Next over-delivers, Thierry Garnier heads to Ahold Delhaize: the retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail tech news? Then this is the article for you. Including Alibaba, Voru, East of England Co-op, Lidl GB, Starbucks, ReFiBuy, Corvera, Morrisons, Vusion, RTS 2026, Amazon Now, Ikea, and Pricer.
7...Lidl GB is expanding its Lidl & Go customer trial to seven stores, allowing customers to scan items as they shop and monitor their spending in real-time via the Lidl Plus app before completing their purchases.
Following a friends and family trial in three stores last year, this will now be available in locations located in Airdrie, Cardiff, Epsom, Glenrothes, Kingston, Guilford and Eastleigh. This next phase of the trial will provide the insights needed to enhance the customer experience ahead of any further roll-out.
Louise Weise, Chief Customer Officer, at Lidl GB, says: “This trial is another step forward in our digital evolution, giving shoppers a smarter, faster, and more flexible way to shop. As we continue to invest in Lidl Plus, our focus remains on making the shopping experience simple and rewarding. Whether a customer chooses a traditional checkout, self-service, or the autonomy of self-scanning, our priority is ensuring they have the flexibility to shop on their own terms.”
The expansion of the pilot follows the latest phase of the Lidl Plus experience, which introduced points earlier this week. This offers shoppers more choice in how they’re rewarded and a way to save even more on their shop, launched in response to customer demand for greater flexibility in how rewards are earned and used.
$1 million...Alibaba.com has announced the return of CoCreate Pitch, now reworked as an AI powered product innovation competition with a total prize pool of over $1 million.
The US and Europe finals will take place during CoCreate 2026 in Los Angeles (9th-10th September) and London (19th-20th November), respectively, with a new Asia-Pacific regional round launching this year.
“In a world where execution is automated, your perspective is your greatest asset,” says Kuo Zhang, President at Alibaba.com. “Accio Work (Alibaba’s plug and play enterprise AI agent) is the essential toolkit for every entrepreneur in this AI era, allowing anyone with a strong idea to reach the world. Now is the best time to start, and we’re excited to see what founders will build.”
This year’s competition includes three tracks:
· General SMEs Track, for established small and medium businesses ready to scale;
· 0-to-1 Startup Track, for founders using Accio Work to bring raw ideas to life; and
· Students Track, for current students building next-generation products.
All applicants will register through Accio Work, which now includes a dedicated CoCreate Pitch Agent to help turn early-stage concepts into structured pitch proposals and actionable plans.
Submissions will be evaluated based on innovation, feasibility and market potential, as well as how effectively participants use Accio Work to sharpen their ideas and improve execution.
The Los Angeles and London finals will each feature 20 finalists competing live at CoCreate. Winners will be selected by a panel of industry leaders and investors. In each final, the first-, second-, and third-place winners will receive $200,000, $100,000, and $50,000, respectively, while the other 17 finalists will each bag $10,000. The total prize pool for the newly introduced Asia-Pacific regional competition will be announced at a later date.
$22 million...Vori has raised a $22 million Series B to help with its mission to make every supermarket in America autonomous.
In a LinkedIn post, Brandon Hill, CEO at Vori, said: “Grocery is a $1.5 trillion domestic market - bigger than restaurants, bigger than hotels. But it's running on technology from the Reagan administration. This industry is massive, essential, and near and dear to my heart.”
He added: “My parents met in a supermarket. My grandparents owned a grocery store. My mom Tori works at Vori. Walmart and Amazon have invested heavily in this space, capturing 25% of US grocery spending. But no one is building tech for the other 75% of the market. Vori is the engine for grocery: an AI native operating system that handles checkout, payments, pricing, ordering, inventory, and loyalty.”
Since launch, the company has processed $500 million+ in payments across 140+ stores in 55+ cities, serving over one million consumers nationwide. In the past six months, it lays claim to doubling payment volume, with new stores being onboarded every day. “The revenue we used to close in a year, we now close in a month,” Hill said.
The Series B round, led by Adrianna Samaniego at Cherryrock Capital with participation from Mike Duboe at Greylock Partners and Factory, brings total funding to date to $50 million. The cash will go toward expanding the engineering and product teams, shipping the next generation of AI agents for grocery, and bringing Vori to thousands more stores.
7...Ahold Delhaize head honcho, Frans Muller, is to retire and will be succeeded by Thierry Garnier, CEO at European DIY group Kingfisher.
Garnier held that role for nearly seven years. A search for his successor is underway.
Claudia Arney, Chair at Kingfisher, said: "On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Thierry for his outstanding leadership and contribution as Kingfisher’s CEO. During his tenure, Thierry has overseen the launch and progress of our 'Powered by Kingfisher' strategy, led the company through the Covid-19 pandemic and driven many strategic innovations such as the launch of Kingfisher’s marketplaces and the development of our trade business, while also executing at pace on all our priorities."
She added: "Under his leadership, we have become a leading home improvement group underpinned by strong banners across the UK and Europe. Thierry has built an experienced leadership team who are well placed to continue delivering on our strategy and growth opportunities. We wish him the very best for the future."
6.2%...Next’s full-price sales rose 6.2% in the first quarter.
Aarin Chiekrie, Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: “A strong start to the year helped Next fashion another slim upgrade to full-year profit guidance. The uplift was driven by a better than expected UK performance over the first quarter, with double-digit online growth more than offsetting a 3.4% decline in its retail stores."
"International sales continued to be a major growth driver, with sales rising at double digit rates over the quarter. However, performance was mixed over the period, with sales drying up in the early weeks of the Middle East crisis as it caused severe disruption to service in the region. As delivery services in the area returned to normal, sales growth has rebounded sharply, albeit not to the levels seen prior to the conflict."
Next had previously assumed three months of disruption in the Middle East, which would have added an additional £15 million in costs. But with no clear end to the conflict in sight, oil and freight prices are expected to remain elevated for some time, and cost guidance has been upgraded to £47 million for this year.
The group expects to fully offset this impact through price increases in the Middle East and cost savings elsewhere in the business. Next appears to be sheltering UK consumers from the worst of the impact, with UK price increases not expected to exceed 0.6%."
Chiekrie says: "Looking ahead, UK sales are set to come up against some tough comparable numbers in the second quarter, with last year’s figures benefiting from exceptionally warm weather and major disruption at M&S. While some caution is wise, Next has developed a track record of under-promising and over-delivering in recent years. And as a leader in the UK market, it’s better placed than many UK retail peers to navigate a tougher backdrop.”
59...Starbucks Chilled Coffee’s new brand platform has gone live across 59 EMEA markets with key countries including the UK, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Poland.
‘WHATEVER YOUR THING, we’re in’ is inspired by the pressure young people feel to constantly edit themselves - and their desire to reject that expectation and truly be themselves.
The integrated campaign, led by AMV BBDO with Edelman, Carat and BD, will roll-out across social, OOH, shopper and AV, supported by paid, earned and creator activity
At the heart of it is a hero film starring longboard skater Jikal Hassan. The film was shot with an observational, cinematic feel, following Jikal weaving through a city - suitcase in tow - moving between moments with confidence and purpose.
$60 million...ZyG has raised a $60 million Series A, coming on the heels of its seed round of $58 million in March.
This was led by Accel, with participation from Felix Capital and additional new and existing investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Sonali De Rycker, partner at Accel, will be joining the ZyG board of directors.
ZyG was built by the founders of ironSource, which went public on the NYSE at $11 billion and later merged with Unity, who joined forces with AI experts from one of Israel’s top cyber units.
ZyG OS is pitched as the first end-to-end platform for entrepreneurs and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands to build e-commerce at scale. Leveraging its agentic infrastructure, ZyG OS identifies products with strong scale potential and executes every function needed for scale, from building the online brand and store to generating creatives, running user acquisition and organic growth to optimising conversion, retention, and logistics.
The firm says that it is currently partnering with online brands with excellent products that have gotten initial traction online but do not have the capability to build out the technology stack, AI expertise, and data capabilities necessary to massively scale in the US. All of these brands have gone through ZyG’s agentic Product Market Fit test and achieved a high ZyG Score, which predicts scale potential.
£2 million...East of England Co-op reports underlying trading profit of £2 million for 2025, up £1 million from the previous year.
2025 highlights included opening its first fully cashless store at Ipswich train station, recognised as one of 25 ‘stores of the future’ worldwide by Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD)
Andy Rigby, Chief Executive Officer at East of England Co-op, says: “Over the 45 years I’ve been in the retail business, last year was one of the most challenging I’ve experienced in the food retail space. But, against the odds, we’ve delivered an underlying trading profit of £2 million.”
He adds: “We were faced with the impact of the cyber incident on Co-op Group, affecting deliveries to our stores, however our incredible local suppliers and colleagues came together brilliantly to minimise the impact to our customers. The way we weathered this storm to deliver a 100% increase in profit is testament to our resilience. We’re a proudly independent local retailer, deeply committed to serving communities in the place we call home, the East of England.”
£11 million...UK home improvement and garden living retailer, B&Q, has announced the launch of an EV charging partnership, following an £11 million investment by RAW Charging to develop EV charging points designed for the trades.
The tie up will deliver high power, ultra-rapid EV charging hubs at B&Q locations across the UK. The bays are also spacious and include longer dwell time options so customers can take their time while they shop.
The DC rapid and ultra-rapid charging bays will be installed at up to 26 B&Q stores across England and Wales over the next 12 months, and grid upgrades and high voltage connections will be delivered by RAW where required.
The first wave of installations is underway with charging bays installed at B&Q Cheltenham, Sidcup, Boston, Stanmore and Galashiels. Once live, customers are able to access the network via contactless payment and all major EV charging apps.
$13.6 million...ReFiBuy, an agentic commerce optimisation platform for brands and retailers, has announced $13.6 million in a seed funding round led by NewRoad Capital Partners. This includes new backers Ridge Ventures, Silicon Road Ventures, Incubate Fund, and VELA Partners, with continued support from G20 Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Knoll Ventures, and retail industry angel investors.
The capital will be used to scale ReFiBuy's Commerce Intelligence Engine and accelerate go to market plans.
"This seed round represents both the strong interest from the investment community in agentic commerce and solidifies our leadership position in the space," says Scot Wingo, CEO and Co-founder at ReFiBuy. "We plan to leverage the seed to accelerate our platform as well as our go-to-market motion to match the urgency our customers and prospects are feeling from this tectonic change."
78%...The rapid rise of Q-commerce platforms such as Deliveroo is reshaping how UK shoppers think about grocery shopping, pricing and loyalty, and raising the bar for in-store experiences, according to new research from Pricer.
Its study of 1,000 UK grocery shoppers reveals a market under pressure from rising costs but increasingly influenced by digital convenience and personalised experiences typically associated with rapid delivery platforms.
While Q-commerce has grown by embedding loyalty schemes, personalised offers and frictionless pricing into the shopping journey, traditional grocery retailers risk losing ground if they fail to match these expectations in-store.
“Q-commerce is changing where people shop, but more importantly what they expect from every shopping experience,” says Finn Wikander, Chief Product Officer at Pricer. “Shoppers are now used to personalised pricing, real-time promotions and seamless loyalty integration. They increasingly expect the same level of transparency and responsiveness when they walk into a physical store.”
78% of shoppers expect in-store prices to match online, while 79% say consistent pricing drives loyalty. 66% are frustrated by channel exclusive deals, while 48% check prices online while shopping in-store, rising sharply among younger and affluent shoppers. At the same time, 74% actively seek out discounts and promotions.
80%...The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is calling on the UK government to act on soaring domestic policy costs, as new polling shows 80% of people fear the Middle East conflict will push up food prices.
It says that retailers are already absorbing significant additional costs from the conflict. Rising gas and electricity prices are pushing up production, shipping and distribution costs throughout the supply chain, with knock-on effects for fertiliser, manufacturing and logistics. While retailers will do everything they can to mitigate impacts on customers, those pressures will inevitably filter through to the till over the coming months.
But the situation in the Gulf is only part of the picture. Over the past two years, retailers have absorbed £6.5 billion in additional employment costs from rising employer NICs and the National Living Wage, alongside a new packaging tax (EPR) costing £1.6 billion.
Further regulatory burdens are imminent, including guaranteed hours provisions under the Employment Rights Act and the proposed reformulation of thousands of food lines under the new Nutrient Profiling Model - both due to land on a supply chain needs to focus on its resilience in the months ahead.
Unlike wholesale energy prices, these policy costs do not ease when global markets stabilise, because they are determined by government and regulators, not by supply and demand. The warning from retailers comes as polling by Opinium for the BRC shows that four in five people fear the conflict will push up food prices, while 73% expect it to raise the price of other products. Meanwhile, 81% are worried about rising energy bills, 76% about petrol and diesel, and 68% about tax increases.
This is based on a survey of 8,400 consumers across eight European countries and flags the rise of AI agents autonomously managing the entire transaction journey, from research and negotiation through to purchase, delivery terms and after‑sales service.
The research suggests this shift will be driven less by technology than by trust. Across Europe, 41% of consumers say they do not yet trust any single organisation to provide them with an AI shopping agent, underlining the scale of the challenge facing retailers, platforms and tech providers.
100...Jysk is aiming over the next three years to open up to 100 new stores in central locations across European capitals and other large cities, including Dublin, Madrid and Bucharest. Oslo, Stockholm and Amsterdam.
“With more than 3,600 stores primarily across Europe, JYSK is already widely established and known for our great offers in many places. But there is still room for more stores when we look at the map of Europe, and we want to get even closer to the many customers who live in European capitals and other key cities,” says Rami Jensen, President and CEO at Jysk.
1...Ingka Group, the largest Ikea retailer, has opened its first small format store in eastern Beijing. The 1,500 m² location, offering more than 3,000 home furnishing products, welcomed thousands of visitors on its inauguration day at the recently opened Wangfujing WellTown shopping centre in Beijing’s Tongzhou District.
The new store - the company’s fifth in the Chinese capital - is tailored to findings about how people live in Beijing and what type of solutions could improve their life at home further. Visitors can also access one-on-one planning support from home furnishing experts, alongside a curated food offering.
“Beijing has always been one of our key markets in China,” says Pontus Erntell, CEO at Ikea China. “Just a few weeks after opening a small store in Shenzhen, we are now bringing Ikea closer to a new community in the capital and, with further expansion both physically and digitally, to many more people across China.”
“One solution doesn’t fit all - and that is what makes our expansion more relevant today,” says Javier Quiñones, Global Commercial Manager at Ingka Group (Ikea). “We are getting closer to more people than ever, while continuously learning how to optimise our offer and presence.”
£3 million...Corvera, a London founded agentic supply chain management platform backed by Y Combinator, has raised £3 million ($4.2 million) in seed funding to accelerate its expansion and automate end-to-end operational workflows for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands.
The round was led by 6 Degrees Capital, with participation from over 20 venture capital and angel investors including 20VC, Rebel Fund, Duke Capital Partners, and Multimodal Ventures. The cash will be used to scale the startup’s platform, hire additional staff, and build the customer base.
The company is based in San Francisco and led by CEO Chris Kong, who previously built Better Nature into a leading European tempeh brand, scaling distribution to 5,000 stores before stepping back in 2025 and earning a place on Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ Europe 2025 list.
He is joined by CTO Dirk Breeuwer, former head of data and AI at Google; CPO Matthew Collins, former Head of Product at Rosemark (successor to Rosetta, acquired by Publicis for $575 million); and Founding Engineer Berk Güngör, an AI and machine learning specialist.
50...Morrisons reports that it has installed its 50th store with digital shelf edge labels.
In a LinkedIn post, Charlotte Rush, Senior Productivity Manager - Projects at Morrisons, said: "Through our strategic partnership with Vusion, we are leveraging technology to enhance the shelf-edge experience for our customers whilst driving operational efficiency. By automating historically manual processes, we are empowering our store teams to focus more on serving our customers."
She added: "A massive thank you to the amazing team whose hard work and expertise have enabled us to deliver the roll-out at such a pace. I am looking forward to working with you all more as we continue the roll out across the rest of our estate."
2,000...Ahold Delhaize USA has announced an expanded partnership with Uber Eats involving on-demand grocery delivery to customers across the US Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Nearly 2,000 stores - operated by Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, encompassing GIANT and MARTIN’s, Hannaford and Stop & Shop - are now available on the Uber Eats marketplace.
“Customers expect flexibility in how they shop, and that means being wherever they are, whether through our own brand experiences or trusted marketplaces like Uber Eats,” says Keith Nicks, Chief Commercial and Digital Officer, Ahold Delhaize USA. “This partnership reinforces our brands’ commitments to being leading omnichannel retailers, making it even easier for customers to access the brands they know and trust.”
The move builds on an existing partnership between Ahold Delhaize USA and Uber Direct, a delivery solution supporting Ahold Delhaize USA brands’ first-party delivery channels.
8...Amazon Now has launched an eighth site in London, building on go lives in Lewisham and Battersea and a debut during January of QLD1 - the service's first on demand delivery site in the UK.
This lets customers purchase thousands of everyday essentials, such as groceries and personal care items, that will be delivered within minutes. In India, it last year brought ten-minute delivery to Mumbai following launches in Bengaluru and Delhi, with 100+ micro-fulfilment centres operational.
In a LinkedIn post, Mehmood Kausar, Area Manager at Amazon, said: "Over the past four months, there hasn’t been a single day without planning, planning and more planning to deliver site launches, working across multiple stakeholders, opening individual sites, scaling up to two in a single day, and then doing it all again the following week."
He added: "Today (1st May), that journey has led to the successful launch of eight sites. What a journey so far, I’ve gained invaluable experience, managing a team of 100+ associates across multiple locations, leading recruitment, coordinating international visits, and helping shape the operating policies that support the growth of quick commerce in its early stages.”
“Moments like these make it all worthwhile, when the first order goes out and reaches a customer within 30 minutes. And we’re far from finished. The next chapter is already underway!"
20%...Research by Jaywing shows that, while Amazon is still the dominant retailer in AI search across most Australian retail categories, Woolies and Coles top AI brand visibility in the grocery and food category.
While Amazon leads in AI search responses for six of the major retail categories, in grocery and food, Woolworths comes top with 20% of AI brand visibility, followed by Coles at 17%, Amazon 13% and Aldi in fourth with 7%.
Jaywing’s study analysed factors that influence which retailers and brands are surfaced in AI generated answers, including intent, funnel stage, content format and brand presence across key retail categories including electronics; fashion and apparel; health and beauty; hobbies and recreational goods; home and living; and hobbies and recreational goods; books, stationary and multi-media.
36.7 million...More than 36.7 million items have been sold in Amazon Just Walk Out technology enabled stores over the span of a year (June 2024 to May 2025).
This combines AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and RFID to deliver a friction free shopping experience, with the aim of saving time for customers and streamlining operations for retailers.
In 2024, we reported that Amazon was removing the technology from its grocery stores in the US. This was replaced by Dash Carts, with Amazon continuing to offer JWO to third-party companies.
“We’ve invested a lot of time redesigning a number of our Amazon Fresh stores over the last year, offering a better overall shopping experience with more value, convenience, and selection, and so far we’ve seen positive results, with higher customer shopping satisfaction scores and increased purchasing," said spokesperson Jessica Martin.
“We’ve also heard from customers that while they enjoyed the benefit of skipping the checkout line with Just Walk Out, they also wanted the ability to easily find nearby products and deals, view their receipt as they shop, and know how much money they saved while shopping throughout the store.”
1,900...Virgin Media O2 has opened a new store in Liverpool that focuses on mobile, broadband and connected technology.
Located on the upper level at Liverpool ONE and spanning over 1,900 sqft, the space has been designed to showcase the very best of Virgin Media O2’s products and services in an engaging, hands-on environment while placing the customer front and centre of the in-store experience.
Will Houldsworth, Director of Retail, Virgin Media O2, says: “Opening our new store here in Liverpool is a really exciting moment for us. Liverpool ONE is at the heart of the city’s shopping and social scene, so it’s the perfect place to bring our latest products and services closer to the local community. We’re committed to giving customers a great in-store experience where they can explore, learn and get support face-to-face.”
“Over the past year, we’ve invested heavily in upgrading our stores across the UK, and Liverpool is a key part of that journey. As we continue to invest in the future, including launching new tools to support our colleagues, we’re committed to providing brilliant service for our customers across the region.”
450...Retail Technology Show (RTS) returned to London’s ExCeL last month and delivered its biggest innovation showcase yet.
There were over 450+ innovators on the expo floor, spotlighting new solutions powering the future of retail. In what RTS speaker and Dragon’s Den star, Touker Suleyman, described as an “overwhelming” amount of innovation, the show floor was packed with a full spectrum of technologies, spanning AI, e-commerce and supply chain through to logistics, customer engagement and personalisation.
“Every retailer should walk this show, decide what’s right for them and invest,” Suleyman added, while Iain Robertson, Chief Operating & Innovation Officer at Fortnum & Mason, said RTS remains an invaluable platform for evaluating “what’s hype and what’s not” when making tech investment decisions.
80%...Majid Al Futtaim and Visa have released a new whitepaper that focuses on what’s really driving the next phase of retail growth. And it is not more tech. It is trust. In fact, nine out of ten consumers say they would abandon a brand after a single poor experience.
This introduces an idea called the Trust Loop, a framework that shows how retailers either win or lose customers across three moments that matter: relevance, authorisation, and resolution.
Key findings:
80% of payments in the UAE are now digital, cementing the shift to always on, frictionless commerce
67% of consumers used their mobile phone in their most recent retail purchase
37% complete purchases entirely on mobile, the highest rate globally
82% would shop online more often if checkout was reduced to one click
Two thirds are ready to adopt biometric authentication for payments
Within Majid Al Futtaim’s ecosystem, AI led personalisation is now delivering a 23% uplift in engagement
Visa has invested $3.3 billion into AI and data to strengthen fraud prevention at scale
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