France's Shopopop lands in UK as Lidl GB moves on up: this week's biggest retail technology stories
It's Friday, the weekend is almost upon us, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail tech space. Here's your briefing on the most important stories from the past few days, including Tesco, Purpl, dunnhumby, VenHub Global, Stord, SPAR Austria, Simbe, Catalyst Brands, Figure, and Hanshow.
1. Tesco inks deal with Purpl to test out disability discount service for online grocery deliveries
Purpl, whose platform offers discounts for disabled people in the UK, has teamed up with Tesco for an exclusive eight-week trial.
In a LinkedIn post, Purpl said: “Living with a disability or long-term health condition in the UK brings significant additional monthly costs, and accessing essential grocery items online should not be part of that barrier. This corporate partnership is a massive milestone for our community. Through this trial, Purpl members can claim a £5 discount code to use on online home deliveries, Click & Collect orders, or Tesco Whoosh rapid delivery.”
It added: “While this initiative is an eight-week trial to start, we hope it will pave the way for long-term changes, we are highly confident this collaboration will make a tangible, real difference to our members. A huge thank you to the team at Tesco for backing our vision and working with us to build a more inclusive, financially supportive environment for disabled people across the UK.”
2. Former Reward, Prezzee and Mastercard exec Jamie Samaha takes on CEO role at dunnhumby
dunnhumby, a customer data science specialist owned by Tesco, reports that Jamie Samaha has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective from 20th July. He succeeds Josh Bottomley, who has decided to step down after three years.
Ken Murphy, Tesco Group CEO, says: “Josh has played a pivotal role in growing dunnhumby during a period of rapid technological change, as the intelligence layer connecting retailers, brands and consumers. He has strengthened partnerships and expanded our impact worldwide, grown Tesco Media into an award winning media business and laid the foundations for long-term, scalable technology innovation. Josh leaves the business well positioned for the future and I’d like to thank him for his significant contribution.
Bottomley says: “I’ve hugely valued my time at dunnhumby and am immensely proud of what the team has achieved over the past three years in creating value for leading retail and brand partners globally. We’ve built strong foundations for the future, and as the business enters its next phase of growth, I look forward to seeing dunnhumby go from strength to strength.”
Samaha joins dunnhumby from Reward, a company focused on commerce media, customer engagement, and data insights, where he served as CEO. Prior to that, he led Australian FinTech business, Prezzee, to scale in the UK and US and also built a career at Mastercard as Executive VP of Consumer Engagement Services.
3. France's Shopopop announces UK expansion plan and aims to onboard one major retailer this year
Shopopop, a crowdshipping platform headquartered in France, is officially launching in the UK (Europe's largest e-commerce market) and has set the target of securing a partnership with at least one major UK-based retailer by the end of the year.
Established in France in 2015 with the business recently achieving profitability, Shopopop has over 115 employees and a community of 350,000+ private individuals (‘crowdshippers’) which deliver groceries and goods to over 30,000 people daily across local communities. It has domestic partnerships with over 25 retailers and brands across 7,500 stores, including Carrefour, E.Leclerc, Decathlon, Colruyt and Interflora. To date, it has completed more than 17 million deliveries across Europe.
Shopopop says that it has initiated conversations with major retailers across the country (including Asda, Coop, Kingfisher, Morrisons and Tesco).
Johan Ricaut, Shopopop’s CEO and Co-Founder, comments: “We are incredibly excited about bringing our crowdshipping model to the UK which is a market we have long admired. The UK is known for embracing new online delivery methods and together with its strong sense of community, we see our platform as the ideal tool for rural and hard to reach communities to come together and support one another, forming meaningful relationships in the process.”
4. H&M raids Inditex to bring in company veteran Diego Teijeiro Ruiz as CIO
He joins from Inditex, where he spent the past 20 years, most recently serving as Global Chief Data and Analytics Officer.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: “After 20 years at Inditex, I feel grateful to every person I’ve worked with along the way. I’ve learned so much from all of you. Thank you for your trust, kindness, and support. Tomorrow, I begin a new adventure at H&M Group with excitement and great respect for everything the company represents. To my new colleagues at H&M Group, I look forward to meeting you, learning from you, and working together.”
5. Stord bags $250 million in Series F funding at $3 billion valuation in round led by Strike Capital
E-commerce logistics specialist Stord has announced a nearly $250 million Series F funding round at a $3 billion valuation. This included Strike Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Franklin Templeton, Baillie Gifford, G Squared, Bond, and Lux.
It says it will use the cash to accelerate its mission to give independent brands the complete commerce stack to own their direct consumer relationships.
"For years, every independent brand has been left to figure out on their own how to compete against the consumer experience Amazon has spent decades and hundreds of billions building. By every measure, independent brands have been losing,” says Sean Henry, Founder and CEO at Stord.
“Stord exists to level that playing field. We give independent brands the complete commerce stack: the fulfillment network, software, and AI, to deliver a consumer experience that surpasses Prime. Our vertical integration and scaled network create compounding advantages that deliver better, faster, cheaper outcomes with every order we touch. As AI and physical intelligence advance across our platform, that advantage for our customers is rapidly accelerating.”
6. SPAR Austria opts to expand Simbe inventory Tally robot trial following pilot in stores
The aim is to reduce employee workload while improving customer service.
A trial at a EUROSPAR supermarket in Sagedergasse and INTERSPAR hypermarket in Eisenstadt demonstrated the contribution that digital technologies can make to day-to-day supermarket operations, according to those involved. SPAR is the first food retailer in Austria to use an inventory robot in regular store operations. The robot moves through the store several times a day, scanning shelves, identifying inventory levels and gaps, and automatically transmitting this information to mobile devices used by employees without disrupting daily operations. Missing products can be identified early and restocked quickly.
In a press release, SPAR states: “The results show that automated shelf scans can significantly reduce time-consuming inspection rounds and the search for missing inventory. This noticeably reduces employee workload, allowing them to devote more time to advising and assisting customers. Acceptance in stores has also been high. The inventory robot is seen as friendly, moves quietly and safely through the aisles thanks to its sensors, and automatically avoids people. Image data of people captured incidentally is deleted immediately and not processed further.”
7. Hellenic Hypermarkets Sklavenitis connects with Hanshow on ESLs roll-out across Greece
Hanshow has announced a collaboration with Greek retailer Hellenic Hypermarkets Sklavenitis.
Operating over 460 stores along with distribution centres and eMarket facilities nationwide, Sklavenitis serves more than 680,000 customers daily. With a broad product assortment and high store traffic, simplifying internal processes and maintaining operational consistency are critical priorities for the smooth and reliable operation of its stores.
To support these priorities, Sklavenitis has initiated a nationwide technology roll-out in partnership with Hanshow, deploying electronic shelf labels across its store portfolio. This will standardise Hanshow's Nebular Ultra ESL series across the network. Nebular Ultra enables precise product placement and strong shelf‑level visibility, with the aim of supporting planogram execution and operational management at scale.
The deployment also establishes a digital shelf infrastructure capable of supporting future in-store innovations. Combined with technologies such as computer vision and smart shopping carts, the high precision shelf framework can enable advanced automation, real-time shelf monitoring, and new data driven retail applications as part of Sklavenitis' broader digital transformation roadmap.
"As grocery retail becomes increasingly complex and regulated, leading retailers like Sklavenitis are rethinking the role of in‑store infrastructure," says Liangyan Li, SVP and Head of Global Sales at Hanshow. "This collaboration is about building a digital foundation that supports accuracy, efficiency, and long‑term adaptability, and our role is to enable that strategy at scale."
8. Catalyst Brands agrees Figure humanoid robotics partnership amid supply chain modernisation push
Humanoid robotics company Figure has signed a commercial agreement with Catalyst Brands, the operator of JCPenney, Aéropostale, and Brooks Brothers.
The initial phase involves Catalyst Brands’ Reno, Nevada distribution logistics centre.
The pair aim to automate repetitive, physically demanding sorting and packing tasks, freeing associates to focus on higher skill functions. Figure’s humanoids will first focus on aiding associates in the facility’s Joey Pouch sorting system sequencing, a computerised induction, sorting and packing system.
“As we invest in and scale our portfolio, this collaboration with Figure shows how emerging technologies can modernise our operations while strengthening our workforce,” says Marc Rosen, CEO at Catalyst Brands. “When we automate routine tasks, our associates can focus on higher value work and better serve our customers across all our brands.”
“Catalyst Brands poses a unique opportunity for Figure to partner with a company in an ambitious expansion phase,” says Brett Adcock, Founder and CEO at Figure. “As Catalyst Brands scales its multi-brand portfolio, our humanoids provide a standardised labour solution that can be deployed across diverse industries instantly. This collaboration establishes the playbook for how AI driven hardware can serve as a primary growth engine for modern holding companies.”
9. Lidl GB nabs fifth spot in battle of Britain's largest supermarkets as discounter sees sales rise
Lidl GB is this week basking in the glow of officially becoming Britain's fifth largest supermarket.
Latest Worldpanel figures show that the discounter now holds a 8.6% market share, with sales up 8.8% in the 12 weeks to 17th May. Tesco and Sainsbury’s, meanwhile, continue to hold the first and second spots respectively.
Lidl GB opened its first store in 1994. It says that more than three in five households now shop with it, and it has also secured over £661 million in switching gains from customers moving from competitors over the last year.
Ryan McDonnell, CEO at Lidl GB, says: “Becoming Great Britain’s fifth largest supermarket is a significant milestone and a clear indication of the momentum we have built. As customer expectations shift, households are looking for value they can rely on without compromising on quality, and we remain laser focused on delivering exactly that. "
"Achieving this is a testament to the dedication of our colleagues, whose hard work delivers for our customers every single day. As we move forward with our ambitious expansion plans, we’ll bring great value and quality products to even more communities across Great Britain.”
10. Viva Las Vegas! Smart store technology specialist VenHub expands its manufacturing capacity
VenHub Global, a US-based autonomous smart store technology specialist, has announced the opening of its second and larger production and assembly facility in Las Vegas.
This builds on the extension of an agreement with LAX/Metro, a partnership with Circa Resort & Casino for a first of its kind autonomous smart store deployment at the property, and additional agreements for new autonomous locations across Las Vegas.
“The opening of our second production facility is a defining moment in the continuing evolution of VenHub,” says Shahan Ohanessian, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at VenHub.
“We are no longer preparing to scale; we are now fully equipped to meet our growing demand and scale rapidly. With demand growing, new partnerships taking shape, and our footprint expanding, this facility gives us the capacity and power to assemble and deploy our smart stores faster. Every smart store we deliver is a customer served, a partner advanced, and a step toward the future of autonomous retail we set out to address.”
VenHub says that it is prioritising deployments across the transit and airports, campuses and universities, corporate and government, fuel and EV charging, venues and entertainment, and non-fuel convenience and retail sectors.
