Retail technology innovation of the week: M&S announces AI tie up and Manna takes flight in America

Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a series brought to you by RTIH, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers. Every week, we showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, building up to the publication of the 2026 report later this year.

And this week we’re focusing on Lily AI which 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.

And honourable mentions this week to...

Morrisons

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!"

Manna Air Delivery

Manna, an Irish founded specialist in autonomous drone delivery, has announced the launch of its first full scale metropolitan US operation in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The move establishes Tulsa as Manna’s central operational base in the United States with the company expecting to create more than 1,000 jobs there over the next three years across aviation and flight operations, commercial operations, customer support, manufacturing, maintenance and business functions.

It follows the announcement of a “strategic pause” to its Irish delivery operations. The company has suffered a series of setbacks in recent times, including decisions by local councils that blocked its ability to operate drone delivery hubs in parts of Dublin. As a result, it has now effectively grounded its operations in Ireland for the time being.

“This is a proud day for Manna and for innovation," says Bobby Healy, Founder and CEO at Manna. "We've spent years developing one of the world's most advanced drone delivery platforms in Ireland, and today we're bringing that technology to the United States. We've chosen Tulsa as the base for our next phase of growth - their approach to airspace and aviation is genuinely forward looking, and the support we've had from city officials in enabling our expansion has been first class.”

“America represents the world's largest opportunity for drone delivery, and we're excited about creating more than 1,000 American jobs over the next three years while continuing to invest in our headquarters, our people and our innovation in Ireland. This isn't about moving from Ireland - it's about taking Irish technology to the world.”