Starring Wolt, Simbe, StrongPoint, and Pricer: RTIH rounds up its most read articles from last week
Check out the articles on this here website that caught your fancy last week, including H&M, Amazon, Morrisons, Walmart, Trust Retail, East of England Co-op, SuperValu, Rohlik Group, and Roblox.
Amazon gears up to leverage 'must have' humanoid robots for package deliveries with Rivian electric vans
Amazon has built an built an obstacle course inside a facility with the aim of testing the ability of humanoid robots to make deliveries of packages via Rivian electric vans.
In a LinkedIn post, Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive, said: “This isn’t new information. I broke a story two months ago that Amazon is building its own humanoid robots, and that it’s also testing robots from other companies like Figure. In 2023, I challenged Amazon to automate the back of Rivian vans to make deliveries of packages, food, and snacks. Years earlier I coined the term, hail a store.”
In 2024, Ladd broke stories that Amazon built an automated micro-fulfillment centre that fits in the back of Rivian vans. The vans will be stocked with everyday essentials like toothpaste, razors, over the counter medicines, soda, snacks and groceries. Certain vans will only be stocked with a few types products; prodicts for babies for example.
Amazon is currently testing out the technology. The plan is for it to offer consumers an option to “hail a van” to their location. Consumers will be able to walk out and buy the products they want. Another option is that a robot (possibly a humanoid) will take the items ordered by customers and deliver them to the door of a home, business or apartment.
Ladd commented: “Amazon has no choice but to build software that will allow it to communicate with and leverage robots. The primary impact of AI is that it accelerates velocity across an enterprise or an ecosystem. This means that Amazon has to be able to work 24/7 365 days per year to meet the increased demand AI will generate. It must accelerate the speed of its supply chain and logistics. Humanoid robots and autonomous vehicles are a must have for Amazon.”
He concluded: “Will Amazon be able to leverage humanoid robots to make package deliveries anytime soon? No. A lot of work has to be done first. Is it likely that by 2030 the company will be utilising robots in conjunction with Rivian vans? Yes, that’s certainly possible. However, will they be humanoid robots? Humanoid robots will have to massively improve to make them capable of delivering packages.”
H&M all apologies as fashion and homeware retailer reports major IT outage affecting payments in stores
H&M customers were unable to complete payments in stores across the UK this week following an IT outage, the cause of which was not revealed.
A spokesperson for H&M said: “We are aware of the problem and are looking into resolving it as quickly as possible. We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience."
The incident closely follows M&S and Co-op being hit by cyber attacks that caused huge problems.
As it released full year results for the 52 weeks ended 29th March 2025, M&S last month said it would lose an estimated £300 million as a result of an attack that has forced it to halt online orders and struggle to keep store shelves stocked.
Morrisons raids grocery rival Asda to appoint Matt McLellan as Group Customer, Data and Media Director
Matt McLellan has been appointed as Group Customer, Data & Media Director at Morrisons.
He joins from Asda where he spent five and a half years, serving as Vice President - Customer Planning and Proposition. Prior to that, he was at Tesco (Group Customer Propositions Director) and dunnhumby (Managing Director - UK and Ireland).
In an online post, Morrisons said: “Matt brings a wealth of experience in customer insight, data strategy, loyalty and digital media, most recently as VP of Customer at Asda. Over his career, he’s led award winning customer teams, driven step changes in data and loyalty performance, and helped shape brand strategy through insight led thinking.”
It added: “This is a crucial role for our next phase of growth under Rami Baitiéh’s leadership with Matt set to play a key part in sharpening our focus on customers, building our data capability, and unlocking new opportunities in retail media. We’re excited about what’s ahead and thrilled to have Matt onboard as part of the team.”
Walmart Discovered Pass launches on Roblox, pitched as first ever branded game pass on the platform
Walmart says that it is raising the bar on Roblox with the launch of Discovered Pass, pitched as the first ever branded game pass on the platform offering exclusive monthly perks across popular and up and coming experiences.
The US retail giant worked with GEEIQ and Sawhorse Productions to bring this to life.
East of England Co-op focuses on retail technology and perfect location for new Ipswich station store
East of England Co-op this week (4th June) opened 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.”
In a LinkedIn post, Trust Retail said: “We've installed five state-of-the-art self-checkout terminals at the East of England Co-op’s first fully cashless location, transforming the shopping experience for busy commuters on the Great Eastern Main Line. With over three million passengers passing through annually, this 1,500 sq ft store delivers convenience without compromise.”
“Our software first, hardware agnostic solution has eliminated the need for traditional cashier desks while maintaining full functionality - including refunds - creating significant operational efficiencies for the East of England Co-op team. We're proud to support the future of frictionless retail.”
Simbe's Tally shelf-scanning robot is being piloted in SuperValu supermarket stores across Ireland
SuperValu, a Musgrave Group owned supermarket chain that operates throughout Ireland, has been testing out Simbe’s Tally in-store shelf scanning robot.
A trial got underway in two stores in October. This, according to the retailer, has been “very successful” at keeping shelves stocked.
The pilot is now in its second phase, which has more fully integrated the robots into other systems and processes. Subject to results, SuperValu says it roll-out to further stores.
Finnish quick commerce firm Wolt goes live with global campaign fronted by actor Owen Wilson
Wolt, a Finland-based technology firm that delivers food, groceries etc within 30 minutes, has launched a new international campaign featuring actor Owen Wilson as its first ever brand ambassador.
This will be a year long collaboration that includes a series of campaigns across multiple occasions - starting with Wolt+, the company’s membership programme, which offers €0 delivery fees and access to exclusive deals and promotions.
Rolling out across 25 countries, the campaign features Zoolander and Wedding Crashers star Wilson showing how Wolt+ helps people stress less, save more, and stay stocked - from dinner to toothpaste to groceries and everything in between.
Yaz Hanley departs Walmart for customer success role at grocery retail technology solutions specialist StrongPoint ALS
Yaz Hanley has joined StrongPoint ALS as Head of Customer Success.
She was previously Senior Manager, Account Executive at Walmart Global Tech.
In a LinkedIn post, she said: "With over five years of experience in grocery, e-commerce, and in-store operations, I’m excited to be part of a company that is dedicated to driving success for grocers across every aspect of their omnichannel operations.”
“At StrongPoint, we’re fortunate to have a team of incredible individuals with backgrounds from industry giants like Amazon, Tesco, Asda, Walmart, and Aldi, who have created market leading solutions across in-store operations."
AI and ChatGPT tears open grocery shopping funnel, blurring line between discovery, decision, and purchase
The rise of AI technologies and in particular ChatGPT means that traditional SEO is no longer enough in the grocery retail space. So says Vineta Bajaj, Group CFO at Rohlik Group.
In a LinkedIn post, she said: “What’s a good dairy free option for coffee? You’d never type that into Google, but you would ask ChatGPT. That simple shift in behaviour marks a seismic change in how people discover and buy food online.”
Referring to an article by The Grocer, to which she contributed, looking at how AI, Bajaj noted that AI, especially ChatGPT, is tearing open the grocery shopping funnel, blurring the line between discovery, decision, and purchase.
She added: “In the article, I share thoughts about why traditional SEO isn’t enough anymore, and how brands need to start thinking in terms of conversational engine optimisation (CEO) instead. At Rohlik Group, we are on a mission to automate everything we see (both internal and external focused). It's amazing what a tech mindset can do to productivity as well as the bottom line.”
Pricer research: many retailers set to invest in AI at expense of road mapped retail technology
A survey of over 100 senior UK retailers revealed that 67% plan to invest in AI at the expense of existing road mapped technologies within the store. The aim here is to improve operations and create efficiencies to mitigate against rising costs facing their organisations.
Pricing automation and AI for customer service in-store were the top types of AI that 59% retailers plan to invest in over other technologies, according to Pricer’s research. This was followed by shelf-edge AI cameras (53%) and AI powered in-store content (47%).
With 43% of retailers saying that extracting data and insights from in-store technology investments to drive future performance is one of their top challenges, this is also prompting retail businesses to turn to complementary solutions at the shelf-edge to deliver data to power AI within the store.
47% of retailers are considering combining electronic shelf labels (ESLs) with automation to capture data across inventory and fraud detection, followed by customer engagement (45%) and loss prevention (42%).
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