Retail technology innovation of the week: H&M enlists Voyado to rework onsite search across markets
Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a series brought to you by RTIH, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers. Every week, we showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, building up to the publication of the 2026 report later this year.
And this week we’re focusing on H&M which 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.”
And honourable mentions this week to...
Tote
Tote AI has launched HQ Genie AI, with the aim of bringing a ChatGPT/Claude like experience to retail operations. It says that, instead of digging through dashboards and static reports, operators can ask questions of their live business data and get answers in seconds, with the system beginning to move beyond answering questions to monitoring operations and taking action.
This is in production with Loop Markets, Huck’s and Spinx.
Users can type questions such as what the latest discount on Diet Soda is, how many Monster Energy drinks a given store has left, what daily sales looked like over the last ten days, or the status of a specific card refund. As Tote runs the Point of Sale, HQ Genie draws on operational data from across the store, including the devices connected through Tote Device Cloud, which lets corporate help desk teams use it to spot and diagnose problems. For example, a help desk analyst can ask which devices across the chain need attention and see where issues are occurring, store by store.
Agentic workflows, now in beta, are built into HQ Genie and work to automate recurring tasks.
Hozelock
Polytag has partnered with Hozelock, a manufacturer of garden watering and outdoor products, to introduce smart QR codes across its garden product range. The deployment brings connected product experiences to the garden and outdoor sector for the first time.
By scanning the codes, Hozelock customers can access product specific guidance, including how to guides and videos, while the company gains new insight into how and where its products are being used.
The smart QR codes, powered by Polytag's platform, have been added to Hozelock products available through retailers including B&Q. When scanned, the codes can direct consumers to content tailored to their market and device language, enabling Hozelock to provide relevant information across its international markets using a single QR code.
This is particularly valuable for Hozelock's range of technical and higher value garden products, where packaging alone cannot always display the level of information customers may need. The digital connection also provides a foundation for future product level information requirements, including Digital Product Passports, allowing Hozelock to build on the infrastructure already in place as these requirements are rolled out.
The deployment also gives Hozelock visibility beyond the point of purchase. Through the Polytag platform, the company can see where and when customers are engaging with its products, providing data that was previously unavailable once a product had left the retailer.
