Carrefour and Walmart go all in on AI: 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 Nike, Debenhams Group, Multiverse, Argos, Augmodo, Sainsbury's, Quorso, and Currys.

1. Carrefour wraps roll-out of AI assistant powered by Gemini across eight countries and 125,00 employees

A roll-out of AI.Carrefour, the France headquartered retail giant's conversational assistant powered by Gemini, has been completed across all integrated countries.

In a LinkedIn post, Olivier Gibert, Global Chief Technology Officer at Carrefour, said: "125,000 employees. Eight countries. One AI assistant. Our ambition: to simplify daily work, free up operational time, and bring AI directly to the teams on the ground. Not a tech showcase - a practical tool built to meet real business needs."

He added: "Each launch - in Spain, Poland, Romania and beyond - was a chance to connect with local teams, refine use cases, and measure impact, right where it matters. First batch of feedback is unanimous: “Fast”; “Useful”; “Intuitive”. Simple words. But they say a lot. Because AI only matters if it’s adopted, understood, and used to deliver value. This is just the beginning. Huge thanks to all the teams involved in this successful global deployment."

2. RTIH AI in Retail Awards 2025 alert: deadline for submissions extended through to Friday, 5th December

You spoke and we listened. The entry deadline for the RTIH AI in Retail Awards has been extended for all of those who, due to the summer holidays, were unable to to get their submissions in on time.

The new deadline is Friday, 5th December. It’s free to enter and you can do so across multiple categories here.

With thanks to all those who sent in submissions as per our original deadline. If over the next few months, you would like to update your submissions, please get in touch with our Editor, Scott Thompson, who will be happy to take care of this for you. Email: scott.thompson@retailtechinnovationhub.com

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.

3. Nike announces launch of homegrown cloud-based iOS native Point of Sale system across stores

Nike has gone live with an in house developed, cloud-based, iOS native Point of Sale solution, a project that it says has been years in the making.

"Grateful to everyone who’s been part of this journey, past and present. Your work laid the foundation for this moment," says Alfredo Carigga, Global Product Leader at Nike. "This go live brings some of the most impressive innovations we’ve launched to date: offline mode support; fastest staging time (25 mins vs. four hours); tap to login functionality (via NFC); new mobile and fixed PoS launch; seamless omnichannel integration - carts, promos, and membership (loyalty)"

He added: "The road ahead is ambitious: 1K stores, 50K store athletes, multiple geographies. But when we get there, we’ll have the most advanced, fastest, and most sophisticated PoS system I’ve worked on in my career. The Swoosh keeps moving forward - powered by innovation, built for athletes, and obsessed with serving the consumer at speed."

4. Walmart doubles down on GenAI as retail giant builds breakthrough technology to shape future of retail

AI coding specialist Cursor has been added to the Sparkcubate programme at Walmart Global Tech.

In a LinkedIn post, Vini Jolly, Director at Walmart Global Tech, said: "Walmart is leveraging AI to lay the foundation of how next generation software is built. We are thrilled to welcome Cursor, a pioneer at the intersection of AI and software development, to the Sparkcubate programme at Walmart Global Tech."

She added: "This collaboration is yet another example of Walmart doubling down on GenAI and agentic AI as we deliver unprecedented efficiency to the entire software development life cycle, transitioning workflows from automation to autonomous."

"Cursor’s AI native coding platform is purpose built to support the next wave of developer productivity, autonomy and software innovation enabling the talented internal teams to ship software faster, smarter…at Walmart scale.”

“Through Sparkcubate, our premier startup programme, we’re engaging with select innovators like Cursor to better understand their potential and explore how their unique technology can create meaningful impact. Are you building breakthrough tech that could shape the future of retail? We’d love to connect."

The Sparkcubate team is scouting for visionary startups and you can apply here.

5. Debenhams Group launches AI Skills Academy with workforce development platform Multiverse

Debenhams Group, the online retailer behind brands including Debenhams, PrettyLittleThing, boohoo, boohooMAN and Karen Millen, has launched its AI Skills Academy - a programme that aims to equip employees with practical AI skills.

This is being rolled out in partnership with Multiverse, a workforce development platform fronted by Euan Blair (son of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and follows tie ups with Amazon Web Services and Peak AI. It is fully funded through the company’s £1.35 million Apprenticeship Levy, a government fund for work-based training.

Staff will be taught the technical skills and behaviours required to embrace AI in their day to day work, including: Using tools to boost productivity and free up time for higher value, strategic work; Applying AI solutions to streamline operations and reduce manual tasks; Building systems in-house to accelerate digital transformation and reduce reliance on external providers.

6. Argos plugs launch of new A-List premium range with creator campaign set in fictional art gallery Arghaüs

Argos has launched a new fictional art gallery, Arghaüs, to promote the launch of The A-List - a monthly curated selection of top brands and must have products.

The retailer is presenting Arghaüs in a creator led mockumentary style social media series, promoting it as the leading destination for trend led, high quality products. This has been developed in partnership with Billion Dollar Boy.

Delivered with deadpan humour and contemporary art world satire, Arghaüs recasts everyday Argos products - such as coffee machines, air fryers, wireless headphones and electronic beauty tools - as high concept art pieces. From opening night chaos to catering meltdowns, the series reveals a behind the scenes look at the gallery’s dysfunctional team, portrayed by creators cast as actors in fictional roles.

7. Augmodo raises $37.5 million Series A as it looks to accelerate bringing spatial AI to retail sector

Augmodo, a real-time inventory and task tracker using wearable Smartbadges to create live 3D store maps, has closed a $37.5 million Series A funding round.

This was led by TQ Ventures, with participation from existing backers Lerer Hippeau, NewFare, WIN and Interlace, who joined newcomer Arena Holdings - an investment firm founded by Feroz Dewan, former Managing Director at Tiger Global, as well as Jefferson River Capital - the family office of Tony James, former President and COO at Blackstone Group.

In a LinkedIn post, Ross Finman, CEO and Founder at Augmodo, said: “This will accelerate bringing spatial AI to the largest workforce on the planet: retail. Combining wearables plus AI with our Smartbadges is going to change the physical workforce just as much as AI is changing knowledge work today.”

“While there is a lot of excitement about the future across the industry, retail has the biggest physical data problems today and are very grounded applications solving out of stocks, inventory, safety, training, and more.”

8. Sainsbury's announces change at the top as Mark Given becomes Chief Technology, Marketing and Data Officer

Sainsbury’s reports significant changes to its operating board across customer experience, technology, commercial and sustainability.

Effective from 3rd September, Tracey Clements will join as Chief Retail, Logistics and Supply Officer, a newly created role that unifies Sainsbury’s Retail, Digital, Customer Experience, Supply Chain and Logistics under a single leadership.

She previously spent 17 years with Tesco where she held a significant number of leadership roles, including Store Manager and Store Director, Managing Director of Tesco Express and CEO of One Stop. Following this, she was Chief Operating Officer at Boots UK & Ireland, where she led the operation of the business through the Covid-19 pandemic. Most recently, she was Senior Vice President of Mobility and Convenience Europe at bp.

Operating board accountability for technology will move to Mark Given, who becomes Chief Technology, Marketing and Data Officer from 1st September, following Clodagh Moriarty’s move to Dunelm.

9. AllSaints launches Google Workspace AI tools for global office teams alongside training programme

British fashion retailer AllSaints reports a major step towards its AI and data goals.

In a LinkedIn post, Alfie Meekings, Global Director of Transformation at AllSaints, said: “One of of the four pillars of our transformation vision is to create an environment where we can be data driven and powered by AI.”

“We have a lot to do to achieve this, but last week we took the first significant step as we announced the launch of Google Workspace AI tools for all teams in our offices around the globe, alongside a masterclass programme designed to equip our people with the knowledge and skills to be able to really leverage them in their day-to-day work.”

AllSaints has also announced the launch of its AI Academy, in partnership with Cambridge Spark, to give some of its team members a deeper insight into AI - from core concepts exploring its potential, to more technical skills such as prompt engineering and, also how to use AI to drive ROI.

Meekings concluded: “Our belief is that if we empower our people with the tools and knowledge to experiment with AI in a safe environment, they will find the best ways to evolve our ways of working.”

10. Currys connects with Quorso for AI powered platform that helps store teams work more efficiently

UK technology and electricals retailer Currys has teamed up with Quorso to launch a new tool called Action AI in its stores.

This brings together information like sales, footfall, promotions, surveys and customer satisfaction, into one dashboard. The aim here is to help managers and teams focus on what matters most and take the right action, in the right way, at the right time.

For example, a Sales Manager can instantly identify product categories that aren’t performing well - thanks to millions of calculations across the store network - and be guided to the root cause through real-time transaction trends. At the same time, teams can learn from top performing stores through seeing what works well right across the estate.

This week, the platform launched in an initial 16 stores across the UK, with full roll-out planned in September.