Binning barcodes and embracing live commerce: the stand out retail technology plays from April

RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his stand out ‘future of retail’ technology deployments and launches from April, including East of England Co-op, Snappy Shopper, Whatnot, Shopify, Papa Johns, VoCoVo, Sobeys, Pricer, Superdrug, Hanshow, The Home Depot, DoorDash, Wing, VoCoVo, Søstrene Grene, Asda, Deliverect, Carrefour Israel, AllSaints, Amazon, and DressX.

Whatnot

Whatnot, a live shopping platform in the UK, Europe and North America, has launched a new integration with Shopify, with the aim of making it simple and easy for Shopify sellers to drive growth through live commerce. 

The tie up automatically connects Shopify and Whatnot. Since launching beta, businesses using the integration have driven more than $10 million in sales across nearly 20 categories, from collectibles to fashion, according to those involved.

Tom Verrilli, Chief Product Officer at Whatnot, says “Sellers increasingly realise that live commerce is a meaningful growth channel. By combining real-time engagement with purchasing, Whatnot drives stronger conversion and faster inventory movement.”

“The question isn’t whether you can grow, but how to expand into new channels without disrupting the systems and workflows that already work. Our Shopify integration solves that by keeping products, inventory, and orders automatically in sync. When buyers can see products, ask questions, and decide in real time, trust builds faster, and sales follow.”

Jeff Kennedy, Partnerships at Shopify, says: "Merchants grow when they can meet buyers wherever they are shopping. Whatnot's live commerce community is one of the most engaged in ecommerce, and now it connects directly to the products, inventory, and orders merchants already manage in Shopify. Beta merchants like FashioNica are already seeing the impact firsthand."

Papa Johns

Papa Johns has unveiled Lou AI, the first AI powered platform deployed through Google Cloud’s Food Ordering agent.

Available in the Papa Johns app, Lou AI acts as an always on digital concierge, anticipating group needs, adapting in real-time and guiding customers to smarter, stress free decisions.

“Let’s say you’re hosting your kid’s birthday party - the first order of business is always pizza,” says Kevin Vasconi, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Papa Johns. “You want everyone to be happy, but how do you land on that perfect order? Lou AI is designed to take away this friction, so families and friends can spend less time deciding and more time enjoying being together.”

Instead of coordinating opinions, users describe the group and their preferences. Lou AI takes it from there. The aim here is: customised variety from across the menu that reflects everyone at the table; decisions made with intention, not compromise; confidence that feels built-in, even for picky eaters.

“We’re using AI and personalisation to bring back the feeling of being known - just like how you feel with your favourite bartender or barista,” says Vasconi.

Lou AI - named to honour the brand’s roots in Louisville, Ky. - is available now in the Papa Johns mobile app for iOS and Android.

East of England Co-op

The East of England Co-op has expanded its Snappy Shopper on demand delivery service to 43 stores across the region. This builds on growth in January, when the offering increased from five to fifteen locations.

Orders placed through Snappy Shopper are fulfilled in partnership with Nash, which coordinates deliveries using courier partners including Uber Direct, Just Eat Go and Stuart. The move also introduces a more streamlined in-store setup, allowing colleagues to manage multiple delivery platforms through a single device.

Chief Commercial Officer, Simon Dryell, says: “We’re excited to expand Snappy Shopper to a further 28 stores, taking the total to 43 across our region. Convenience is a key focus for us, and this roll-out means more customers can access quick, reliable grocery delivery from their local East of England Co-op Food store.”

“We’d like to thank our partners at Nash and Snappy Shopper for their continued support in helping us deliver a great service for our members and customers.”

Little Caesars

Flytrex and Little Caesars are partnering to expand drone delivery with a new drone capable of delivering dinner for an entire family.

Powered by Flytrex’s new Sky2 drone, the service now enables customers to receive two large pizzas and sodas in a single delivery, pitched as a first for on-demand food delivery by air.

Sky2 makes this possible by carrying up to 8.8 pounds, the largest carrying capacity of any food delivery drone available today, those involved claim With a range of up to four miles and support for remote pickups directly from restaurant locations, the idea is that orders are collected faster and arrive hotter, arriving in an average of 4.5 minutes from takeoff to delivery.

"Flytrex is laser focused on making on-demand food delivery by drone a reality for everyday families,” says Amit Regev, CEO and Co-founder ar Flytrex. “A big part of advancing this market is making sure people can get the food they actually want, when they want it. Until now, drones simply weren't capable of delivering a full family meal.”

“The Sky2 changes that. This partnership with Little Caesars expands what drone delivery can do and better meets customers’ expectations, which will drive real, lasting adoption of this technology."

Superdrug

Hanshow has notched up a milestone in its digital store collaboration with Superdrug.

In a LinkedIn post, Hanshow said: “As Superdrug continues to strengthen execution and consistency across its store estate, in‑store digitalisation has become a key enabler. Through this partnership, we are supporting Superdrug with a scalable digital shelf infrastructure built on our ESLs.”

The roll-out is progressing in phases. As of 2025, 51 stores were live, with a further 90 locations planned for roll-out in 2026, including new store openings. Upon completion, the programme will span more than 1.7 million ESL units across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Beyond the shop floor, the solution also supports back of store workflows, including pick by light operations, helping teams work faster and more efficiently.

Hanshow concluded: “Big congratulations to the Superdrug team on this next step in their digital journey. We’re proud to support their disciplined, long‑term approach to modernising store operations, and excited to keep building together.”

K-Supermarket

K-Supermarket is piloting a talking AI assistant on digital billboards across three cities in Finland. Passersby can walk up, speak, and get personalised recipe ideas.

It is launching what is claimed to be the world’s first interactive public digital display that holds a two-way voice conversation with passersby.

The animated “Lil’ shop assistant” appears on shopping mall out-of-home screens in Helsinki, Lappeenranta, and Tampere, ready to suggest recipe ideas tailored to each person’s wishes.

While conversational screens have appeared in limited trials in parts of Asia and at select US events, this is the first known deployment in an open public space, with a voice driven AI assistant embedded in existing digital outdoor advertising infrastructure.

“We want to make everyday cooking easier in all kinds of ways and now we’re piloting a completely new kind of assistant to help with that. We’re genuinely excited to be part of developing this groundbreaking technology that offers real, tangible value in people’s daily lives,” says Milla Sorsakivi, Marketing Director at K-Supermarket.

The Home Depot

The Home Depot has announced new AI powered phone agents designed to get customers the help they need faster. Built on Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience, these allow customers to skip phone menus and get straight to solving their home improvement problems through natural conversation.

Now, when calling a Home Depot store, customers can state the reason for their call in their own words. The new system is designed to understand what they need help with immediately, while ensuring they always have the option to speak directly with a human associate. Real-time translations also enable support for customers in any language.

According to early results from a 50-store pilot, AI voice agents understand why a customer is calling in fewer than 10 seconds, getting them to a solution four times faster than navigating traditional phone menus. Additionally, Home Depot associates in the pilot also reported higher job satisfaction, with more time to focus on in-store shoppers.

VF Corporation

Nedap has announced a partnership with VF Corporation, a specialist in apparel, footwear and equipment whose portfolio of brands includes The North Face, Vans and Timberland.

As part of this, VF Corporation will deploy the Nedap Inventory Engine across its brand portfolio and 1,500+ stores. The deployment starts in Q2-2026 with The North Face and will expand to additional VF brands over time.

The partnership supports its ambition to create a single view of stock, built on a single, trusted view on inventory across its operations. With the Inventory Engine, it aims to enhance stock accuracy, improve product availability and strengthen omnichannel performance across all regions.

In addition to the store roll-out, VF has expanded the initiative into its distribution channels, enhancing visibility and supporting efforts to address grey market activities and strengthen brand protection.

“Our consumers expect the same level of product availability and service whether they shop online, in-store or through any of our brand touchpoints,’ says Carsten Trenz, VP of Digital at VF Corporation.

“Unified visibility across our operations allows us to deliver that consistency and build long term customer loyalty.”

Hope Waldron, VP of Supply Chain Strategy, VF Corporation, says: “Extending our RFID program beyond stores to include distribution centres and vendor partners at the source gives us greater transparency across our entire supply chain. That visibility improves our ability to ensure product availability, strengthen brand protection, and deliver a more consistent consumer experience.”

Søstrene Grene

Danish retailer Søstrene Grene is set to roll-out ReceiptHero’s digital receipt technology across its network of stores.

The brand, known for its affordable home accessories and design led retail concept, has piloted the solution in Denmark, with a broader roll-out now in progress.

At the core of the initiative is ReceiptHero’s card linking technology, which allows shoppers to automatically receive digital receipts after paying in-store. Customers can connect their payment card and have receipts delivered instantly, removing the need for paper copies.

For those not using the retailer’s mobile app, people can access their receipt by tapping their phone on an NFC enabled terminal at checkout, opening the receipt directly in a mobile browser without requiring a download.

Through the new setup, Søstrene Grene can prompt customers to opt in to marketing communications or encourage app downloads at the Point of Sale. It says the initiative is designed to strengthen long-term customer relationships while also supporting more personalised in-store experiences when shoppers return.

VoCoVo

VoCoVo has announced the launch of the VoCoVo AI Gateway, a solution that enables retailers to securely integrate their existing AI directly into the company’s ecosystem. It says that this connection between AI platforms and in-store colleagues enables retailers to create their own digital assistants. 

With the AI Gateway, colleagues get AI driven insights delivered in real-time through their headset. With two-way communication, colleagues can ask questions hands-free on the shop floor and receive instant responses.

The solution is also AI agnostic, which enables retailers to connect with whichever AI tools they are using today or into the future. Data security is core to its approach, with retailers retaining ownership of all their own data.

Designed to meet strict security requirements, it eliminates the need to share data with third parties. VoCoVo says it provides a secure, security by design link between store colleagues and the retailer’s AI, with no data stored, processed or used for any purpose other than for secure transmission between the solution and the team’s headsets.

Conversations are private and protected by advanced encryption, in line with data protection and governance requirements. This new capability - delivered by the Series 5 Pro Headset - is informed directly by feedback from VoCoVo’s retail customer base. The solution enables retailers to maintain control over the AI systems they introduce to their stores, and the AI Gateway enhances the ROI from their AI without adding complexity.

For retailers embracing digital assistants, use cases for the AI Gateway range from integration with retailers' workflow management systems for equipment maintenance to stock checks for customer requested items.

Sobeys

Pricer reports that its partner JRTech Solutions has signed an agreement with Canadian grocery retailer Sobeys. The contract includes the deployment of Pricer’s latest electronic shelf label (ESL) technology and the cloud-based platform Plaza across an estimated 300–350 stores.

The agreement covers the supply of multi-colour electronic shelf labels and the necessary store infrastructure, with a total hardware and infrastructure value of approximately $51 million (excluding Pricer Plaza). The deployment is scheduled for an 18-month period starting in May.

"We are very grateful for the trust and that Sobeys has once again chosen Pricer as its long-term strategic partner,” says Mats Arnehall, Chief Growth Officer at Pricer. "This deal confirms our leading position in the North American market and the value of our high performance system in high density retail environments. Our scalable cloud platform, Plaza, will be the intelligence behind every label, enabling Sobeys to act faster and work smarter."

“After years of close collaboration and shared success, we’re proud to grow our partnership with Sobeys even further with an expanded roll-out,” says Diego Mazzone, President and CEO at JRTech Solutions.

Tesco

Tesco has replaced traditional barcodes with QR codes on 13 of its own brand sausage products.

Whilst shoppers will continue to checkout as usual, they can now access detailed product information by scanning the QR codes with their smartphones.

Tesco Development and Change Director Peter Draper says: “For customers, this is a tiny and almost invisible change at the checkout, but for the retail industry it’s a significant step forward. Moving to QR codes will help us reduce food waste, improve stock control and unlock new digital benefits for our customers.”

He adds: “Customers will continue to shop and pay in exactly the same way, but they’ll have the option to access far richer information about the products they buy simply by using their smartphones. Over time, this opens up exciting possibilities, such as personalised digital tools to help customers manage the food they buy and reduce waste at home.”

Amazon and DressX

Amazon and DressX have announced a partnership in which people will be able to purchase virtual clothing items on the former’s site, then redeem a code to wear and use them inside Fashion Rivals, DressX's Meta Horizon experience.

This is the first time virtual clothing has been available for sale on Amazon.

In a LinkedIn post, DressX said: “Users can explore and shop aura effects on Amazon, then seamlessly bring them into the game to style their avatars. Exclusive collection is live! This marks an important step in expanding how virtual fashion is discovered and experienced across platforms, bridging commerce and gameplay.”

You can explore the collection here.

Tesco

Adobe and Tesco have announced an AI partnership that aims to improve the shopping experience for customers with personalised prompts that offer individual recommendations, ideas and deals.

This includes a Tesco x Adobe Innovation Lab which will see the latter’s engineers working alongside the former’s personalisation and AI teams.

With more than 24 million Clubcard households, Tesco has established one of the largest loyalty and reward schemes in UK retail, with millions of customers receiving offers, product recommendations and recipe ideas.

Through its partnership with Adobe, it aims to accelerate personal engagement and improve the service it offers customers. Using technology like Adobe’s agentic AI capabilities and Adobe Firefly Foundry, Tesco’s personalisation and AI teams will be able to use its customer intelligence responsibly to help it to better anticipate customers’ needs, in order to serve up personalised content, offers and experiences across its digital channels.

Asda

Deliverect has announced a partnership with Asda involving the UK grocery retailer’s on-demand operations across Asda Express and the wider store estate.

In a LinkedIn post, Joe Heather, Regional General Manager - Northern Europe at Deliverect, said: “Asda continues to lead in the on-demand space, delivering strong performance at scale. We support this by enabling the digital commerce infrastructure behind it, helping to consolidate and scale operations across multiple on-demand channels.”

He added: “This comes down to building modern, flexible infrastructure for a world where on-demand is constantly evolving and expectations are only increasing. The focus is simplifying complexity across central operations, in-store execution, and engineering and integrations, enabling faster fulfilment, improved accuracy, and stronger unit economics.”

Dollar General

Dollar General has announced the roll-out of an AI enabled in-store audio network across approximately 6,000 DG stores in 48 US states.

Through a new partnership with QSIC, Dollar General says it will deliver more relevant, localised and measurable audio experiences to customers while providing brand partners with accountable, data driven advertising across its retail footprint.

This deployment will double DG’s existing in-store audio presence and increase measurement capabilities, bringing the total number of DG stores with in-store audio capabilities to 12,000 in Q2 2026.

“We’re constantly looking for innovative ways to help brands meaningfully connect with our customers, and by introducing an AI powered in-store audio network, we’re unlocking an entirely new layer of relevancy and accountability in the shopping experience,” says Austin Leonard, Vice President and General Manager at DG Media Network.

“This platform allows us to deliver localised, real-time messaging at scale across the thousands of communities we serve, especially in underserved and often overlooked rural areas. It’s a powerful way to create value for our brand partners while enhancing the in-store experience for the millions of customers who rely on Dollar General every day through more relevant, contextual messaging designed to add value, not noise, to their shopping trip.”

DoorDash and Wing

DoorDash and Wing have announced the expansion of their partnership to Metro Atlanta in the US.

Eligible DoorDash consumers near Tanger Outlets Locust Grove can now order from a selection of local and national restaurants and choose to have their items delivered by drone in as little as 20 minutes.

The initial lineup includes Molinos Mexican Grill, Koji Japanese Steakhouse, and Sabrosos Mexican Restaurant.

Since first launching together in 2022, DoorDash and Wing have expanded drone delivery to parts of Southwest Virginia, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and the Charlotte region, completing tens of thousands of deliveries.

“Autonomous delivery is an important part of how we’re making local commerce faster, more delightful, and more sustainable,” says Harrison Shih, Head of the DoorDash Drone Programme. “We’re excited to introduce drone delivery to metro Atlanta with Wing as we continue to expand our autonomous capabilities and bring new delivery options to DoorDash consumers. By bringing our Wing partnership to a new city, we’re helping local merchants reach more consumers while improving speed and reliability.”

"Metro Atlanta residents deserve an easy, ultra-fast way to enjoy their favourite meals at peak freshness," says Heather Rivera, Chief Business Officer at Wing. "Wing completes thousands of drone deliveries daily across major US metros, and growing our DoorDash partnership helps us deliver that speed to even more local doorsteps."

Carrefour Israel

Global Retail, a Carrefour Group franchisee, and A2Z Cust2Mate Solutions Corp., have agreed a five-year agreement, valued at approximately $50 million, to deploy 4,000 smart carts across Carrefour Israel stores, alongside a data, retail media and digital services collaboration.

The deal positions Carrefour Israel as one of the first retailers in the world to implement smart cart technology at this scale.

The roll-out is set to begin in the third quarter of 2026 across six Carrefour Israel flagship stores and includes end to end delivery of smart carts, charging infrastructure, software systems, as well as full implementation, training, and long-term support.

"We are proud to lead by pioneering smart cart technology at this unprecedented commercial scale," says Michael Luboschitz, CEO at Carrefour Israel. "The agreement signed is expected to generate for Carrefour Israel profits of approximately $35 million.”

“Deployment of the Cust2Mate smart carts in our stores will grant our shoppers an improved shopper experience, enabling them to enjoy personalised and targeted promotions and a quicker checkout, increasing the same store year on year sales, and improving our operational efficiency, resulting in profits estimated at an additional tens of millions of dollars.”

“The future of retail is fundamentally technological, and we are proud to be the leaders driving that evolution. This agreement is a strategic signal of our commitment to digital transformation. By deploying the A2Z Cust2Mate platform, we are establishing a new global standard for connected, data driven, and personalised shopping experiences that are engineered for scale."

AllSaints

AllSaints has selected Impact Analytics as a partner as it looks to modernise and scale its buying and merchandising operations, moving away from a legacy environment heavily reliant on spreadsheets, manual workflows, and fragmented decision-making.

By adopting AI native planning tools, it says it is aiming to streamline processes, improve forecast accuracy, and enable teams to focus on value added decision-making rather than data manipulation.

“One of the four pillars of our transformation is to become data driven and powered by AI,” says Alfie Meekings, Chief Transformation and Technology Officer at AllSaints.

“We have a great team, but they have to spend so much time manually pulling and analysing data. This partnership allows us to eliminate repetitive, low value tasks so our merchandisers can focus on understanding what is truly happening in our brand and make quicker, higher-quality decisions to get the right products in the right places for our customers.”

The deployment will roll-out in phases to include: CortexEye for agentic AI native business intelligence; allocation and replenishment; markdown and promotional pricing optimisation; merchandise financial planning; assortment and range planning.

A core focus of the initiative is accelerating weekly trading cadence. Today, AllSaints’ Monday trading packs require teams to begin data collation as early as Sunday to gain clarity by Monday afternoon. With CortexEye, the complete Monday trading pack will be available by 8:00 a.m. Monday morning, broken down by department and team.

Carrefour

Carrefour has introduced an AI powered grocery shopping service on ChatGPT, becoming the first major European retailer to integrate its full product offering directly into the platform.

Users in France can now interact with ChatGPT to find recipes, check product availability, build a shopping basket, and select delivery options before completing their purchase on Carrefour’s e-commerce platform.

"Carrefour is targeting France's 26 million ChatGPT users with this integration. That's a massive new storefront that lives inside a chatbot," says Max Sinclair, Founder and CEO at Azoma.

"This is agentic commerce in action. AI handles meal planning, dietary filtering, and basket building on behalf of the shopper. No search results pages. No shelf placements. ChatGPT curates the entire basket through conversation. Carrefour's AI already uses purchase history to personalise recommendations. The longer shoppers use it, the more it learns their preferences, and the harder it becomes for new brands or retailers to break in."

He concludes: "The shift from search and scroll to ask and buy is accelerating. If you're a brand or retailer selling in European markets, when a shopper asks ChatGPT what to buy for dinner tonight, are you part of the answer?"