East of England Co-op makes it snappy: last week’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail technology deals, launches, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Including Paul Smith, Voyado, Whatnot, Shopify, Shein, MediaMarktSaturn, ICA, RELEX Solutions, Albert, Brain Corp, Papa Johns, Google Cloud, Debenhams Group, Delivery Hero, DoorDash, The Cheeky Panda, and ShipStation.

Paul Smith

British luxury design house, Paul Smith, has partnered with Swedish customer experience specialist Voyado.

In a LinkedIn post, Voyado said: “Operating over 120 stores across more than 50 countries, Paul Smith continues to invest in elevating its global customer experience, now with Voyado’s product discovery engine at the core. By enhancing on-site personalisation and localisation, the brand is taking an important step towards delivering more relevant and engaging shopping journeys across markets, at scale.”

"We're excited to welcome Voyado as a key partner as we look to elevate the on-site experience for our customers. Improved personalisation and stronger localisation are central to our growth strategy, and Voyado's platform puts us in a great position to deliver on both,” commented Hannah Bennett, Head of Digital at Paul Smith.

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 rollout 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.”

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."

Fossil

InMobi reports the official launch of InMobi Ad Experiences. The full-funnel solution combines the company’s proprietary first-party data and inventory from Glance, its consumer agentic commerce platform.

Fossil is InMobi’s inaugural brand partner for Ad Experiences, and has deployed the solution for its BIG TIC spring campaign across a multi-screen beta.

“We are focused on investing in innovation that drives measurable brand and business impact,” says Melissa Lowenkron, Chief Brand Officer at Fossil Group. “As we reintroduce BIG TIC to a new generation, partnering with a platform that could deliver both scale and relevance was critical.”

“Our partnership with InMobi did exactly that, combining cinematic creative, native integration, and precision targeting to significantly strengthen brand awareness and recall. This work reflects our broader strategy to modernise how we engage consumers and drive meaningful, sustained growth.”

Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty has taken the wraps off a new distribution centre in the USA.

In a LinkedIn post, Eric Lopez, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Ulta Beauty, said: “I’m thrilled to share a major milestone for our supply chain team as we expand our network with a new regional distribution centre in Salt Lake City, Utah.”

He added: “This investment represents a significant step forward in our supply chain journey, increasing speed to market, driving efficiencies, and creating rewarding career opportunities for more than 400 associates.”

“Bringing a project like this to life takes incredible cross-functional teamwork. I am deeply grateful to the Ulta Beauty team, especially Heather Lane, Nick Kristin, Mike Bogovich, and our outstanding IT team for their partnership and commitment. I’m so proud of what this team continues to accomplish and even more excited for what lies ahead in Salt Lake City.”

Shein

Online fashion and lifestyle retailer, Shein, has announced a new suite of localised services for UK sellers on its Marketplace offering.

Launched in the UK in 2024, Marketplace enables brands and sellers to list their products online, allowing them to reach more than 100 million customers across Europe, and even more internationally, through Shein’s global platform.

The company has now partnered with THG Fulfil to offer a direct integration, providing sellers with global logistics capabilities. The partnership allows orders to flow straight from the Shein marketplace into THG Fulfil’s network, with the aim of creating a frictionless, end-to-end process for sellers including a seamless returns flow, late-night cut-offs for next day delivery, and a streamlined pathway to scale.  

“We’re pleased to see more than 3,000 UK sellers active on Marketplace,” says Christina Fontana, Senior Director for Brand Operations EMEA at Shein. “It’s especially encouraging to see British brands growing their footprint and sales across Europe through the platform.

“By enhancing the seller experience and strengthening integrations with local partners, such as with THG Fulfil, we've made it easier for UK brands and retailers to scale their operations while maintaining full control over their brand and assortment. We've seen particular success with small and medium-sized businesses who are transforming their sales by plugging into our platform, and we're excited to help even more British businesses succeed.” 

Albert

Brain Corp has announced results from the expansion of its partnership with Albert to deploy AI powered shelf scanning robots. Albert, a retail brand in the Czech Republic and a subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize, operates 350 stores nationwide.

Historically, inventory management at Albert has been a highly structured, daily operation relying heavily on manual execution. After replenishment cycles, empty shelves are scanned by store associates and managers to correct discrepancies in the system.

The retailer identified challenges in maintaining inventory accuracy, often as a result of staff shortages, time constraints, and varying levels of experience that delays vital corrections, leaving products unavailable until the next delivery window. This visibility gap directly impacts sales, strains relationships with brand partners, and negatively affects the shopper experience.

Following a 2022 deployment of Tennant robotic floor scrubbers powered by BrainOS, Albert partnered with Brain Corp to evaluate whether AI powered shelf scanning could reliably operate under real store conditions to close this operational gap.

FYUL

TrusTrace, a specialist in supply chain traceability and compliance, has announced a partnership with FYUL, an on-demand merchandise platform representing Printify, Printful, and Snow Commerce.

FYUL works with brands including MTV, NBC, Comedy Central, SpongeBob SquarePants, Coca-Cola, and Dunkin' Donuts, and operates across a broad network of suppliers and manufacturing facilities worldwide.

As regulatory requirements around supply chain transparency tighten, FYUL has selected TrusTrace to centralise compliance documentation, map its supplier network, and collect the data needed to meet emerging EU regulations.

Delivery Hero

Delivery Hero has unveiled Herogen, an autonomous software delivery agent that was first introduced to the company’s product and engineering teams in February.

Built in-house on Large Language Models (LLMs), Herogen delivers an annual coding output equivalent to 130 senior engineers, and its capacity is expanding rapidly, the company claims.

While previous generations of AI coding assistants required constant manual oversight and revisions, Herogen operates autonomously. Delivery Hero’s product and engineering teams assign tasks in natural language and Herogen then writes, tests, and iterates on the code, before submitting the result as a proposal.

A "council of agents" - built on a number of LLMs from different providers - reviews the code from various perspectives before a human does a final check. Using multiple models reduces the chance that blind spots in any single model's training data slip through.

Currently, Herogen demonstrates an 85% success rate, measured as the ratio between merged and rejected pull requests. The vast majority of tasks require zero or one interaction with the human in the loop, with built-in safeguards enabling intervention when needed. 

By autonomously merging over 100 code change requests per day, it has effectively freed up an estimated 250,000 hours of manual coding annually. Although currently adopted by only 18% of the company’s developers, it is responsible for 9% of all code change requests across Delivery Hero. The company plans to continue expanding its reach, with a goal of having it handle 20% of all code change requests by year's end. 

Moneygram

MoneyGram has announced the global launch of modernised retail solutions, built on Stripe.

"We're modernising one of the world's largest payments networks to make the movement of money across borders seamless, affordable and secure for everyone," says Anthony Soohoo, MoneyGram Chairman and CEO.  "That means connecting our entire global network across retail and digital channels into a single, unified experience for our customers."

The project involves: payment terminals supporting multiple payment types including debit and signature capture; Tap-to-pay for fast, contactless transactions, including digital wallets, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay; Pay-by-link enabling customers to complete transactions remotely and securely from their personal device; Bluetooth enabled devices and QR-based payments to support more flexible, mobile agent workflows.

"This is about bringing the full power of our platform into every interaction," says Luke Tuttle, MoneyGram Chief Product and Technology Officer. "We're evolving our retail network into a digitally connected ecosystem, enabling consumers to use their preferred way to pay, while empowering our agents to deliver a faster, more seamless experience."

The roll-out is underway across the United States, European Union and United Kingdom, with continued global expansion planned.

Tilt

Tilt, a live auction app for fashion, collectibles etc, has announced the launch of Snap - a new integrated AI feature that automatically creates product listings from live video, and in early testing is delivering a 47% increase in sales simply through smarter listing.

Tilt cites industry research that shows marketplace sellers lose roughly 16 hours per week to manual admin, with individual product listings taking 8-12 minutes each to create. Snap, it claims, does it in under one second, creating higher quality listings in the process.

“Live selling works best when sellers can just be themselves.” says Abhi Thanendran, Co-founder and CEO at Tilt. “ Right now they're trying to run a shop and host a show at the same time. We want the only job a seller has on Tilt to be talking to their audience. Everything else should be the AI's problem.” 

By watching and listening to streams in real-time, Snap automatically creates higher quality product listings - including better titles, optimised descriptions, and more accurate categories and prices - the moment a seller holds up an item.

ICA

ICA, Sweden’s largest grocery retailer, is expanding its collaboration with RELEX Solutions to support end-to-end promotions planning across its operations. It will implement RELEX Promotions to improve evaluation, planning, and optimisation processes.

ICA operates approximately 1,300 grocery stores across Sweden, managing an assortment of roughly 200,000 SKUs through a centralised distribution model. Since implementing RELEX in 2018, it has improved forecast accuracy, while reducing inventory levels and safety stock.

It manages complex promotional activity that requires close alignment between demand signals and inventory availability. RELEX will strengthen ICA’s ability to plan, evaluate and optimise promotions while maintaining visibility into supply chain constraints.

“We are proud of what ICA and RELEX have accomplished together since 2018, and pleased to support their next phase,” says Jason Berry, Senior Vice President, EMEA, RELEX Solutions. “By connecting promotions planning with their existing forecasting and replenishment foundation, ICA will gain the visibility and control needed to optimise promotional effectiveness across their entire network. This expansion demonstrates the value of our unified platform approach.”

Visualsoft

Unified commerce specialist,  Visualsoft, has launched VS Labs, a new product and innovation studio focused on building Shopify apps and in-store technology that connect online and physical retail experiences.

To mark the launch, it is inviting a UK-based independent retailer across any sector to take part in a unified retail programme. The selected brand will act as a live test environment for new tools and in-store innovation, working with the VS Labs team to shape how products are developed and deployed in real retail settings.

In return, they will receive a fully supported package of Shopify apps, in-store technology and hardware designed to strengthen both e-commerce and PoS operations. The initiative is designed to move beyond theory and test what works in practice, with a focus on solving everyday retail challenges.

Chris Fletcher, CEO at Visualsoft, says: “For decades we’ve helped retailers run better day to day, and VS Labs is a natural extension of that, building the tech that supports it. It gives us a way to turn what we’ve learned into products, and move faster on what retailers need to grow across online and in-store.”

Currys

Currys has announced a new partnership with the retail industry charity, Retail Trust, that aims to give its 15,000 staff more support to protect their mental health.

Staff at the UK omnichannel technology retailer now have access to a range of new wellbeing resources, including counselling for themselves, all household relatives, and a specialist service for young people, as well as financial aid and 24-hour support from the Retail Trust’s wellbeing helpline.

Free training and online tools to help colleagues deal with abuse at work are also being provided as part of the partnership and the Retail Trust’s generative AI powered wellbeing dashboard will help Currys better identify and respond to mental health trends.

Alongside its work with the Retail Trust, Currys has made undisclosed investments to improve colleague safety in stores, including the roll-out of a new incident reporting platform, improved in‑store CCTV and strengthened security infrastructure.

MediaMarktSaturn

One Tech Group and MediaMarktSaturn are expanding their partnership, which launched in October of last year. In addition to the existing offering in Germany and Spain, the in-store retail media inventory of the European consumer electronics retailer is now also programmatically available in six additional European markets.

The network will comprise around 738 stores and approximately 53,672 screens with 68 million contacts per week. 

For advertisers, campaigns can be centrally managed via One Tech Group’s ad server (ADSERVER1), while inventory can be marketed and booked programmatically via the supply-side platform (SSP1).

Since 1st April, Austria, Switzerland and Turkey have been connected to the One Tech Group platform. From 1st May, three further countries - Belgium, Luxembourg and Hungary - will follow. The newly added markets comprise 300 additional stores and 23.5 million contacts per week.

The inventory is connected to key demand-side platforms via One Tech Group’s SSP1, including The Trade Desk, Active Agent, Hawk, Adform and StackAdapt. This allows advertisers to integrate their campaigns into existing programmatic workflows and benefit from precise targeting capabilities directly at the Point of Sale, where purchasing decisions are made.

The integration with DSPs also allows in-store retail media campaigns to be more effectively aligned with digital activities and executed using consistent audience targeting logic. This environment is particularly relevant for advertisers who wish to reach tech savvy audiences directly within the shopping context.

“By expanding our in-store retail media offering across Europe, we are making reach at the Point of Sale predictable and actionable for advertisers across national borders,” says Boris Prondzinski, Managing Director at MediaMarktSaturn Retail Media & Partner Marketing.

“Together with the One Tech Group, we are thereby strengthening a channel that reaches consumers directly in the shopping environment and can increasingly be integrated into data-driven omnichannel campaigns. In this way, we are creating a unique platform for brands that want to reach their target audiences in physical stores across Europe.”

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.

Academy Sports + Outdoors

Revionics, an Aptos company specialising in AI retail pricing, reports that Academy Sports + Outdoors has extended its use of the Base Price and Markdown Optimisation solutions.

Originally founded in 1938 as a family business in Texas, Academy has grown to more than 300 stores across 21 states. Its product assortment focuses on key categories of outdoor, apparel, footwear, and sports and recreation through both  national brands and a portfolio of private label brands.

Deploying Revionics technology, Academy is able to: optimise pricing across products and categories with reporting on the impact and value generated by price changes; refine markdown cadence and depth to clear seasonal inventory profitably and keep on-shelf selections fresh; accurately forecast customer demand and price sensitivity to ensure optimal pricing and a positive price image; scale pricing operations efficiently to manage an expanding store portfolio and localised shopper preferences.

ASHA

TV personality and model Tasha Ghouri has launched a new resort wear brand, ASHA, which has been built using accessibility technology from UK-based platform EnableAll. This enables users to customise their online shopping experience based on individual needs, from visual adjustments to sign language support.

Over the Easter weekend , accessibility tools on the ASHA website were activated more than 1,400 times, with over 1,100 individual feature uses recorded. Sign language support proved the most popular, used 326 times.

Ghouri, who was born deaf and uses a cochlear implant, says: "Being born deaf, I know what it feels like when the world isn't built for you. That's why we chose to work with EnableAll. Their software makes sure my clothing brand speaks to everyone. Real inclusion means proactively removing barriers, not just talking about them, so I encourage other brands to follow our lead and implement accessibility solutions.”

ASHA’s site includes features that allow users to tailor their browsing experience, such as adjusting colours and layouts, enabling text-to-speech, and removing motion elements that can trigger conditions like vertigo or epilepsy. Background technology also continuously improves site compatibility for assistive tools such as screen readers and keyboard navigation.

Ghouri says: “Preparing to launch weareasha.com I searched for accessibility apps that could deliver compliance, but in particular we needed sign language. I installed a few apps and none of them delivered the full suite of options and the ease of useability we demanded. The third one I installed was EnableAll and its capabilities and performance are outstanding.”

DoorDash and Empire Company

DoorDash reports one of its largest grocery expansions in Canada through a new partnership with Empire Company, bringing more than 1,000 stores across 10 provinces onto its marketplace.

The tie up involves 12 grocery banners from Empire’s family of brands, including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, FreshCo, Farm Boy, and Longo’s, onto DoorDash. Convenience options like Needs, Boni-Soir, and Voisin are also available.

DoorDash now partners with four of the largest five grocery companies in Canada (based on reported sales figures).

“Home to over a dozen banners spanning coast to coast, Empire is one of the most trusted names in Canadian grocery and retail,” says Mike Goldblatt, Vice President of Enterprise Business Development and Partnerships at DoorDash.

“As Canadians increasingly face time pressure, DoorDash is proud to help give some time back through on-demand grocery delivery, whether it’s a full weekly shop or just for tonight’s dinner. Together, we’re making everyday shopping more convenient and accessible.”

The Cheeky Panda

ShipStation, a shipping and logistics platform, reports a partnership with The Cheeky Panda, a B Corp certified UK company focused on sustainable bamboo tissue products.

The Cheeky Panda was founded to tackle the issue of deforestation by creating household tissue products from sustainably sourced bamboo.

"We started this business because we believe that everyday choices can lead to extraordinary change," says Chris Forbes, Co-Founder at The Cheeky Panda. " We all share a responsibility to protect our planet, and our mission is to provide an option that allows consumers to do just that, without compromising on quality."

The brand uses ShipStation to streamline its fulfilment process. This reduces waste, minimises shipping errors, and allows the company to scale its positive environmental impact.

Debenhams Group

Debenhams Group reports that it has raised over £260,000 with micro-donation charity Pennies, as it expands the partnership to other brands, including Karen Millen, boohooMAN and PrettyLittleThing.

Karen Millen customers can now donate to Breast Cancer Now. In addition, the brand will be donating bras to the charity, to support patients following operations.

boohooMAN will partner with Manchester Mind, allowing customers to donate to the work the charity does to provide mental health services in Manchester.

PrettyLittleThing customers will also be able to donate to the brand’s chosen charity over the coming weeks. Boohoo will continue to work with Women’s Aid, including donating samples to women supported by the charity’s work. Debenhams will also continue its partnership with the British Heart Foundation, building on the over £240,000 raised for the charity since March 2025.

The partnership with Pennies enables customers to round up their purchases to the nearest pound at checkout. To date, it has generated more than 850,000 individual micro-donations.