Morrisons plugs smart carts and Asda fights crime: last week's most read retail technology articles
Check out our most clicked articles from last week, including Ocado Group, Lotte Shopping, AutoStore, Amazon, Barron McCann, Entain, Edgify, Simbe, Sainsbury's, Whatnot, AS Watson, NCR Voyix, Hugo Boss, Auror, and Bauer Media Outdoor UK.
Ocado launches first automated customer fulfilment centre with Lotte Shopping in South Korea
Ocado Group reports the launch of its first customer fulfilment centre (CFC) with Lotte Shopping in South Korea. Following a partnership deal inked in 2022, last year Lotte went live with the Ocado Smart Platform, fulfilling orders using Ocado's in-store fulfilment (ISF) software. And now the first automated CFC will serve a catchment covering four million households across Busan and the broader Yeongnam region.
It also introduces a number of innovations for the first time. These include the launch of Ocado's fully automated freezer (Auto-Freezer), bringing Ocado's proprietary 'hive and bot' automation into temperatures as low as -25° C. The site will also support dawn delivery, enabling freshly packed grocery orders to reach customers’ homes before 7am.
It is also expected to be the most environmentally efficient Ocado CFC in the world, supporting a 100% electric vehicle fleet for daytime deliveries and operating more energy efficient 3D printed bots, with multi-temperature totes to maximise storage density for delivery. The widespread installation of solar panels will reduce annual carbon emissions by over 1,000 tonnes, those involved claim.
Asda announces pilot across London stores of Auror crime reporting and intelligence technology
Asda is rolling out Auror, a crime reporting and intelligence platform. It says that a ten-week pilot in 30 London stores demonstrated the value of having a faster, more effective way to report incidents and identify repeat offenders in real-time.
According to the UK grocery retailer, the trial resulted in: more than £100,000 of products recovered and returned to shelves; 55% increase in crime prevention rates; 80% reduction in incident reporting time, from around 25 minutes to under five; improved identification of repeat and cross retailer offenders.
David Lepley, Chief Operating Officer at Asda, says: “Rolling out Auror across our estate will further strengthen our ability to prevent and tackle retail crime. The results from our London pilot demonstrated the value of having a faster and more effective way to report incidents and identify repeat offenders in real-time. By working more closely with police and retailers through a shared intelligence network, we can focus our efforts where they will have the greatest impact and help to tackle retail crime.”
Mark Gleeson, General Manager UK and Europe at Auror, comments: “We’re delighted to welcome Asda to our strong network of like-minded retailers who are all committed to keeping frontline retail colleagues safe and taking on retail crime together. It’s fantastic to see retailers like Asda unite to take a stand against the top 10% of offenders causing 70% of retail crime and take back UK’s high streets. Auror has made it 80% faster to record crime for Asda colleagues and early pilot results saw the team identify dozens of prolific repeat offenders, with the majority known to offend at stores owned by other retail brands within the Auror network. This is why the network effect is key to getting on top of this problem.”
“Retailers are working more effectively with police than ever before through digital collaboration. This is helping them surface the true scale of offending, understand and respond to risk across their estates, and focus their precious resources on those repeats, organised, and violent offenders - creating safer stores for all.”
Barron McCann lands retail technology support contract with Entain for Ladbrookes and Coral estates
Barron McCann, a specialist in retail technology services, has secured a three-year contract with FTSE 100 sports betting and gaming giant Entain. The deal will see it deliver multi-device engineering support and lifecycle infrastructure services across Entain’s UK high street retail estate, operating under the Ladbrokes and Coral banners.
It covers over 2,000 retail locations nationwide, supporting key constituent parts of Entain’s digital shop floor layout. This includes full seven days a week engineering coverage with extended operating hours and a four-hour hardware fix guarantee. Barron McCann landed the tie up following an extensive commercial tender process involving a large consideration set of major IT manufacturers and service providers.
Entain says its evaluation panel was particularly impressed by the company’s specialised workshop capabilities, engineering innovation, and value- ocused approach to circular asset management. Barron McCann’s workshop and re-life facilities provide sustainable component level repairs, utilising technologies such as custom 3D printing for legacy OEM parts. This capability allows it to build an independent, robust repair supply chain for original equipment manufacturer hardware, mitigating the need for costly complete terminal replacements while reducing total cost of ownership.
AutoStore announces deal with Amazon to supply automation technology products and solutions
There has been a lot of chatter this year about AutoStore and Amazon, the result of a jobs posting by the latter seeking staff with experience of the former. And now we have an official announcement.
The pair have shaken hands on an agreement that establishes a framework for the supply of AutoStore’s products and solutions to Amazon on a global basis. Whilst the agreement defines the terms for further procurement of AutoStore systems by Amazon, it does not contain any purchasing commitments at this time, a press release notes.
While this will no doubt boost AutoStore's share price, it should be noted that Amazon has announced similar agreements in the past, for example with Balyo, which did not result in significant sales. Balyo was taken private in 2026 by SoftBank Group Corp. which also remains a significant shareholder in AutoStore (and various others).
Morrisons enlists Bauer Media Outdoor UK for Instacart AI powered trolleys push at Preston store
These automatically recognise items as they are placed in the trolley, including weighing fresh produce on the spot.
The retailer has been working with Bauer Media Outdoor UK to spread the word about this brave new world among its customers via OOH media. In a LinkedIn post, Steve Newbould, Head of Commercial - Data & Media at Morrisons, said: “For years I’ve said “what we need is a futuristic AI trolley”. OK, maybe not, but we’ve got them, through partnering with Instacart in Preston. And the best thing…..customers love them. Thanks to Bauer Media Outdoor UK for helping us with our communication.”
Customers can bag items as they shop, saving time throughout the trip and making checkout quicker and easier. The trolley's touchscreen displays a running basket total to help customers stay on budget, makes relevant product recommendations, and enables them to scan their Morrisons More Card to access loyalty savings and promotions throughout their shop. At the end of their trip, they scan the barcode displayed on the trolley's screen at a dedicated Caper checkout lane to complete payment.
Milestone for Simbe's Tally inventory solution as 500th robot goes live across Kroger's store estate
500 of Simbe's Tally inventory robots are now in operation across Kroger's store network. The milestone was achieved at its newest Smith’s Marketplace location. In a LinkedIn post, Shaun Buck of Smith's Food & Drug Centers, said: "We’re excited to welcome the 500th Tally robot across all of Kroger to our Smith’s Marketplace team!"
"It’s an honour to have our store selected for this achievement. Our team is excited to put Tally to work and use this technology to strengthen our in-stock conditions, improve shelf accuracy, and continue finding new ways to better serve our customers."
"Technology like this allows our associates to spend more time helping customers while giving us better insights to keep the store looking its best. We’re looking forward to seeing the impact Tally will have as we continue working to deliver the best possible shopping experience for our community. A huge thank you to our incredible team for embracing new technology and always putting our customers first. Here’s to continuing to raise the bar every day!"
Superdrug owner AS Watson ramps up NCR Voyix as it inks global Voyix Commerce Platform agreement
NCR Voyix has announced a new multi-year agreement with AS Watson, a health and beauty retailer, that expands their retail technology partnership.
Under the agreement, AS Watson will adopt the Voyix Commerce Platform, deploying Voyix POS, self-checkout, loyalty and managed services across select retail brands and markets in Europe and Asia, including Watsons in Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines; Superdrug and Savers in the UK; Kruidvat in the Netherlands; and Drogas in Latvia.
“This agreement marks an important milestone in the evolution of AS Watson’s retail technology landscape,” says Gerrit-Jan Steenbergen, Group Retail Technology Director, AS Watson. “By adopting the NCR Voyix Commerce Platform, we are creating a modern, scalable and cloud native foundation that will help our brands deliver exceptional customer experience while accelerating innovation across our global operations.”
“NCR Voyix understands the growth requirements of AS Watson and has proven to be a valued strategic partner. Together, we are building the platform that will support the next phase of our O+O growth and retail transformation journey.”
Dave Cain joins Sainsbury's to help drive the future of the grocery retailer's MarTech ecosystem
Dave Cain is starting a new chapter as Head of Martech at Sainsbury's. He was previously Head of Digital Marketing at LKQ UK & Ireland, which includes Euro Car Parts, OmniParts, LKQ Leisure & Marine, LKQ Digraph, and LKQ Rewards, responsible for the digital strategy, performance, operations and innovation, covering a range of channels and technology.
"Retail is moving faster than ever, and I’m delighted to join such an iconic brand to help drive the future of its MarTech ecosystem," he says.
AI powered loss prevention specialist Edgify secures $9 million in funding for growth beyond retail
Edgify, a London-based company providing AI powered technology that protects against in-store loss, has raised $9 million in Series A+ funding to accelerate the roll-out of its platform. The round was backed by Rank Ventures and Mangrove Capital Partners, bringing the firm’s total funding to date to $25 million.
Nadav Israel, CEO and Co-founder at Edgify, says: “We founded Edgify on a simple conviction: intelligence should live where data is created, and devices should learn as one. A store is a fleet of machines that can see, decide and learn together, without a single byte leaving the building. Retail is just the beginning. The operational friction we have solved in grocery and convenience stores can be replicated in any industry where fleets of devices meet the physical world, as demonstrated by our expansion into QSR, distribution centres, and apparel.”
“This funding will fuel our growth, enabling us to take the intelligence layer we’ve built for retail and deploy it across the global industrial landscape, turning millions of isolated machines into self-learning real-time networks that operate independently of the cloud.”
Whatnot bags $545 million in Series G funding at blockbuster $20 billion valuation
Whatnot, a live commerce platform operating across North America, the UK, and Europe, has pulled in $545 million in Series G funding, led by ICONIQ, Lightspeed and Avra. New investors Kleiner Perkins, Wellington Management, Robinhood Ventures Fund I, S32, and Standard Capital also participated, alongside returning backers CapitalG, Y Combinator, Durable Capital Partners, Alkeon, Andreessen Horowitz, Greycroft, BOND, and DST.
This new financing values Whatnot at $20 billion, nearly doubling its valuation in less than a year. The company has raised approximately $1.5 billion since its founding in 2019.
“Small businesses were the earliest adopters of live commerce on Whatnot, helping demonstrate what was possible. Today, businesses of all sizes are making live commerce a core part of their business," says Grant LaFontaine, Co-founder and CEO at Whatnot. "Our job is to help every seller grow. This investment allows us to build better tools, bring AI to more parts of the selling experience, help sellers reach more buyers, expand into new markets, and continue building the world's biggest and most trusted marketplace.”
