Retail Technology Show 2026 conference review: Tesco Lab's Ross Arnone discusses ideation and delivery

“Not all ideas will land,” admitted Ross Arnone, Head of Product at the Tesco Labs innovation team during a RTS 2026 question and answer conference session moderated by RTIH Top 100 Retail Technology Influencer Andrew Busby.

“Not everything can be successful. But we value learning,” said Arnone at RTS 2026 in London last week, when discussing the 15-year-old Tesco Labs team that he has been part of for the last decade.

“We have a very active portfolio,” he explained. “It covers everything from early stage ideation through to trials and scale out projects for hardware or software, on colleague or customer facing applications.”   

“Innovation is really important to Tesco,” he said. “It’s a respected function.” This is evidenced by the Labs team being the first to trial drone deliveries in the UK retail sector, self-scanning, and other such technology advances back in the day - and the fact that they have boardroom backing.   

At the moment Arnone is particularly interested in:  

• Robotics: “Physical AI is something I’m personally interested in and monitoring closely,” he said, under questioning by Busby, however, who mentioned Iceland’s recent in-store robot usage in the UK and also Walmart in the US deploying robots to scan shelves. However, Arnone did caution that: “Robots cannot be ‘in the way’ or disturb the customer experience.” That is a non-negotiable in any future deployments by the Tesco Labs innovation team.       

• Wearables: are of great interest to Arnone as well, as he was invited to future-gaze at RTS 2026. Smart glasses might make a come back. They could provide a different interface in the future. Wearables are a very exciting prospect for Arnone.

“Our funnel is large, so we occasionally do ‘moonshot’ future-gazing as well,” added Arnone. “These ideas might be a decade away from fruition. However, innovating is not just about thinking. It’s about doing as well (which is why they do pilots and scale-out projects as well). Test and learn, test and learn is often our approach. It works.”    

During an audience Q&A, Arnone expanded on ideation but he couldn’t put a hit rate percentage on how many ideas that pass through Labs actually go on to become real-world applications, due to proprietary reasons.

However, he did comment that it naturally “varies from year-to-year”, while stressing that RoI and application targets aren’t actually the point of the innovation unit at Tesco. Instead, the team is more focused on being an incubator of ideas and an internal service centre to the business to ensure that it isn’t missing out on any technological advancements.

“We recruit people who are entrepreneurial, as well as people who OK if their idea isn’t taken forward,” he said, referencing the very essence of the unit to be an incubator and scale-up aid to other functions within Tesco.

If someone from product design or elsewhere in the Tesco business wants to propose and take an idea forward they are open to that. If they wish to roll-out a new piece of technology, then help is available.

“We have a ‘red door’ section online that offers a way to contact our innovations labs team,” explained Arnone, as a means to encouraging widescale innovation. It is not just function of the team itself. “They could be from the supply chain, in retail operations or any other department,” explained Arnone, adding that his team “has many forums internally that feed into us, to make us visible in a large organisation.” 

Hopefully we’ll get to hear some specific details about the latest projects at RTS 2027. 

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Physical AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.