Slim Chickens touches down at London Heathrow: last week's most read RTIH retail technology articles
Check out our most clicked articles from last week, including Morrisons, Vusion, Starbucks, Costa Coffee, M&S, LIly AI, AsReader, Holland & Barrett, Fleek, Vinted, and Vista Technology Support.
Physical flops, AI successes and QR code wins: the biggest retail technology stories from H1 2026
Here's your briefing on the most important stories from January to June, including Amazon, Tesco, Hanshow, Quorso, Circle K, Pricer, Carrefour, Vusion, JD Sports Fashion, commercetools, Stripe, Asda, Ocado Group, Co-op, and VoCoVo.
Morrisons hits 100 stores milestone as it rolls out digital shelf edge labels in Vusion partnership
Morrisons reports that it has installed its 100th store with digital shelf edge labels. In a LinkedIn post, Charlotte Rush, Senior Productivity Manager - Projects at Morrisons, said: "Reaching the 100 store milestone is a huge testament to the strength of our strategic partnership with Vusion."
"By digitising the shelf edge, we are using technology to enhance the customer journey while driving operational efficiency across our estate. We’ve eliminated thousands of manual paper updates, freeing up our store colleagues to focus on our customers. We are now utilising innovative Pick to Light functionality. By using flashing lights on the digital labels to guide our online picking teams directly to the correct items."
She concluded: "A big thank you to our in-store teams, our regional support teams, and the core project team who have supported this roll-out every step of the way, enabling us to scale to 100 stores at an incredible pace. Onward to the next 100 stores!"
CTO John Elliott talks people power as he announces Starbucks exit and preps for new career chapter
John Elliott has announced his departure from Starbucks where he has spent the past couple of years, most recently serving as EMEA Vice President for Technology and Supply Chain & Global Vice President for Licensed Technology.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: "Today (Friday 3rd July) marks my last day at Starbucks as I prepare for an exciting new chapter later this month. For all the conversations about strategy, technology and transformation, it’s always the people who make the difference and I’ve had the privilege of working alongside exceptional partners in technology, supply chain and across the wider business, supporting markets throughout EMEA and beyond. Together we’ve helped deliver meaningful change."
He added: "I’d also like to thank our licensees and supplier partners. So much of what makes Starbucks successful happens through collaboration and I’ve been fortunate to work with people who care deeply about delivering for our customers every day. And most importantly, thank you to our green apron partners. You create the moments our customers remember and represent the very best of the Starbucks brand every single day."
Elliott concluded: "I leave with great confidence in the Back to Starbucks strategy and the talented teams across EMEA who are bringing it to life every day. The future is in very capable hands. To everyone who has been part of this journey, thank you. I leave with wonderful memories, friendships and enormous respect for the people who make Starbucks what it is."
Holland & Barrett Group CFO Vineta Bajaj added to stellar 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards judging panel
We're hugely pleased to announce the addition of Vineta Bajaj to the judging panel for the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Vineta is an industry expert in the e-commerce and grocery industry, bringing several years experience in this space.
She spent ten years at Ocado Group, the FTSE 50 online grocer and technology provider supporting its growth and strategic M&A, strategic divestments and fundraising over £1.5 billion. She then took on the Group CFO role at Rohlik Group, a Pan European online grocer spanning five countries that has unicorn status.
Vineta recently joined Holland & Barrett as Group CFO. Her experience spans the US, UK, Europe and Asia. She is a finance, tax and business expert. She acts as an angel investor and advisor to a number of pre-series to Series A startups across a variety of industries and gives her time to supporting small businesses.
Welcome aboard, Vineta!
Further information on our judging panel can be found here. In addition to Rob, it includes representatives from Walmart, JD Sports, Amazon, Boots, Warner Bros. Discovery, East of England Co-op, PoundFun, Austen & Blake, and Gordon Ramsay Restaurants.
London-based startup Fleek raises $25 million for AI powered secondhand fashion supply chain push
Fleek has bagged $25 million in Series B funding. Bringing the total amount raised to date to £45 million, the cash will be used to accelerate development of its AI native marketplace, expand its engineering teams, scale its technology platform and grow its global buyer and supplier network.
The investment was led by Burda Principal Investments, an early Vinted backer and lead investor in its Series C round, with participation from eBay, FJ Labs, and H14, alongside existing backers including Andreessen Horowitz, HV Capital, Y Combinator.
Founded in 2021 by Abhi Arora and Sanket Agarwal, Fleek is building an infrastructure for the global secondhand clothing industry through a B2B marketplace and the AI systems digitising the supply chain behind it.
At the centre of the platform is Fleek Sort, a custom vision language model trained on millions of secondhand marketplace transactions from Fleek’s global network over the past four years. Used by graders in sorting hubs in Pakistan, India and Dubai, and in pilots launching in the UK, Europe and the US, this helps identify, categorise, grade and merchandise secondhand garments using photographs or videos, transforming a historically manual process into a digital workflow. As more inventory is graded, listed and sold through the platform, Fleek Sort continuously learns from real-world outcomes.
Once processed, inventory is automatically listed on Fleek's marketplace, where AI powered pricing, search, recommendation and matching systems connect stock with relevant buyers around the world. Every transaction generates additional data that improves the platform's understanding of secondhand inventory, creating a proprietary intelligence layer for the industry. Through this, Fleek helps suppliers increase recovery rates, enables buyers to source inventory more efficiently and reduces the volume of wasted clothing.
Its platform currently connects 2,000+ verified wholesale suppliers and graders with 50,000+ retailers, resellers and boutiques across 100+ countries.
M&S taps Lily AI Product Intelligence Platform to boost Google shopping and organic search performance
Lily AI has announced a partnership with Marks and Spencer. The retailer is using its tech to automate and improve the creation of structured product data at scale. It says that it has dramatically reduced the manual effort and multiple partners required to bring new items to market while ensuring every product is accurately attributed, categorised, and ready for discovery from day one.
M&S deployed Lily AI’s Product Intelligence Platform to improve its Google shopping and organic search performance. By boosting its product feed with AI powered attributes, it claims to be driving stronger visibility, higher click through rates, and a meaningful lift in revenue from paid and organic channels.
"Lily AI has become a core part of how we manage and scale our product content at M&S. From setting up new items to optimising for Google, the platform delivers across the board. It’s already making a measurable difference to our efficiency and our commercial performance,” says Stephen Orford, Head of Online Experience, Marks & Spencer.
“In a world where your product feed is your storefront - on Google, in AI powered search, and across every channel the quality of your product content is a competitive advantage. Marks & Spencer gets that. And we’re proud to be their partner,” comments Purva Gupta, Co-founder and CEO at Lily AI.
Slim Chickens teams with Vista Technology Support on London Heathrow Terminal 3 store launch
TRGC opened its first Slim Chickens restaurant in London Heathrow, Terminal 3 airside last weekend. It worked with Vista Technology Support's new store opening team on this project.
In a LinkedIn post, Jon Knight, CEO at TRGC, said: "What an opening it was. The team were on point, on time, the food was top notch and the passengers extremely happy. Proud to be part of the team bringing premium QSR chicken to Heathrow."
James Pepper, CEO at Vista Technology Support, commented: "Congratulations to TRGC on the grand opening of Slim Chickens Heathrow T3. Well done to the TRGC and Vista Technology Support NSO project teams who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure everything was in place for opening day. The restaurant looks fantastic. Good luck to all colleagues in the weeks ahead and the busy summer travel period."
Founded in Arkansas, USA, Slim Chickens has built a significant following in the UK with its buttermilk marinated chicken tenders, crispy wings, fresh sandwiches and house dipping sauces. It launched its first store in the UK in 2020 and currently operates over 70 locations on these shores.
AsReader expands RFID basket reading solutions into North American market as it bags new patent
AsReader, a US-based provider of RFID and retail automation technologies, has announced the expansion of its RFID basket reading solutions to now include the entire North American market.
While its Asterisk soluton has previously obtained US patents related to RFID technologies, a new one provides broad patent protection for RFID basket reading technology in retail operations in environments such as apparel stores, supermarkets, and other retail applications.
Called the AsReader RFID Reading TUB, the Point of Sale device has been developed, tested and implemented in Japan by parent company Asterisk. AsReader’s RFID technology enables retailers to instantly identify multiple tagged items placed together inside a shopping basket, tote, container, or checkout area. The technology has been deployed in apparel and specialty retail environments where RFID-based inventory management and checkout systems have become widely adopted, but not approved for us in North America until now.
“Our goal is to bring proven RFID technologies from Japan to retailers throughout North America,” says Paul Whitney, Vice President and COO at AsReader. “Retailers are increasingly looking for ways to improve customer experience, reduce labour requirements, and gain real-time inventory visibility. RFID enables all three.”
AsReader says it will work directly with retailers while also expanding partnerships with PoS system providers, RFID tag manufacturers, system integrators, and technology partners throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. "The broadscope patent strengthens the intellectual property framework supporting RFID Reading TUB deployments and reinforces AsReader's long-term competitive position in one of the world's largest RFID markets," says Whitney.
While retail apparel remains one of the fastest growing RFID sectors due to its already established infrastructure, the company also sees significant opportunities in grocery, supermarket, healthcare, logistics, warehouse, and supply chain applications.
Costa Coffee appoints Matthew Sisk as its new CFO and sets September start date
Costa Coffee has announced the appointment of two new members to its global executive leadership team, following the retirement of its previous Chief People Officer and the move of its former Chief Financial Officer to Head of Investor Relations at the company's owner The Coca Cola Company.
Matthew Sisk will join as Chief Financial Officer on 1st September, leading the global finance team. He brings international experience from across the Coca‑Cola system, most recently serving as CFO for Japan and South Korea.
Jez Langhorn has taken on the role of Chief People Officer, bringing HR leadership experience from Starbucks North America, Global Partners, and McDonald’s.
A Costa Coffee spokesperson said: "We were delighted to welcome both leaders this week to meet some of the Costa Coffee team, and we look forward to the impact their leadership and experience will bring."
Vinted among companies in coalition launching European Media Marketplace open web initiative
The first founding members, including T Advertising Solutions (part of Deutsche Telekom), Equativ, Experian, lastminute.com, leboncoin and Kleinanzeigen (part of Adevinta), Orange Advertising (Orange France), Vinted, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone are teaming up to address the fragmentation of media buying, audience data and activation across countries, channels and platforms.
