Retail technology innovations of the week: featuring Lidl GB, Amazon, OTB Group, Google Cloud

Retail Technology Innovations of the Week is a series brought to you by RTIH, and sponsored by 3D Cloud, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers.

Every week, we will showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, alongside the publication of the 2026 report later this year.

And this week we’re focusing on Lidl GB which 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.

And honourable mentions to...

OTB Group

OTB Group, the parent company of brands including Diesel, Jil Sander, Maison Margiela, Marni, and Viktor&Rolf, and Google Cloud have announced a collaboration to launch a new personalised shopping experience using the latter’s virtual try-on API. 

The project will initially launch with Diesel and Jil Sander across the United States and Europe, and will expand in the coming months to Marni and Maison Margiela, followed by a roll-out to additional markets.

OTB Group designed this service as a premium clienteling tool, enabling advisors to share curated, hyper-realistic visual previews with selected customers, offering a 360-degree view of the product. Google Cloud's portfolio of AI products including infrastructure, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform and Gemini models, will underpin the solution, with OTB planning to extend these capabilities across its portfolio.

Amazon

Amazon reports that it is rolling out Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) as it opens up its logistics network for other businesses to use.

The online giant says that it is extending its entire portfolio of freight, distribution, fulfillment, and parcel shipping solutions to businesses of all types and sizes.

“Amazon is bringing the infrastructure, intelligence, and scale of its supply chain services, proven over decades, to businesses everywhere, much like Amazon Web Services did for cloud computing,” says Peter Larsen, Vice President at Amazon Supply Chain Services.

“Supply chain wasn’t just a function at Amazon - it was core to providing an exceptional shopping experience. Our differentiator. The reason we could offer fast, dependable delivery that nobody else could. And with the launch of ASCS, we’re confident we can give any other business access to the same cost efficiency, reliability, and speed that we’ve built for Amazon customers.”

Procter & Gamble is using Amazon’s freight services to transport raw materials to production facilities and move finished goods across its distribution network; 3M is leveraging Amazon’s freight services to move products from its manufacturing sites to distribution centres worldwide.

Lands’ End, meanwhile, is tapping a unified inventory pool within Amazon’s network to fulfill orders across multiple sales channels; and American Eagle Outfitters is deploying the parcel shipping network to deliver online orders from its American Eagle and Aerie website directly to customers across the US.