East of England Co-op focuses on retail technology and perfect location for new Ipswich station store

East of England Co-op will this week (4th June) open a new food store in Ipswich train station.

“Hugely significant new store opening this week for East of England Co-op - cutting edge technology and a great location in perfect harmony,” says Rob Smith, Technology Officer at East of England Co-op.

Ashley Hollingsworth, Operating Model Manager, adds: “Extremely excited about the launch of our concept store - a huge step forward in efficiency. From eSELs and headsets to self-service only tills, cashless and officeless operations, and not forgetting our new digital processes, we’re proudly advancing on our paperless journey.”

“This milestone has involved cross-functional collaboration across multiple departments. Thank you all for your incredible support in delivering what will soon be our most efficient food store to date.”

Need to know:

📍 Location: Ipswich Station, Burrell Road, IP2 8AL
📅 Opening Date: Wednesday, 4th June
⏰ Opening Time: 5:30am

Food waste

East of England Co-op says that it is moving closer to its goal of eliminating edible food waste by 2030 by working with Retail Insight. Last year, the latter’s AI powered markdown solution helped the cooperative prevent 1.8 million meals from entering landfill.

The pair worked together to deploy an expiry date management feature. Prompted Markdowns is a part of Retail Insight’s WasteInsight solution and was rolled out to all of East of England Co-op's food stores in September 2024.

It automates the identification of products nearing expiry, alerting staff members to focus only on products where action is needed.  The implementation also aligned with the retailer’s goals to simplify its reduced to clear (RTC) processes, reduce operational costs, and reduce food waste.  

Retail Insight also worked with it to develop an integration between its solution and the electronic shelf labels (ESLs) supplied by Pricer that East of England uses. The integration triggers the ESLs to flash so that colleagues can more easily locate the appropriate product on the shelf to mark down.

Sam Winter, Chief Retail Officer at East of England Co-op, says: "We want to use technology to improve the lives of our colleagues, our customers, our members and the community.  Retail Insight’s WasteInsight solution is a great example of exactly how we can do that.”

“We listened to feedback and have reduced manual effort and frustration for colleagues in-store, ensuring we can give great deals on RTC products to our customers, and importantly put the society on a trajectory to meet our target to reduce food waste to 0% by 2030.”

2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Physical stores will be a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards, which are now open for entries, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering. 

For further information on the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, please fill in the below form and we will get back to you asap.