Milestone for Amazon Just Walk Out: last week’s biggest technology plays at a glance
RTIH rounds up the stand out retail technology deals, launches, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Including AWS, Ocado Group, Currys, Stripe, Pennies, Tesco, Mistral AI, Asos, Sierra, Represent, Dema, Carrefour Belgium, and Reckon.ai.
AWS
In a LinkedIn post, Madison DeFranco, Senior Technical Business Development, Just Walk Out Technology at Amazon Web Services, said: “2025 was a milestone year for AWS Just Walk Out technology, and I'm incredibly proud of what we've accomplished in higher education.”
She added: “Just a little over three years ago, we launched our first collegiate store at Texas A&M University. Today, we're opening our 71st store at Loyola University New Orleans. This year alone, we added 19 new stores across 12 campuses, bringing our total to 49 campuses nationwide where students, staff, and fans experience frictionless shopping powered by Amazon Just Walk Out technology.”
“None of this would be possible without our amazing customers, partners, and colleagues who've worked tirelessly to make this growth a reality. Their dedication has truly transformed the campus retail experience. Looking ahead to 2026, I'm excited about the momentum we're building. Buckle up - it's going to be a great year!”
Ocado Group
Ocado Group is gearing up for a renewed push to sell its technology worldwide as exclusivity deals with the majority of its global retail customers are switched off.
It is set to end mutual exclusivity contracts this year in most of the markets where its automation grocery tech is live, including in the US with Kroger.
Tim Steiner, Chief Executive at Ocado Group, says: “As we continue to support all of our partners to improve and grow their online businesses, we will also now bring the full range of Ocado’s AI powered and robotic solutions back to multiple markets.”
He adds: “In the five years since our first international customer fulfilment centres went live, we have substantially evolved our market leading solutions and broadened our offering to meet retailers wherever they are on their online journey. As we enter 2026, Ocado is well positioned to help more retailers capture market share in the world’s fastest growing grocery channel.”
Currys
Currys has announced a new partnership with Stripe. The retailer will install thousands of the FinTech giant’s payment terminals across its nearly 300 UK and Ireland stores.
The tie up and investment builds on Currys’ store transformation programme, which has seen colleague headsets and electronic shelf edge labelling roll-out across its estate.
Currys has also brokered a three way partnership with Stripe and Pennies, a UK micro-donation charity, bringing charitable giving prompts to Stripe terminals for the first time globally.
"This is about building the store of the future, today. Stripe's platform makes checkout faster, but more importantly, it gives us the flexibility to adopt innovations as they emerge,” says Andy Gamble, Chief Information & Transformation Officer, Currys
“We're already using AI to help customers find the right tech - now with Stripe's infrastructure, and partnerships with the likes of OpenAI, we can layer in new payment capabilities that work seamlessly with AI-assisted shopping and whatever else comes next. And the fact we can also make it easier for customers to support causes they care about? That's innovation that actually matters."
Tesco
He was speaking in reaction to Tesco inking a three-year agreement with French startup Mistral AI, as part of a broader strategy to bolster the use of AI in the UK grocery giant's operations.
The partnership will give Tesco full access to the AI company’s commercial models, including any future developments, as well as its AI engineers. It includes a commitment for the two companies to work together through a new joint “AI lab” where Mistral AI and Tesco’s technology experts will co-create new generative AI solutions for different parts of the Tesco business.
The tie up will look at a range of areas, including content development and document drafting; speeding up data analysis to provide richer insights for colleagues; and developing new ways for colleagues to easily access information which they can use to help customers.
While competitors chase flashy AI demos, Tesco is focusing on embedding it into everyday workflows. That's the difference between a pilot project and actual transformation, observes Johnson.
"In my enterprise AI consulting work, I've watched countless retailers burn millions on AI initiatives that never make it past the proof of concept stage. The breakthrough always comes when leadership stops asking, What can AI do? and starts asking, How does AI fit into what we already do well?" he says.
"Tesco gets it - three years isn't just a contract timeline, it's a commitment to systematic integration. Most retailers want AI magic in 90 days. The smart ones plan for 90 weeks. The real question: Are you building AI solutions that require your team to change everything, or are you building AI that amplifies what they're already great at?"
Asos
Sierra, which builds AI agents for customer service operations, has announced a partnership with Asos.
"The global fashion powerhouse is reimagining customer experience with AI, and we couldn't be more excited to support their journey," Sierra said in an online post.
The startup, which was founded by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, recently closed a $350 million funding round at a $10 billion valuation.
It says that its agents are already being used by “hundreds of millions of people” to help with tasks like refinancing homes, ordering lunch, delivering furniture, understanding insurance deductibles and fixing technology. Greenoaks led Sierra’s latest funding round.
Sharjah Coop
Sharjah Coop has inked an agreement to implement the LEAFIO AI Retail Platform, a move that aims to automate merchandising, optimise inventory management, and unlock data driven decision-making across its network of stores.
In a LinkedIn post, LEAFIO AI Retail said: "This collaboration reflects Sharjah Coop’s bold vision to enhance operational efficiency, elevate the customer experience, and build a fully integrated smart retail model for the future."
"We’re proud that our AI powered solution - trusted by 250+ retail chains globally - will support Sharjah Coop in: Improving space utilisation; Automating planograms; Strengthening operational consistency; Providing real-time insights across branches."
It added: "This partnership underscores how AI is transforming retail operations at scale - turning complexity into competitive edge. Looking forward to the impact this will bring to the UAE retail landscape."
Represent
Dema, a commerce intelligence platform for D2Cs and retailers, has added Represent as a new customer.
In a LinkedIn post, the company said: “Founded in the UK, Represent has built a globally recognised modern luxury brand, combining strong cultural relevance with a highly sophisticated DTC engine. As the brand continues to scale internationally, understanding what is truly driving incremental growth becomes just as important as tracking topline performance.”
It added: “With Dema, Represent can go deeper into customer cohorts, channel impact, and causal growth drivers and connect marketing, product, and customer behaviour to understand what actually moves revenue and profit over time. We couldn't be more proud to have earned the trust from the Represent team. Thank you!”
JD Sports Fashion
JD Sports Fashion has completed work on a new technology innovation centre situated at its head office.
In a LinkedIn post, Matthew Amer, Head of IT Testing Services at JD Sports Fashion, said: "The final finishing touches to the JD Sports Head Office Technology Innovation Centre were completed on 19th December with the installation of the footwear display wall, creating a strong focal point for the space."
"But this wall is more than just visual impact - it’s fully functional. It serves as a picking, pricing, product, and stock look-up station, integrated with Zebra HHT and FOS screen capability via the store stockroom. Also, can be used for product ordered as commerce Click & Collect/pick from store."
He added: "This enables true end-to-end user journey testing, innovation possibilities and demonstrations - using physical products and test system interactions. The team has printed barcodes and allocated stock across our test environment stores, allowing them to showcase fully integrated, omnichannel retail journeys - from order and sale through to fulfilment. Capability is powerful. Go team!"
Carrefour Belgium
A second Carrefour BuyBye AI powered microstore has gone live in Belgium, the result of a partnership with Accor Group that taps Reckon.ai technology.
In a LinkedIn post, Arnaud Lesne, Director of Innovation & Partnerships at Carrefour Belgium, said: "Following our successful launch at Ibis Roissy CDG last July, we are scaling up with our very first international location at IBIS Hotel Brussels Midi station."
"We are bringing the future of retail to the heart of Brussels: a seamless, autonomous, and 24/7 shopping experience driven by cutting-edge AI. It’s a proud moment to see our vision for smooth travel retail expanding across borders."
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