Dark stores, MFCs, and smart carts: RTIH brings you this week's biggest retail technology stories

It's Friday, the weekend is almost upon us, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here's your briefing on the most important stories from the past few days, including Walmart, Evri, Tesco, John Lewis Partnership, Instacart, Wegmans, New Look, Talon.One, and Asos.

1. Walmart opens dark stores as it tackles complicated and costly process of fulfilling online grocery orders

Walmart is opening dark stores in Dallas, TX, and Bentonville, AR.

The US retail giant is testing out whether this option will enable it to more quickly fill orders from customers who are paying extra to get items faster.

The concept of using dark stores to fulfill online grocery orders isn't new, of course; it has been in use for decades, and Walmart has been active in this space for years on a small scale. Although the retailer operates 4,650 stores in the USA, and 90% of the US population is located within ten miles of one of its stores, fulfilling online grocery orders is a complicated and costly process.

Walmart wants to test and see how much faster and cheaper it can fulfill orders in a dark store vs a retail store, utilising new technology and picking strategies. If the tests are successful, they’ll be leveraged in the retail stores.

2. Debenhams Group inks multi-year AWS deal to scale up AI tools across brands including boohoo and PrettyLittleThing

Debenhams Group, the online retailer behind brands including Debenhams, PrettyLittleThing, boohoo, boohooMAN and Karen Millen, says that it is accelerating the adoption of AI across its business.

A new multi-year agreement with cloud provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS), aims to streamline the troup’s operations and rapidly scale new brands using AI-driven tools.

It already uses AWS cloud services on the Debenhams platform. AWS’s serverless cloud technology powers its marketplace model by facilitating the faster onboarding of third-party sellers, a broader product selection and a smooth purchasing journey.

Debenhams will now deploy technologies like GenAI. AI generated content, powered by Amazon Bedrock, will enable it to automate product descriptions and translations across tens of thousands of products.

Automating product descriptions has made the process 20 times faster, according to those involved. On top of that, translations into six languages happen automatically, so no extra work is needed. This means products are ready to sell in different countries much quicker.

3. Evri announces £50 million investment in parcel lockers as it doubles out of home delivery network

UK parcel delivery company, Evri, has announced plans to grow its out of home offering by 2030 - more than doubling its network of ParcelShops and lockers to 25,000.

It is set to stump up £50 million+ to launch an owned, in-house network of smart lockers. Evri will roll-out 10,000 lockers as part of this initiative.

It currently has a network of more than 10,000 ParcelShops and lockers, which includes its flagship independent shop network, Post Office branches, corporate partners such as Co-op. Parcelshops and locker locations are set to grow to 25,000, hitting the 2,000 locker milestone before Christmas.

The announcement follows a 500% year-on-year increase in locker usage, a trend which is anticipated to continue.

4. John Lewis Partnership set to allow partner brands to access retailer's offsite media capabilities

As a result of the new offer, brands partnering with John Lewis and Waitrose will be able to activate advertising campaigns across a range of external channels including video ads via connected TV on popular streaming platforms.

This also includes online videos and display ads on popular consumer websites.

Previously, advertising opportunities were limited to the Partnership’s own websites but now, thanks to its work with technology provider Epsilon, it is expanding into a retail media network. Using the Epsilon Retail Media Network, it will allow advertisers to reach consumers across multiple channels and devices, not just the John Lewis and Waitrose websites.

Jemma Haley, Retail Media Lead for the Partnership explains: “This move is a big step forward in creating an insight-led retail media offer that spans both grocery and non-grocery. It helps us build a detailed understanding of audiences across vastly different purchase journeys, from immediate necessities to more considered items. This will enable our brand partners to target smarter audiences powered by first-party data, helping our customers discover more relevant and tailored brands.”

5. Marks and Spencer boss says operations set to be up and running by August following cyber attack

The Chief Executive of M&S, Stuart Machin, has said he hopes operations will be running “fully” within four weeks. The retailer is continuing to put systems back online following a hugely damaging cyber attack.

Half of its online operations have returned to normal, but there remains work to be done around Click and Collect services.

Susannah Streeter, Head of Money and Markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: ‘’Marks and Spencer is halfway there, but there’s still a lot to get back online before the company can put the cyber attack behind it. 50% of online operations are back up and running, but its popular Click and Collect services remain suspended.”

She adds: “At the company’s AGM, Machin put the latest timeline on a recovery at four weeks. This should mean the retailer will hit August firing on all cylinders once again. Management have previously estimated that it could cost as much as £300 million in lost sales and operational disruption, although it’s likely that this will be mitigated by insurance claims and cost efficiencies made elsewhere.”

“While services have been suspended the company is believed to have used the opportunity to speed up part of its digital transformation plan, as well as ensuring that its IT systems are robust enough to withstand a future attack.”

6. Tesco preps Attabotics tie up to install micro-fulfillment systems for online grocery orders

Tesco has entered into an agreement with Attabotics that will see the UK grocery giant tapping the firm’s micro-fulfillment systems to fulfill online grocery orders.

It’s a move that is likely in line with plans to grow Tesco’s Whoosh and Marketplace offerings.

According to a report by Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive, citing multiple unnamed sources, it has evaluated numerous micro-fulfillment solutions on the market including AutoStore and Fabric.

The retailer looked at the technology from Attabotics for nearly two years before entering into an agreement to purchase and install a system. It required the Canadian company to meet stringent requirements across a variety of areas including picking speed, uptime, ease of use, and safety.

7. Loyalty and promotion software firm Talon.One bags $135m in funding for AI innovation push

Talon.One, an enterprise loyalty and promotion software provider, has announced a $135 million funding round from new investors Silversmith Capital Partners and Meritech Capital, with participation of existing backer CRV.

Talon.One’s platform enables over 270 customers across a range of sectors to tap data in building personalised, scalable promotions and loyalty programmes. Customers include H&M, adidas, Costa Coffee, Sephora, Ticketmaster and Nordstrom.

The new capital will accelerate innovation of the Talon.One platform and strengthen the company’s market position in the US, UK, Europe and APAC. The investment will focus on delivering AI powered intelligence and predictive insights, as well as deepening enterprise capabilities across sectors.

8. Instacart Wegmans notch up a first as they launch pilot of AI powered Caper Carts at New York store

Instacart, a grocery technology company in North America, has announced the launch of Caper Carts – its AI powered smart carts – at Wegmans Dewitt in Syracuse, New York. This marks the first deployment of Caper Carts at Wegmans.

Caper Carts automatically recognise items as they are dropped into the cart and customers can bag as they shop, tapping signals from an array of cameras, digital scale, and location sensors connected to NVIDIA Jetson hardware. Wegmans customers can login to their Shoppers Club account on the cart’s screen in order to shop this way.

“Caper Carts are transforming everyday grocery shopping into a faster, more personalised experience,” says David McIntosh, Chief Connected Stores Officer at Instacart. “We’re excited to partner with Wegmans - known for their exceptional customer and in-store experience - to bring this technology to their store. Together, we’re delivering customers a delightful and personalised shopping journey.”

The companies first partnered to offer same-day delivery in 2017, and have since expanded the partnership to include the likes of pickup, EBT SNAP acceptance, loyalty programme integration.

9. New Look boosts customer data strategy with AI and cloud powered Amperity and Databricks partnership

New Look reports the implementation of Amperity, an AI powered customer data cloud, integrated with the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. Amperity was selected earlier this year following results from a pilot programme.

The solution enables New Look to connect data across all customer touchpoints - online and in-store - to better identify high value customers and activate insights in real-time. Results from the pilot indicated a projected return on investment within the first quarter, driven by more efficient marketing campaigns, improved audience targeting, and increased cross-channel conversions.

"With Amperity's AI powered identity resolution, we've uncovered that 3.4 million customer profiles had been fragmented across multiple records," saus Jack Freeman, Customer Analytics Manager at New Look. "Most importantly, we discovered that 31% of our top customers were using multiple email addresses, making it nearly impossible to recognise and properly serve our most valuable shoppers."

10. Asos focuses on exclusive benefits and experiences with launch of new loyalty programme for UK customers

Online fast fashion giant Asos has announced the launch of a new loyalty programme for UK customers after a trial earlier this year.

Called ASOS.WORLD, the scheme offers exclusive benefits and experiences such as early access to collections and edits, priority back-in-stock alerts, invites to events and early access to sales.

The loyalty programme will be offered to customers in four tiers: