing the power of gaming; Hamudi Matough, Jerlene Ng, Giordano B. Torgianni, and the entire miHoYo team; and Scott Zeall and Louis Rickard at Miai.”

At the heart of the campaign is Mona Megistus, a "mysterious and mesmerising" astrologist from the gaming realm.

Unilever

Digimarc is laying claim to one of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry's largest global implementations of GS1 Digital Link enabled 2D barcodes with Unilever. 

The roll-out looks to put Unilever at the forefront of the retail industry’s preparation for Sunrise 2027, when 2D barcodes become standard at Point of Sale worldwide. It will also make the company one of the first to anticipate and adopt the European Union’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) regulation.

"We are proud to be leading the industry in pioneering how we help democratise access to product information," says Aaron Rajan, Vice President - Consumer Technology, Unilever.

"Deploying innovative solutions such as Digimarc Europe means that our unmissably superior brands not only keep pace with technological advancements but also shape the future of retail. Our multi-phased roll-out will ultimately integrate 2D barcodes across 45,000 products (SKUs), spanning iconic brands such as Dove, Vaseline, Hellmann’s and Knorr.”

Ikea

Ikea this week opened the doors of its Oxford Street, London store.

Following an extensive renovation of the Grade II listed building at 214 Oxford Street by Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, Ikea will span three floors of the seven-storey location.

The opening is pitched as a milestone in the retailer's strategy to increase its presence in city centres and expand with smaller formats, increasing accessibility for customers across the UK.

Key features include:

• Curated shops – On the ground floor are three ‘Curated Shops’; shopping edits created by Londoners that reflect and celebrate the character and diversity of the city’s residents. Multiple times a year, new Londoners will be invited to curate their own product selection.

• New (and used) spaces – In a global first for Ikea, the Oxford Street store will feature a 25 m2 Live Studio with broadcasting capabilities. The space will enable Ikea to feature and host interactive experiences and exhibitions for locally relevant events. The new store will also have a Re-Shop and Re-Use section, an area to shop second life, second-hand and discontinued Ikea products.

• Delivery services – Small furniture items will be available to take home from the store immediately, with around 3,500 products ready to go. For larger items, shoppers can order from a 10,000 strong product range, to be delivered directly to their home or to one of Ikea's numerous pick-up points across the city.

Mashgin

Mashgin reports that its AI powered checkouts have processed over one billion transactions since the inception of the company.

Over 3,000 convenience stores, 150 sports venues, 50 airports, 50 college campuses, 30 cafes at ski resorts, and 100 hospitals now use its technology.

During the past three years, the company has seen growth in both location count and transaction volume, increasing monthly transactions by 1,233% – from three million transactions in March 2022 to 40 million in March 2025. In the calendar year 2024, Mashgin processed over 440 million transactions.

Walmart

Walmart has unveiled five new virtual storefronts in its Emperia powered Walmart Realm experience, each inspired by trending social aesthetics and brought to life by rising influencers.

These are:

A modern farmhouse with a twist by @izzybecerraaa.

A vibrant, floral showroom from @homewithbao.

A minimalist, gallery space curated by @kee.illena.

A whimsical garden adventure by @madi.alexi.

A serene desert escape designed by @cartii_cartii.

Walmart has also launched Product Sets to allow customers to add curated collections of items directly to their carts with one click for a more seamless shopping experience. Customer favourite features like the Room Randomiser, Custom Influencer Content, and Thematic Mini Games remain at the heart of each influencer storefront, with the aim of making shopping both fun and inspirational.

“With Walmart Realm, we’re reimagining what digital commerce can be: immersive and unexpected. By blending cutting-edge technology with creative storytelling from influencers, we’re creating a new shopping experience that is truly resonating with today’s shoppers,” says Justin Breton, Head of Brand Marketing Innovation at Walmart.

Debenhams

be Retail Social, a virtual fitting room and try on platform for fashion, sportswear and beauty, has entered into an agreement with Debenhams.  

Debenhams will be using the platform firstly in its beauty products, before extending to cover its various fashion and clothing brands.   

Daniel Finley, CEO at Debenhams, says: “We are always looking for ways to provide a differentiated and enhanced customer experience, giving users more engaging and personalised ways to consider our range of products and make more informed purchasing decisions.”

“We were impressed with the team at be Retail Social - their knowledge of issues and missed opportunities in the sector, and how they have solved these with their platform to benefit both customers and us, our brands. It’s quite remarkable what we can now deliver through them as a partner.”

“We love innovation and think the use of moving, personalised human avatars with social influence is a real step forward in the virtual try-on space for beauty and fashion and already seeing tangible benefits.” 

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed has become the first editorial media brand to partner with Shopsense.

It will use the company’s AI powered Commerce Operating System (OS) to integrate context  aware product recommendations directly into articles, with the aim of giving BuzzFeed's monthly audience of 71 million monthly US visitors a seamless way to explore and purchase products relevant to the lifestyle, fashion, and entertainment content they’re consuming.

“For nearly two decades, BuzzFeed has helped audiences navigate the best of the internet - and made culture shoppable along the way,” says Ken Blom, Chief Business Officer at BuzzFeed.

“This partnership brings that mission into the AI era, combining the cultural relevance of our content with a powerful commerce engine. Together, we’re unlocking new revenue streams, deeper brand performance, and a better experience for our users.”

BHF

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) will open its new ‘Store of the Future’ concept on Thursday 1st May in Edinburgh’s Straiton Retail Park.

New design elements include a cash desk made using waste textiles sourced directly from BHF stores, clothing hangers produced using ocean plastics, flooring produced from recycled materials and an entire lighting system that was produced via a 3D printing process using recycled plastics. 

This is the first BHF shop that the ‘Store of the Future’ concept is being trialled in.

The 7,000 sq. ft location will showcase a range of preloved clothing, accessories, homeware and books. Its front window has been styled using upcycled pieces by actress and British Heart Foundation Retail Ambassador Kimberly Hart-Simpson using preloved items from BHF shops. The store will also feature upcycled furniture from design students at The University of Edinburgh.

It has its own defibrillator attached to the external wall. The BHF is also investing over £60 million into research in Scottish universities and all the money raised in this new store will help continue funding this lifesaving work. 

Professor Matt Reed from the University of Edinburgh will be attending the opening of the new BHF store. He is leading a BHF funded clinical trial to test whether a potentially game changing advanced heart monitoring patch can better diagnose heart rhythm problems in people who attend A & E with unexplained fainting.

Sofa Club

Furniture retailer Sofa Club has launched a YouTube series spotlighting emerging musical talent - performed, fittingly, on one of the brand's sofa.

“Cultural relevance is the new brand loyalty,” says Olivia Smith, Brand Director. “Sofa Sessions is our answer to where interiors meet influence. We’re not just selling sofas - we’re building emotional spaces that resonate with how people actually live, create, and connect.”

Micromarket24

A Micromarket24 MarktGo self-service store has opened at Bremen Airport.

This is one of the first fully automated stores at a German airport and, with supermarket like prices and opening hours from 4:00 am to 23:30 pm, it is pitched at both travellers and the local population.

It offers a selection of snacks, hygiene products, coffee and drinks.

Access to the store is via card scanning at the entrance. A small team of employees manages stocking and adapting the product range to local demand. Payment for purchases is made via contactless and cashless methods at self-service checkouts. AI camera technology analyses activity in real-time and reacts to unusual incidents such as theft or vandalism.

Morrisons

In a UK first, Morrisons is testing out Simbe’s Tally in-store shelf scanning robot.

Thanks to Toby Pickard, Retail Futures Senior Partner at IGD, and a member of the judging panels for the RTIH AI in Retail Awards and 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, for bringing this to our attention.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: “Today, I saw a Tally robot from Simbe in a Morrisons. This is the first time Tally has been deployed in the UK.  It has only been in store for a few weeks, and there are two other stores trialling the technology.”

“The tech should help with price accuracy and stock availability, along with other benefits. It is great to see technology being tested in UK retail that can help store associates and improve the shopping experience.”

Seamus McHugh, Head of European Market Development at Simbe, commented: “Delighted to have Tally live in the UK and to be working with the innovative team at Morrisons on this project. This is a significant milestone for Simbe as we add another country and a new retailer to our growing list of deployments.”

Holland & Barrett

Urban inventory management and logistics software company Ridelogix has expanded its partnership with Holland & Barrett to 100 stores following a pilot in London. 

Via an end-to-end platform, the retailer can now monitor stock levels in its London stores, identify when popular products are at risk of selling out, and receive recommendations on which stock to rapidly move to which store when. It can then redeploy stock from other stores or an urban distribution hub using zero-emissions e-cargo bikes.

Since May 2024, Holland & Barrett has completed over 5,700 zero-emissions deliveries through the Ridelogix platform, replenishing more than 75,000 units across its London stores. In-store availability across key product lines has improved by up to 100 basis points, translating into hundreds of additional sales opportunities each week. Switching to e-cargo bikes from diesel vans has also helped the retailer to avoid over 4.5 tonnes of CO₂e emissions to date.

John Jones, Head of Fulfilment Transformation at Holland & Barrett, comments: “Partnering with Ridelogix reinforces our commitment to delivering what our customers need, when they need it and with reduced environmental impact. he original pilot started with just ten stores and helped us restock faster and more efficiently, so we’re excited to be rolling it out across our wider London store network.”   

Sam's Club

Sam’s Club, a chain of membership only warehouse club retail stores in the US owned by Walmart, is looking to make waves in the gaming world, with a Roblox integration that lets players unlock real deals in three games: Cake Off; Chained (2 Obby); and Paradise RP.

In a LinkedIn post, W. Joe DeMiero, Interim Chief Marketing Officer, said: “This is​ a bold new way to connect with the next generation of members - meeting them where they are, how they play, and delivering the savings they’ll love.”

He added: “Big shoutout to Leslie Shepard (Associate Director, Brand Marketing  at Sam’s Club), Kenneth Greene (Associate Creative Director), Carolyn Getches (Producer) and our amazing partners GEEIQ, Roblox and Sawhorse Studios for helping us bring this to life. To become the best club retailer, we can’t just talk about innovation - we have to make membership playable. And today, we do.”

ICA Gruppen and Cleveron

Cleveron has officially installed its 100th parcel solution for ICA Gruppen, a Swedish retailer franchise with a focus on food and health.

In a LinkedIn post, the former said: "The Cleveron 402, a standout from our robotic solutions range, is now live at ICA Maxi Visby, bringing next level convenience to customers on Gotland.”

“It’s amazing to see how our partnership with ICA Gruppen transforms convenience across Sweden by making parcel pickup faster, smarter, and more sustainable. We’re honoured to support ICA Gruppen in shaping the future of retail, one store at a time."