East of England Co-op makes it snappy: presenting 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 Senukai, Vusion, Glovo, Rhone, Archive, PVH Corp., OpenAI, Delivery Hero, AO, Matalan, Ikea, Walmart, and Brico Dépôt.

East of England Co-op

Snappy Shopper has expanded its partnership with East of England Co-op, bringing ten more stores onto its on demand delivery platform and increasing the retailer’s total live locations to 15 across the region.

This follows a pilot launched in November across five East of England Co-op stores.

Orders placed through Snappy Shopper will continue to be fulfilled via apartnership with Nash, which coordinates deliveries on behalf of the retailer using courier partners including Stuart, Uber Direct and Just Eat Go.

Simon Dryell, Chief Commercial Officer at East of England Co-op, says: “We’re delighted to add another ten sites to our Snappy Shopper network. Making shopping as convenient as possible is vitally important to us as a business and this partnership with Snappy Shopper helps deliver even more convenience to our members and customers.”

Senukai

Vusion, a specialist in AI powered digitalisation solutions for physical commerce, has been selected as a partner by Senukai, a DIY retail chain in the Baltics, to roll-out the firm’s technology across all of its 94 stores.

Senukai will implement Vusion’s technology with the aim of simplifying inventory management and improving restocking, enhancing pricing and promotions management, while offering shoppers a better experience.

"The upcoming deployment of Vusion’s technology is an important part of our strategic innovation development plan," says Jovita Daškevičienė, Executive Director for the Baltic countries at Senukai Group. "By investing in this, we aim to set a new standard for retail in the Baltics and ensure the best possible shopping experience for our customers.”

Glovo

Glovo has announced new product developments aimed at making discovery easier, more trustworthy and faster across all categories. The update introduces a new Discovery Wall, alongside verified customer reviews with photos, and Fast Track, a new way to shop groceries through ready made, occasion-based baskets.

Oscar Pierre, CEO at Glovo, says: “We’re evolving from an app people used to order whatever they want in their cities, to a destination where you can explore, be inspired, find what you need and decide with confidence.”

“The new features bring together community, AI powered personalisation, and speed to make every order feel easier while we keep betting on social and community features to make the app more human and connected to every local community where we operate.”

Rhone

Rhone, an activewear apparel brand, has announced the launch of reRhone, a resale business. In partnership with Archive, this will debut with brand owned inventory sourced exclusively from select customer returns, with plans to expand the programme later in 2026.

“Rhone has always been built on durability and performance, and reRhone is a natural extension of that promise,” says Bethany Evans, Chief Marketing Officer at Rhone. “Our customers invest in our gear because it is made to last. reRhone helps keep great product in rotation, gives customers a new way to discover styles they may have missed, and offers a verified resale experience they can trust.”

Brico Dépôt

Kingfisher Group owned Brico Dépôt has announced a partnership with Just Eat Spain.

The latter's customers in the cities of Madrid, A Coruña, Seville, Jerez and Pamplona will now be able to choose from 1,000 products from Brico Depôt.

Sandra Zárate, Director of Marketing and Digital at Brico Depôt Spain, says that the tie up allows it to "bring DIY to homes with the speed and flexibility that many homes demand today: from a tool that is needed immediately to that material that is missing to finish a renovation.”

Iñigo Barea Egaña, CEO at Just Eat Spain, says: "The arrival of Brico Depôt on our platform is a milestone in our diversification strategy. For Just Eat to be the perfect ally for the daily lives of our users, it means going further and boosting our verticals.”

“By integrating the DIY sector, we expand our retail offer and provide an immediate solution for any need that arises in the home, reinforcing our commitment to innovation and the daily comfort of our users."

Amazon

Amazon this week confirmed it would cut 16,000 jobs as part of an effort to "strengthen the company."

It’s a move that has sparked fury in some quarters, with GMB Union's Rachel Fagan stating: “Amazon is showing itself for what it is; a company that cannot be trusted to do the right thing by working people in the UK."

“Bosses are overseeing thousands of job losses which will cause huge damage in towns and cities across the country. Now is the time for decision makers to recognise Amazon as a company fixated on eye watering profits at the expense of workers and local people.”

Enter Orbital, Amazon's new robotic fulfillment platform, which, we think it’s safe to say, will further rile up the GMB and other unions.

In a LinkedIn post, Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former

Amazon executive, said: “Several individuals at Amazon who've been notified that their positions are being terminated, contacted me to tell me about Orbital. This is a replacement for the LVM or local vending machine, that was its version of a micro-fulfillment centre. LVM has been cancelled.”

He added: “Orbital was designed to replace AS/RS and other storage systems in use at Amazon. It will also be used for in-store micro-fulfillment centres (MFC), with a goal of being able to fulfill chilled, frozen and ambient temperature products.”

The leadership team has high hopes for Orbital, Ladd observed. The company has invested $612 million over a five-year period trying to build an automated system that will fulfil grocery and other retail products at the highest picking speeds in the industry.

PVH Corp.

PVH Corp., an apparel group behind brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, has announced a collaboration with OpenAI.

This will see it co-create custom AI capabilities that support areas such as product and design, demand planning, inventory optimisation and consumer engagement.

“As we build Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger into the most desirable lifestyle brands in the world, our collaboration with OpenAI will help us supercharge our brand building journey and connect more meaningfully with our consumers,” says Stefan Larsson, Chief Executive Officer, PVH Corp.

“Together with OpenAI, we will explore exciting new opportunities for our brands, accelerate our data driven operating model and enable faster, more data driven decision-making. With a test and learn approach, we’ll build practical use cases with scalable impact to drive value for associates, partners, and consumers, while helping us build a culture of innovation and agility from the ground up.”

Instacart and Allegiance

Grocery technology company, Instacart, has announced an expanded partnership with Allegiance Retail Services, a retailer owned co-op, which supports more than 125 independently owned supermarkets across the US northeast.

This includes the introduction of Instacart’s Caper Carts at select Foodtown stores, alongside new omnichannel capabilities designed to unify Allegiance’s digital, loyalty, and in-store experiences.

Storefront Pro - Instacart’s enterprise commerce platform - is now powering e-commerce capabilities across all Allegiance retailers, and bringing Carrot Ads retail media tools to these businesses. In stores, its AI powered Caper Carts are live at Foodtown of Mt. Vernon (NY), Red Bank (NJ), and East Stroudsburg (PA), with additional deployments planned for 2026.

Allegiance is also expanding its use of FoodStorm - Instacart’s order management system for catering and prepared foods - with more store launches set for early this year. Carrot Tags, Instacart’s electronic shelf label software, will follow in upcoming phases.

Delivery Hero

Twilio reports that its communications technology is being used by Delivery Hero, a local delivery platform, with the aim of reducing rider friction, improving customer reachability, and lowering support escalations at global scale.

By automating customer outreach at the point of delivery, Delivery Hero says it has achieved: 25% reduction in overall rider contact rates; 60%+ fewer rider-to-agent escalations in “customer unavailable” scenarios; 65% customer answer rates for automated IVR calls in Spain alone.

Operating in around 70 countries, across four continents, the company is responsible for 11  brands, including foodpanda, talabat, foodora, HungerStation, and PedidosYa. When customers were unreachable at the doorstep, riders faced delays, language barriers, personal call costs, and long waits for agent support, while using personal phones raised privacy and regulatory concerns across markets.

“We need customers’ attention at the right moment,” says Philip Grefe, Product Manager, Rider App at Delivery Hero. “If the final handover fails, everyone loses. The customer doesn’t receive their order, and we’re left holding goods that can’t be used elsewhere.”

To solve this, Twilio’s technology is being used to engineer pickup and drop-off communications using Twilio Programmable Voice, global phone number pooling, and text-to-speech.

AO

AO has implemented HPE Networking solutions. The online retailer says that it is modernising its legacy wireless access network with the Mist AI  platform, connecting a diverse range of devices and streamlining IT operations across all its 26 offices and logistics centres.

“AO exemplifies how forward thinking enterprises are using AI native networking to drive real business outcomes,” says Mark Weeks, UK & Ireland, sales director, HPE Networking.

“By adopting a cloud managed, AI native networking architecture from HPE, AO has gained robust, secure connectivity that spans corporate offices and complex operational environments. The advanced Mist platform delivers actionable insights and intelligent automation, empowering AO to accelerate decision-making and sustain competitive agility in a dynamic market.”

“We’re a developer centric organisation, and we saw the opportunity to use the HPE Juniper Networking platform to drive data led decisions around internal user experiences, leading to amazing customer experiences,” says Matthew Brooks, Network Team Lead at AO.

“The ability to see exactly what devices are on the network and to leverage real-time device and occupancy analytics enables us to make smarter, faster business decisions, in IT and across our entire operations.”

SYRN

Actress Sydney Sweeney has launched a new lingerie brand, SYRN (pronounced like “sye-rin”).

“I was in the 6th grade with DDs. I hated the bra I had to wear,” she says in a press release. “When I bought my first cute bra that actually fit, I wore it to pieces. Designing for different bodies is a huge part of SYRN.”

Sweeney added: “I wanted to create a place where women can move between all the different versions of who we are. I love working on cars, I go water skiing, I’ll dress up for the red carpet then go home to snuggle my dogs. I’m not one thing, no woman is.”

The first pieces dropped last week, with the brand’s online store being powered by Shopify.

Across two Instagram posts, Sweeney shared videos and photos of herself wearing the line, which includes a red crop top that reads “Marry Me, Fly Free” and comes with matching shorts.

According to TMZ, the venture is backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose wedding Sweeney attended in Venice, Italy, in June of last year.

Matalan

Matalan is testing out Toshiba’s VisualStore 6 (VS6) EPoS solution, with two pilot stores now live in the UK with the self-service offering.

In a LinkedIn post, Linda Davies, UK&I Head of Project Management at Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, said: “For the second Sunday in a row I’ve been onsite at a Matalan store working on the installation of the Toshiba VisualStore 6 (VS6) EPoS solution.”

She added: “Successfully installing VS6 in two pilot stores is a huge milestone, and it simply wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration, determination, and drive of the entire project team - including the Toshiba UK Professional Services team, UK Managed Services engineers, VisualStore development team, Matalan and Capgemini project team, third-party partners, and the incredible support from the executive teams at both Toshiba and Matalan. A great example of teamwork, resilience and shared commitment delivering real results.”

Just Eat Takeaway.com

Just Eat Takeaway.com has unveiled an AI voice assistant for iOS and Android. Launching first in the UK, this allows customers to bypass menus and have a conversation to discover not only new cuisines, restaurants, and dishes, but also retail, pharmacy and beauty offerings. It then speeds up the process of placing an order.

Using AI technology, the assistant is designed to provide meaningful and relevant output to users by evaluating the potential intent of the user based on natural conversation. Whether a user’s request is precise or a rambling stream of consciousness, the assistant aims to deliver accurate, meaningful answers. It is capable of processing intent in dozens of languages.

Following the UK debut, a wider international roll-out is planned for 2026.

Mert Öztekin, Chief Technology Officer at Just Eat Takeaway.com, comments: "We are always innovating and continually focused on leveraging technology to improve the ordering journey for our millions of customers. This custom built conversational assistant represents a major step forward, making our service more intuitive and accessible.”

“We are harnessing the power of AI to empower everyday convenience across our entire network. From intuitive customer personalisation and partner success to smarter logistics, we are embedding automation into every interaction to deliver a seamless, efficient journey that creates real value for everyone.”

Ikea

Ingka Group, the largest Ikea retailer, is launching its secondhand marketplace in Sweden on 28th January. The platform will then be available in five countries: Spain, Norway, Portugal, Poland, and Sweden.

Ingka Group is aiming to reach 170,000 listings in 2026. Following pilots in Spain and Norway, and after launching in Portugal and Poland in 2025, Ikea says it has gained valuable insights into customer preferences, pricing models, and operational challenges in the secondhand market. These have helped shape the launch in Sweden. The retailer’s workers have been the first sellers and ambassadors, before opening up to the wider public.  

“With the launch of Ikea’s secondhand marketplace in Sweden, we’re taking a meaningful step toward unlocking an even more affordable Ikea range while making it easy for customers to prolong the life of their items. Our ambition is to build the most vibrant and inclusive community where people connect with each other and with Ikea to make home furnishing pass-on easy, accessible, and rewarding,” says Kirsten Andersson, Managing Director for Platform & Marketplaces at Ikea Retail (Ingka Group).

“In markets where the service is already live, we’ve seen strong demand for bedroom furniture, storage solutions, and living room seating. It’s especially encouraging to see customers returning to buy or sell more items from the Ikea range.”

She adds: “We’re witnessing a cultural shift where buying secondhand furniture is no longer stigmatised. It’s stylish, smart, and socially accepted. With half of people donating unwanted items and two in five reselling them, the rise of resale and donation culture reflects changing values across generations.”

“In response to this shift, we aim to simplify and enhance secondhand buying and selling experience by providing a platform where customers can buy and sell secondhand products directly from each other. This aligns with evolving customer expectations.”

Walmart

A Walmart Immersive Commerce SDK for Unity game developers has officially been launched.

This enables them to integrate Walmart products, or their own merchandise, via the US retail giant's marketplace, directly into their projects.

In a LinkedIn post, Justin Breton, Head of Brand Experiences & Partnerships at Walmart, said: "This has been a long time coming. Last year, we beta tested the SDK in Walmart Unlimited on Spatial and the No Boundaries brand shop on Zepeto, experiences where players could explore digital worlds and discover contextually relevant physical products, without ever leaving gameplay."

He added: "Gaming is no longer niche, youth skewing, or device specific. Today, it’s a cross-generational, with players spanning Gen Alpha through Boomers, and mobile gaming serving as the largest on-ramp, both in reach and time spent, touching billions of people each month."