JD Sports makes RFID progress and Amazon tops GenAI research: the retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail technology news? Then this is the article for you. Including Fanatics, Gander, HyperFinity, Presto, Jo Malone London, Aldi UK, Deliveroo, H&M, Voyado, Destro AI, Temu, and Walmart.
3...The National Football League and Fanatics, the league's official retail partner, are set to open an NFL Shop pop-up retail store on London's Oxford Street, as American football returns to the capital for three games this October.
Located at 360-366 Oxford Street, the 1,000 sq ft store will be open from Thursday, 1st October, to Monday, 19th October, spanning all three 2026 NFL London games: the Indianapolis Colts vs. Washington Commanders on 4th October and the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Jacksonville Jaguars on 11th October, both at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, followed by the Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium on 18th October.
Fans can shop official NFL jerseys and an assortment of merchandise across NFL teams, alongside a range of products available exclusively in London. The Oxford Street store will also host NFL Shop LIVE!, a programme of fan events. On opening night, Thursday, 1st October, NFL UK legend Efe Obada will sit down with broadcaster Neil Reynolds to talk about his NFL career and new charity project. On Thursday, 8th October, Phoebe Schecter and Neil Reynolds will record an NFL London Games special of "Inside the Huddle" in front of a live audience. Both events start at 6 p.m., with limited seating available on a first come, first served basis.
The store at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will also become an official NFL Shop from Saturday, 3rd October to Sunday, 11th October, across both Tottenham games, with a number of exclusive collections available in-store. It opens with an NFL Shop Tottenham Family Day on Saturday, 3rd October, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with games, prizes, exclusive merchandise and special guests.
$8 million...Destro AI, which is building a shared intelligence layer for warehouse robotics, has raised $8 million in seed funding co-led by Base10 Partners and Bonfire Ventures, with participation from CoFound Partners. The funding will accelerate deployment of Destro’s platform across enterprise warehouses and expand the company’s engineering and research teams.
“Everyone is building capable robots,” says Manthan Pawar, Founder and CEO at Destro AI. “We believe the next breakthrough won’t come from another robot. It will come from the intelligence layer that enables any robot to work together. Customers aren’t buying robots; they’re investing in throughput, reliability, and business outcomes. That’s what we’re building.”
Destro has built two complementary AI systems: MothershipOS and Vision OS. MothershipOS is pitched as the shared mind outside the robot body, intelligently deciding which robot should perform which task, where, when, and how, to optimise complex warehouse workflows. VisionOS is an on-robot intelligence platform that enables complex mobile manipulation using AI models trained from human demonstrations, allowing robots to better perceive, grasp, and interact with real-world environments.
92%...Independent retailer Dike & Son Superstore says it has achieved a 92% sell-through rate on reduced products, according to its latest weekly September figures. That is up from around 73% when it joined Gander in February 2026.
The increase of around 19 percentage points follows improvements to the way the store manages reductions, alongside promotion of Gander through its Facebook page. In the latest reporting week, Dike & Son sold 1,200 of the 1,310 products it reduced.
Adam Vincent, Company Director at Dike & Son, says: “Our team has worked hard to make reductions a consistent part of how we operate and we have also used Facebook to let customers know they can find great value through Gander. Seeing our sell-through rise from around 73% in February to 92% in our latest weekly figures is a fantastic result. It shows what our colleagues can achieve when the right technology is backed by good processes in-store.”
1,000, 14, 2,700, 4,800 and 192...Dan McGrath, JD Group Customer Operations, JD Sports, has taken to social media to provide an update on the retailer’s RFID programme, which involves various countries and thousands of stores.
In a LinkedIn post, McGrath said: “This week, our final country goes live with RFID, Germany. And with that, everything we directly control will be live for phase one of our RFID programme. When I look back at what we’ve achieved, the numbers are pretty incredible: 1,000 stores directly launched in 14 months. And across the wider global group, working alongside our counterparts around the world: 2,700 stores live out of 4,800 in that same period, 192 stores a month!”
He added: “But the numbers only tell part of this story. RFID isn’t just about scanners, tags and technology. It’s about changing behaviours, processes and mindsets. We’ve done things that were uncomfortable. Challenged established ways of working. Asked people to rethink processes they’d used for years. And, most importantly, brought people with us on the journey. And we haven't done that alone.”
$10 million...Presto Phoenix, a specialist in voice AI for quick service restaurants (QSRs), has raised $10 million in funding from Remus Capital affiliated investors and other existing backers. The cash will be used to enable it to expand its deployments and technology.
“Over the past several months, we’ve continued to prove that voice AI can deliver meaningful results at scale across some of the most demanding drive-thru environments and menus,” says Krishna Gupta, Co-founder and CEO at Presto. “We are investing heavily in product and operations as we help more of the industry adapt to the inevitable agentic future. Every QSR brand is realising they must increase digitalisation and standardisation across their business, and Presto is the natural partner to help them do that for their largest channel - it all starts with Voice. I’m thankful to our investors for having backed us throughout.”
“We are pleased to see Presto’s progress and are fully supportive of the company and its leadership. AI is digitalising the world, and we are now seeing clear tailwinds for QSR adoption to accelerate: the labor environment, the need to standardize best practices, and the realisation that without the data there is no way to keep up with agentic leaders,” says John Tincoff from Remus Capital.
19.3%...Amazon is the most visible major online marketplace across leading generative AI platforms, according to new analysis from Onclusive examining how e-commerce brands appear in responses generated by ChatGPT and Perplexity. The study found that Amazon accounted for 19.3% of marketplace share of voice, ahead of Walmart at 14%, Alibaba at 12.6%, Shopify at 11.6% and eBay at 11.1%.
Temu recorded a share of voice of 9.7%, followed by MercadoLibre at 9.2% and Etsy at 8.2%. European marketplaces Zalando and CDiscount recorded 3.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The findings highlight significant differences in how frequently major e-commerce platforms are surfaced by generative AI tools, as consumers increasingly use AI engines to research brands, products and online shopping options. Newer platforms are already competing for AI visibility against more established players, Temu’s 9.7% share of voice is comparable to Shopify and eBay.
80% and 30%...H&M has overhauled its onsite search across more than 60 markets, working with Voyado. The retailer says that the move away from keyword matching to an intent driven model has reduced soft exits (where shoppers drift off because of friction rather than choice) by 80% and cut customer exits from search by 30%.
Rather than matching search terms to product names, the new setup reads a range of signals at once: stock availability, add to bag actions, purchase behaviour, product newness, revenue performance and customer intent and updates rankings in real-time.
“As our business grew, we needed a more intelligent approach to search, ranking, and discovery. We found Voyado to be the best fit for us.” says Lars Gezelius, Acting Global Head of Digital at H&M.
Erica Sandelin Ekelund, CEO at Voyado, says: "Search is a clear signal of what customers actually want. When a customer searches, they’re not browsing - they’re telling you. And many retailers are throwing that signal away. H&M recognised the value and used it to rebuild their customer experience from the ground up, and the numbers confirm they were right. The most successful retailers won’t be those with the most extensive catalogues. They’ll be the ones who understand their customers and what they actually came for.”
1...Victoria Square, a retail and leisure destination in Belfast, reports that Jo Malone London will be opening its first standalone location at the centre, representing the brand’s only dedicated store in Northern Ireland.
It will take 3,402 sq ft, and will offer its signature range of luxury fragrances, home scents, candles, bath and body essentials, and gifts. The new space is due to open on 1st December.
Julie King, Senior Asset Manager at Commerz Real, comments: “2026 has been a phenomenal year for us, and welcoming Jo Malone London’s first standalone store in Northern Ireland is a fantastic endorsement of the confidence leading brands have in the destination."
"Victoria Square continues to outperform the wider market because of the quality and diversity of our retail offer, the strength of our catchment, and importantly, our ability to provide brands with the right platform to succeed. We are the place to be for leading retailers looking to make a real impact in Northern Ireland, and Jo Malone London will be a great addition.”
8...From October, Aldi UK will be trialling a new partnership with Deliveroo across eight UK stores, giving customers access to its full grocery range through the on demand delivery firm’s app. Modelled on Aldi’s partnerships with DoorDash, Deliveroo’s parent company, in the United States and Australia, the latter’s riders will pick, pack and deliver orders directly from stores.
The trial is pitched as the only rapid delivery service available from a discount supermarket in the UK.
Customers will be able to order around 2,000 Aldi products, including fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy, bread, household essentials and Specialbuys. They can order on-demand or choose a delivery window that suits them. A nationwide launch is currently planned for early 2027.
1 and 25…PrettyLittleThing has launched its first ever officially licensed NFL collection, as the Debenhams Group owned fashion retailer expands into sports licensing ahead of this weekend’s 2026 NFL London Games. The 25-piece collection has been designed in-house by PrettyLittleThing and spans apparel and accessories.
A PrettyLittleThing spokesperson says: “We are delighted to collaborate with the NFL on our official licensed product range. Our 25-piece collection was designed in-house and highlights the dynamic intersection between female fashion and sport fandom.”
“The timeless style and prestige of the NFL comes to life in this collaboration with PrettyLittleThing,” adds Salha Latif, Vice President, International Consumer Products and Licensing. “The range of apparel on offer celebrates what makes the NFL so distinctive, providing clothing for all fans in all settings, perfect timing ahead of the 2026 NFL London Games kicking off this weekend.”
51%...New research from HyperFinity reveals the extent to which UK adults believe bias exists in AI. It found that 18-24 year olds are twice as likely to report feeling ‘misunderstood, overlooked, or stereotyped’ by AI, compared with just 26% of those aged 55-65.
A survey of 2,000 UK adults shows that 51% believe gender bias exists today. Among 18-24 year olds, that figure rises to 70% - almost double the 37% recorded among those aged 55-65. With 72% of UK adults now using aItool daily or more, the findings show a marked generational divide in perceptions of AI, with younger adults more likely to identify bias and report experiencing its effects personally. This is also the demographic using AI most frequently.
The research reveals striking differences in how people perceive specific AI tools. 35% of UK adults associate ChatGPT with a male gender, while 46% describe Siri as female and 23% see it as gender neutral. This suggests people are forming different gendered perceptions of these tools, despite them having no obvious gender of their own.
These associations extend to how people describe the tools themselves. ChatGPT is described as an ‘advisor’ or ‘expert’ by 31% of UK adults, while Siri is more than three times as likely to be described as an ‘assistant’ than an ‘advisor’. Most strikingly, 10% of UK adults describe Alexa - the most female associated AI tool in the research, with 69% describing it as female - as a ‘servant’, compared to just 2.5% for ChatGPT.
