Including Nextail and Gander: 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards sustainability finalists

We’re pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards Sustainable Retail category.

We received a record number of entries this year and many fantastic examples of the continued resilience and dynamism of the retail space during hugely challenging times.

Congratulations to all those who made it through the initial submission process!

It’s now over to our judging panel who will decide the winners to be announced at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony, taking place  at The HAC in Central London.

The event will be held on Thursday, 16th October and consist of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

Book your place at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony on Thursday, 16th October here.

Our 2025 runners and riders as follows:

British Heart Foundation

Shortlisted for designing and producing a brand new concept store embracing all things sustainable. BHF used several waste donated goods it cannot sell in its stores to produce usable production materials across the shop fit.

The cash desk uses waste clothing to form a rigid counter top. The wall art display wall is constructed from damaged DVD’s and CD’s including their cases. BHF applied brick slips made from recycled ‘rag’ and the Donation Station counter uses waste white goods from other sources. The lamp shades are made from old bubble wrap and plastic carrier bags. The carpet tiles are 90% recycled and the store lighting system is 3D printed using waste water fountain bottles.

East of England Co-op and Retail Insight

East of England Co-op, the largest independent retailer in its region, partnered with Retail Insight to tackle food waste and boost sustainability through the WasteInsight solution. By deploying AI powered expiration management and Prompted Markdown across 125 stores, the Co-op transformed food waste reduction, simplifying processes for colleagues while delivering value to customers.

The initiative prevented 1.8 million meals from going to landfill in 2024, cut 1,808 tonnes of food waste, and avoided 4,880 CO2e emissions. With sell-through rates rising 13% and colleague productivity improved, this scalable technology driven approach has set East of England Co-op firmly on track for its zero-waste 2030 target.

Gander, Iceland and Olio

Iceland has partnered with Gander and Olio to pioneer a scalable, tech led solution to food waste. By integrating Gander’s real-time reduced-to-clear technology with Iceland’s inventory system and Olio’s consumer platform, the initiative automatically surfaces discounted food to shoppers.

Any items that remain unsold are seamlessly redistributed via Olio’s community network. Importantly, this is achieved without adding extra process or labour for store teams, making it simple and scalable across the estate. Affordable, seamless, and revenue positive, this initiative proves how sustainability and profitability can align, setting a new retail standard for tackling food waste through sell-through and redistribution

Longchamp and Yocuda

Longchamp transformed its traditional paper receipts into a powerful post-purchase marketing channel using Yocuda’s highly personalised digital receipts. The project was implemented across 135 stores in 23 countries and delivered 590,000 digital receipts in 2024. 

Each mobile optimised receipt is branded, localised, and tailored with product recommendations, content, and store info. In 2024, 590,000 were sent with a 73% open rate and a 5.5% click-through rate. In total, the project has saved 1.4 tonnes of carbon by sending 2.3 million receipts. Controlled via a central CMS, it has turned receipts into a scalable, high performing channel that enhances the customer journey and drives omnichannel behaviour.

Nextail

Nextail uses AI and machine learning to automate and optimise inventory management decisions, demand forecasting, and in-season merchandising operations for global fashion retailers.

Its platform enables retailers to enhance efficiency, profitability, and the overall customer experience through smart, data driven solutions. Since the launch of its new forecast in August 2024,, customers achieved 100% adoption, 20% less over-forecast and 25% less under-forecast in stores, with 94% of predictions within 0–1 unit error.

Documented results include up to +39.9% units (Gina Tricot), up to +15.1% ASP (Merkal), at Guess +5pp sell-through, +7% ASP and −20% stockouts, plus up to 50% stockout reduction and 15–20% lower in-store inventory.

Shopopop

Shopopop is a collaborative crowdshipping platform that helps retailers scale last mile delivery without investing in distribution centre and building their own fleet.

It connects independent drivers/commuters with local grocers so online orders can be delivered quickly, flexibly and at a lower cost. What started ten years ago as a way to provide delivery to customers in rural and suburban areas has grown to become the largest local delivery service provider in Europe.

At the time, Shopopop offered grocery pickup in 6,000 stores and reach millions of households. The number of drivers on Shopopop tripled in the past year, and now hundred of thousands of drivers have made deliveries.