Trends/Innovation tracker/News

Innovation news

01 December 2023
A year ago, OpenAI released ChatGPT, thrusting generative AI into the mainstream. Over the last 12 months the technology has continued to evolve. It has been integrated into more business tools, other companies have launched their own generative AI applications and developers now can develop their own GPTs and usher in a new wave of creativity. We look at some of the ways it’s been applied in our...
09 November 2023
In Verona, under the TuDay Conad banner, cooperative Dao has opened the country’s first autonomous store, with plans to open another in Trento in 2024 A small footprint with a fresh offering The 200sqm store includes almost 3000 SKUs, of which 20% are fresh products. In many ways, this store is no different to many we have seen popping up around the world: shoppers can pick up products from...
20 October 2023
Expansion plans are underway for Amazon as the retailer announces it will launch in South Africa in 2024 and expand drone deliveries to new markets, as well as cross-category to deliver medications. Additionally, the first marketing campaign for its byAmazon private label brand has launched and Amazon Fresh in Seattle has become the first ever grocery store to win a Zero Carbon Certification. ...
06 October 2023
The German retailer continues to innovate, trialling drone deliveries in rural Hessen Plugging gaps in the supply of everyday staples The project, called LieferMichel, launched on 5 th October 2023. With initiatives of this kind, the main goal is to make daily necessities accessible to more people living in rural areas. This is not a first for REWE – earlier this year it launched a superma...
11 September 2023
Walmart has launched a Generative AI-powered feature, My Assistant, to its home office associates in the US. The launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI last November has popularised the technology and led to a wave of new developments in our industry. Multiple use cases My Assistant has been developed to free up teams from undertaking monotonous and repetitive tasks. Walmart sees significant potential...
29 August 2023
Thousands of new innovations are launched in our industry every year. We curate the most relevant for you within our Innovation Tracker. Here’s our pick of the top five innovations which caught our eye this month. Click to view our Innovation Tracker , with details on over 1,000 industry innovations. 1. Penny tests a true cost campaign Penny in Germany asked its shoppers to pay extr...
08 August 2023
“Barbenheimer” has become a cultural phenomenon caused by the simultaneous release of the films Barbie and Oppenheimer. We have rounded up some of the fun ideas retailers’ have created to maximise this lucrative marketing opportunity. The bomb shell, and the bomb, a match made in heaven? Barbie has been around for years – debuting in 1959 in the USA. An iconic sweet-looking doll manufactu...
01 August 2023
Asda is partnering with technology company Avery Berkel and Hanshow to introduce Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) to its sustainability trial at its Middleton store. Avery Berkel and Hanshow specialise in retail scales, enterprise-scale management, and electronic shelf labels. Shoppers will find the new ESL shelf labels present at the in-store refill station which Avery Berkel and Hanshow believe...
11 July 2023
The retailer, which is part of the REWE group, now has a fleet of three driverless vehicles operating across two districts in Vilnius.  REWE group at the forefront of innovation  Following innovations in Germany, such as testing of autonomous delivery robots in Hamburg, as well as trialling an unmanned store “ Josefs nahkauf BOX ” in Pettstadt, the REWE Group is now piloting three autonom...
07 June 2023
The Vivi Kola product, called Vivi Nova, hit Migros shelves in Zurich last week. The recipe was created by ChatGPT and the design was made with Midjourney, with the help of Unreal Engine  An Artificial Intelligence drink? How does that work?  AI has been a hot topic across the retail industry for quite some time, and there are already several uses for it, e.g. service robots, self-checkouts...