Walmart and Tesco tap dark stores and MFCs: RTIH's most read retail technology articles from last week

Check out the articles on this here website that caught your fancy last week, including Attabotics, Debenhams Group, AWS, HIVED, Talon.One, THG Beauty, Ocado Group, and the RTIH AI in Retail Awards.

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.

Don't delay, enter today! Entry deadline for RTIH AI in Awards is fast approaching

Time is running out to enter the RTIH AI in Retail Awards, with deadline for submissions being Friday, 18th July.

As we witness a digital transformation revolution across all channels, AI tools are reshaping the omnichannel game, from personalising customer experiences to optimising inventory, uncovering insights into consumer behaviour, and enhancing the human element of retailers' businesses.

With 2025 set to be the year when AI and especially gen AI shake off the ‘heavily hyped’ tag and become embedded in retail business processes, our newly launched awards celebrate global technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world and the resulting benefits for retailers, shoppers and employees.

Our 2025 winners will be those companies who not only recognise the potential of AI, but also make it usable in everyday work - resulting in more efficiency and innovation in all areas.

Winners will be announced at an evening event at The Barbican in Central London on Wednesday, 3rd September.

This will kick off with a drinks reception in the stunning Conservatory, followed by a three course meal, and awards ceremony in the Garden Room hosted by the rather excellent actress, writer, presenter, and comedian Lucy Porter.

Time is running out to enter the RTIH AI in Retail Awards. Deadline for submissions is Friday, 18th July. Our 2025 winners will be announced at an evening event at @BarbicanCentre in Central London on Wednesday, 3rd September #ai https://t.co/YnOwZgTVOc pic.twitter.com/CnEx2ZKQHb

— Retail Technology Innovation Hub (@RTIH_RetailTech) June 23, 2025

THG Beauty reports major increase in incremental revenue thanks to adMarketplace partnership

THG, a UK-based e-commerce group, has reported a 10% increase in incremental revenue at its beauty retail business thanks to its partnership with native search advertising platform adMarketplace. 

The collaboration is also said to have improved marketing efficiency and delivered savings for THG, which owns beauty retailers LOOKFANTASTIC, Dermstore and Cult Beauty. 

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.

Ocado Group reigns in Spain with Bon Preu deal: RTIH presents June's biggest retail technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from June.

Includes DoorDash, Asos, Celonis, Walmart, Scandit, Snappy Shopper, Foodhub, Glovo, Favor, Thoughtworks, Ikea, Cleveron, IGA, VusionGroup, StrongPoint, THG Ingenuity, Five Below, Pret a Manger, FreedomPay, Co-op, and Royal Mail.

We are proud to announce an expansion of our partnership with our first international partner @BonPreuEsclat , who will build a new CFC serving Catalonia! #OcadoGroup #BonPreu #Catalonia #Spain #onlinegrocery (1/3) pic.twitter.com/nsQJjiS4bB

— Ocado Group (@OcadoGroup) June 18, 2025

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.

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.

AI powered delivery startup HIVED raises $42m in Series B funding to take logistics network nationwide

HIVED, an AI powered delivery startup used by retailers including Zara, Uniqlo, and John Lewis, has secured $42 million in Series B funding.

Led by NordicNinja, the cash will be used to accelerate the firm’s UK roll-out and grow its engineering and data teams. The funds will also support development of its logistics intelligence platform HIVEDmind.

HIVED’s delivery service is aimed specifically at e-commerce, using AI, real-time data and modern architecture to connect retailers, warehouses, drivers and end customers with a single integrated platform.

Retailers can integrate directly with its real-time warehouse sorting while routing algorithms adapt to driver behaviour and real-world situations. Its dynamic delivery clusters are redrawn based on live parcel volumes, replacing traditional postcode systems.