Local heroes and ultra-cheap online players: last week's most read retail technology articles

Check out our most clicked retail technology articles from last week, including RTS 2026, Amazon Just Walk Out, Aldi UK, Tottenham Hotspur, Argos, Billion Dollar Boy, Lickd, Marks & Spencer, Edikted, Scotmid Co-op, Sona, Whole Foods Market, Groupe Dynamite, and Manhattan Associates.

Retail Technology Show 2026 research shows growing shopper backlash against Temu and Shein

As competition from ultra-cheap e-commerce players like Temu and Shein continues to intensify, consumers want the playing field to be levelled up, showing their support for home grown retailers, according to research from Retail Technology Show (RTS).

Its survey of over 1,000 UK shoppers revealed that 54% believe the government should bring in changes to the de minimis threshold to stop cheap e-commerce products flooding the UK market.  

This rises to 68% of Gen Z - the very audience that index highest for Temu and Shein purchases. Eight in ten Gen Z consumers in the UK shop on Chinese marketplaces, while 41% make at least one purchase on Shein a month - more than twice that of older generations (16%).

“There’s no denying that the lure of ultra-low-priced goods will appeal to squeezed consumers as downward pressure on household budgets continues to suppress spending. But while consumers want access to competitively priced goods, they also want to support home grown retail brands,” says Matt Bradley, Founder & Event Director at RTS. “Consumers are increasingly calling for the playing field to be levelled up to ensure the ongoing health of the retail sector and the high street in the long-term.”

Groupe Dynamite taps Manhattan Associates technology for Garage Clothing Oxford Street store

Fashion retailer Groupe Dynamite has opened a flagship store on Oxford Street, London, powered by Manhattan Associates technology.

In a LinkedIn post, David Stevens, Chief Technology Officer at Groupe Dynamite, said: "Another big milestone achieved in our journey. Today (Friday, 27th March) we opened up our Garage Clothing UK flagship on Oxford Street."

"The store looks fantastic and I'm excited about the technology that the team installed in the store including two storey video screens, Manhattan Associates mobile checkout, RFID to track inventory in real-time and more. A fantastic job by the store opening team, easily the best in the business! Looking forward to visiting the store at the end of April when I speak at Retail Technology Show 2026."

Peter Ash departs Tata Consultancy Services to take on in-store innovation role at Marks & Spencer

Peter Ash has joined Marks and Spencer as Senior Head of Product - Retail.

He was previously at Tata Consultancy Services where he served as Retail Product Strategy & Customer Success Director. His CV also includes stnts at Royal Mail and Kingfisher.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: "Excited to share that I’ve joined the amazing M&S business as the Senior Head of Product for Retail (Stores). I’m looking forward to working with great Digital, Tech & Retail colleagues to drive our in-store innovation, enhance the customer experience, and improve operational performance - delivering meaningful impact for both our customers and colleagues in our stores."

US fashion brand Edikted opens Carnaby Street London store and makes European debut

Shaftesbury Capital reports that US fashion brand Edikted has opened its flagship store at 52-55 Carnaby Street, London, marking the brand’s first standalone physical location in Europe. This comes as Italian fashion brand Subdued commits to an upsized space at 14–18 Foubert’s Place, at the northern end of Carnaby Street.

Spanning 4,800 sq ft, this is Edikted’s first bricks and mortar location outside of the United States.

William Oliver, Director of Retail & Restaurant Leasing at Shaftesbury Capital, says: “Welcoming another UK debut reinforces Carnaby Street and Soho’s reputation as one of Europe’s most influential fashion destinations.”

“Carnaby Street provides brands like Edikted with the perfect opportunity to reach a broad, trend-savvy audience, while complementing its line-up of distinctive brands that each have huge pull. Subdued’s expansion also highlights Soho’s role as a launchpad for brands to flourish in the UK market, because it has everything a digitally native brand needs to translate online presence into bricks and mortar success.”

Mina Fam, Head of Retail at Edikted, comments: “Carnaby Street is one of London’s busiest and most iconic shopping streets, making it the ideal location for our first European store. This opening allows us to bring something exclusive to UK customers, offering a carefully curated range of apparel and accessories they can’t find anywhere else. Surrounded by standout brands and a style conscious audience, we’re able to build on the success we’ve achieved in the US, while establishing Edikted as a must visit brand in Europe.”

Checkout free stores demonstrate good technology but bad value equation as Amazon and Aldi exit UK

In September of last year, we reported that Amazon was binning its ambitious Amazon Fresh experiment in the UK, just four years after the US online giant launched its first grocery store in London.

It has shuttered its 19 Fresh stores, with plans to convert five of these into Whole Foods Market locations. The first one opened in the UK during 2021 in Ealing, west London, powered by Just Walk Out technology.

Soon afterwards, Aldi UK announced it was ending its its checkout-free stores trial and converting its only Shop & Go location to a standard Aldi Local with self-service.

The store in Greenwich, South East London went live in 2022 at a time when checkout-free stores were being touted by many industry observers as the next big thing in retail. But the technology never really took off in the UK.

An Aldi spokesperson said: “Whilst our Shop & Go trial has now come to an end as planned, our Greenwich High Road store will remain open as an Aldi Local, ensuring customers can still get everything they need at unbeatable Aldi prices.”

We at RTIH have been covering the retail sector for enough years to recognise the pattern. A shiny new technology emerges, gets hyped to the heavens, those responsible promise it will revolutionise everything, and then reality bites.

Remember the metaverse? NFTs? The promised land of cryptocurrencies? Each one was going to transform retail forever. Each one ran headlong into the brick wall of consumer indifference or, worse, the brutal maths of ROI.

In a LinkedIn post, Stuart Eames, Head of Product, Store Payment and Infrastructure at M&S, said: "I remember being asked so many times: What are we doing in this space? How fast can we move? What needs to be true for this to work? I still have the decks - the analysis of every live store, the investment cases, the vendor pitches from companies (many now gone) who insisted this was the future.”

Eames, who has also worked at NCR Corporation and John Lewis Parnership, said: "The reality is simple: customers drive meaningful change, and no customer ever asked for this. When Amazon - with the deepest pockets in the game - started pulling back, it became clear the model was incredibly expensive and operationally tough to scale long‑term."

"Sainsbury’s exited quickly. Aldi Greenwich, in my view, had the strongest setup: a full‑size store, car park, and the ability to handle bigger baskets, not just convenience missions. And yet, even they’ve stepped away. That leaves Tesco with five UK stores still running the concept. The real question now is whether it’s future‑proof for them - or whether the economics make it too costly to continue."

"Sometimes innovation doesn’t fail because the tech is bad, but because the value equation just isn’t there for customers or retailers."

Big day for Tottenham Hotspur as Premier League club announces go live on Salesforce Service Cloud

English football club Tottenham Hotspur has completed deployment of Salesforce Service Cloud.

In a LinkedIn post, dated 31st March, Rob Pickering, Chief Technology & Digital Officer, said: “Today’s a big day for our fans, and for our service and technology teams who have worked hard to get here. We’ve just gone live with Salesforce Service Cloud, including Service Cloud Voice powered by Amazon Connect.”

“Supporters can now reach us across email, voice, chat, SMS and WhatsApp in their own language, which for a club with a global fanbase is something we’ve wanted to deliver for a long time. What makes this more than just a new set of channels or service management platform is the data sitting underneath it.”

He added: “Our ticketing, membership, visitor attractions (like F1 Drive), digital marketing and retail e-commerce operations are now connected into a single customer view, so when a fan gets in touch our service team isn’t piecing together information from multiple different systems. They see the full picture from the moment the conversation starts, making it as seamless and quick as possible when fans need help.”

“We then took that connected data foundation and put Agentforce on top of it, deploying AI agents that can handle a real range of fan queries autonomously, drawing on that connected data to give accurate, personalised responses at any hour, for any fan, globally. For our contact centre team, that means less time on routine queries and more capacity for the interactions that actually need a human. For our fans, it means faster resolution and a better experience regardless of when, what channel or how they reach out.”

Pickering concluded: “Getting here took a huge cross organisational effort - Salesforce brought both the technology and the people to deliver it, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club brought the subject matter expertise and relentless focus on improving the fan experience to get us across the line. A huge thank you to all of the teams involved in getting us here, a very exciting additional step to our transformation going live, just a few more to go over the next six weeks!”

Workforce management firm Sona raises $45 million in Series B funding round led by N47

Sona, an AI platform for frontline enterprises, has bagged $45 million in Series B funding led by N47, with participation from existing investors Felicis, Northzone, Gradient, and Italian Founders Fund, bringing its total funding to over $100 million.

The cash will accelerate its US expansion and drive platform enhancements.

Sona's forecasting and scheduling enables businesses like Popeyes to better manage how their business is staffed, helping them to have not just the right number of people but the people best suited to the shift working at the busiest times.

This is combined with its labour AI platform, which takes real-time data about bookings, revenue, weather and every shift ever worked - along with any other factor which may impact a business, from box office takings to road closures - and builds models which evolve in real-time to predict not just what will happen but, based on historical productivity, what optimal operations look like and where there are opportunities for improvement.

Convenience retailer Scotmid Co-op announces investment in 4POS assisted checkout solution

Scotmid Co-op is rolling out assisted/hybrid checkout solutions as the convenience retailer looks to improve loss prevention and reduce theft (walk-offs).

The investment in its store tech and checkout solutions from 4POS has also reduced checkout friction for customers, with dual screens allowing colleagues to step in and offer assistance to reduce shopper wait times, minimise queues and support sales. 

The roll-out is now live in 90% of its Food stores (~160 stores) as well as locations across its discount health and beauty brand, Semichem (~63 stores). 

“We were particularly impressed by the modular approach,” says Allan Robertson, Procurement & Sustainability Manager at Scotmid Co-op.

“The fact that the same core hardware could be used across traditional tills and self-checkout solutions created real flexibility, allowing us to model different store configurations and future-proof the estate. The relationship developed quickly, and from the outset it felt like a partnership and a joined up team.”

Whole Foods Market launches newest London store in Angel, Islington

Whole Foods Market last week opened the doors to its newest store in Angel, Islington, marking the first in a series of new London locations.

The 3,600 ft store, located at 359 Upper Street, N1 0PD, has been designed as a convenient, neighbourhood focused format, offering customers natural and organic products alongside fresh, ready to eat meals and everyday essentials.

“Angel is a vibrant residential area with a strong sense of community. We’ve taken that into account when shaping the store, from the team we’ve built to the products we offer,” says Vamshi Pakala, Store Team Leader at Whole Foods Market.

“We’ll stock a nice range of fresh and everyday products, each meeting our high quality standards. Ultimately, we want this to feel like a neighbourhood store where shoppers enjoy coming back, whether it’s for a quick visit or a full shop.”

Lickd teams with Argos and Billion Dollar Boy on TikTok Stockroom Rave campaign featuring Kurupt FM

Argos reports a tenfold uplift in average TikTok post views after partnering with Lickd and Billion Dollar Boy on a culture led social campaign powered by mainstream licensed music.

Three ‘Stockroom Rave’ campaign assets generated over 13 million views on TikTok, supported by paid social amplification, compared to Argos’ December average of 412,000 views per post.