Here at RTIH, we're busy building an amazing community of retail tech enthusiasts on LinkedIn. As we get close to 30,000 followers on the social media platform, here are the articles that are currently on our followers' radars, including Simbe, VoCoVo, The Range, Vusion, Asda, Unity Coffee, Rainbow, Hanshow, Morrisons, Instaleap, Ingenico, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Everseen, Hanshow, and OpenAI.
Everseen, Hanshow and OpenAI top first ever RTIH Retail Technology Hot 100 List
In partnership with 3D Cloud, RTIH is pleased to launch its first ever Retail Technology Hot 100 List. We’re bringing you the hottest companies whose solutions and systems are helping drive the retail sector forward.
These companies operate across the omnichannel retail landscape (stores, online, mobile, supply chain, payments etc).
Our judging panel, including Vineta Bajaj, Group CFO, Holland & Barrett, Dan McGrath, JD Group Customer Operations, JD Sports, Dr. Astha Purohit, Director of Product Management, Customer Data and Identity, Walmart, and Paula Bobbett, Chief Data and Digital Officer, Boots, provided feedback on those who have the most innovative, forward thinking technology offerings and are also best addressing retailers' current challenges, painpoints, and opportunities.
The judges used the following framework when making their picks:
1. Retailer problem fit - how meaningful, strategic, and widely felt the retailer pain being addressed is.
2. Production traction in retail (2025–2026) - real named retailer deployments, pilots.
3. Innovation and defensibility - genuine technical novelty paired with a defensible competitive position.
And there was also a public vote, with thousands of members of our community of retail tech enthusiasts getting involved. Thanks to all those who took part! Based on the judging panel's feedback and the public vote, we then drew up our first ever RTIH Retail Technology Hot 100.
So, without further ado, here are the 100 hottest global retail technology ventures right now. Drum roll, please…
You can download the hot 100 in pdf format here. Enjoy!
Step change for customers and staff as Asda wraps Vusion ESELs roll-out at convenience stores
Asda has completed the roll-out of eSELs across its Asda Express petrol stations, Asda Express locations and Asda petrol station estate, with the deployment covering over 550 stores.
In a LinkedIn post, Anthony McCarron, Projects, Propostions & Comms Manager at Asda, said: "This is a massive achievement across so many internal and external stakeholders, so thank you - big shout to Daniel Pelissier for leading this project from start to finish on time and on budget."
"Our Vusion eSELs, installed by our delivery partner Renovotec, are delivering a real step change for customers and colleagues. Thank you to Elecomm, MADIC UK, and Evolve for the infrastructure support in achieving this huge milestone for our convenience stores."
Paul Borrett takes on Technology Advisor role at Unity Coffee following departure from wagamama
Paul Borrett is joining Unity Coffee, a self-service specialist developed by Coffee Nation entrepreneur Scott Martin, as its Technology Advisor. Earlier this year, Borrett announced his departure from wagamama, where he served as Director of Technology. Prior to that, he worked at Costa Coffee.
In a LinkedIn post, Martin said: “If you’ve ever bought a coffee from a Costa Coffee Professional machine, you’ve used something Paul built. He was the architect behind that digital platform - the M2M infrastructure that today keeps tens of thousands of machines connected, transacting and talking to eachother in real-time.”
He added: “I had the privilege of building that vision alongside him the first time round, and I wasn’t about to let the chance to do it again slip by. After a spell at wagamama, and a very short-lived taste of early retirement, I’ve persuaded him back in. Some technical rockstars just aren’t built for the golf course.”
“Paul joins at exactly the point Unity needs him most. We’re not just building a coffee machine - we’re building the intelligence behind it: equipment that flags its own faults before they happen, one data spine running from bean to cup, a machine that adapts its screen and its pricing to who’s in front of it and an app that turns a first sale into a habit. Paul has actually built infrastructure at that scale before and that’s rare, and it’s exactly what this next phase demands.”
Mastercard unveils Payeux Tapestry in London and agentic AI research predicting £370bn spend by 2030
One in ten consumers will routinely use artificial intelligence to shop and pay by 2030, according to a report published by Mastercard that surveyed 26,000 people across Europe and canvassed the opinions of four futurologists. This was unveiled in London yesterday and forecasts AI driven consumer spending will hit £370 billion a year globally by the end of the decade.
Carried out in June and July this year in conjunction with Opinium who questioned 13,000 teens and 13,00 parents in pairs across 13 European nations from France and Germany to Italy, Spain, and the UK, the research showed 18% of teens already use an AI assistant, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, once a week to help them compare products before purchasing. This compares to 9% for the parental adults surveyed.
A third of the surveyed teens said they would happily hand over control to a fully AI run shopping assistant that chooses and pays for products. Speaking at a press event to launch the research, Agnes Woolrich, SVP MasterCard UK, commented: "AI has transformational potential."
"Businesses will have to think differently," she argued, in an exclusive chat with RTIH, who were in attendance at the event prior to the research’s wider general release on 8th September. Woolrich added: "Investments in retailers’ brand, loyalty programmes, and in machine readable digital estates will all be essential in the future, as agentic AI adoption advances."
“I expect the technology to follow the classic adoption curve with early adopters right through to laggards evident. This goes for consumers and merchants," she said, while also unveiling a new artwork commissioned to accompany the report that apes the famous Bayreux Tapestry.
The Range to roll-out VoCoVo headsets across all 283 locations following one-store trial
VoCoVo has announced a partnership with home, leisure and garden retailer The Range, that will see Series 5 (S5) Pro Headsets and Call Points rolled out across all 283 of its stores. This follows a one-store trial over the course of a year.
The Range colleagues will get instant, hands free communication through the headsets, replacing disruptive loudspeaker calls and reducing the need for them to search the shop floor for one another. The technology will help deliver faster, more responsive customer service by reducing waiting times at tills, service desks and across the shop floor.
Colleagues can contact managers and team members immediately for price and stock checks, quickly coordinate requests and assign tasks in real-time, while two-way Call Points will allow customers to request assistance at the touch of a button and connect with available colleagues.
A Store Manager at The Range says: “The headsets have made a hugely positive impact in-store for both colleagues and customers. Customer service has noticeably improved as queries are answered faster, stock checks are smoother and warehouse to shop floor communication is instant. This has already streamlined Deliveroo and Click & Collect, and I can see the headsets becoming invaluable during patio season. They’ve become essential to daily operations."
“The very impressive results already achieved in our store have laid the groundwork for much bigger savings across the store network. I can’t wait to see colleagues benefitting from the same technology.”
Beth Worrall, CEO at VoCoVo, says: “The initial trial with The Range has shown how they can achieve significant time and cost savings while maintaining outstanding service levels and the optimum in-store experience at the same time. We’re looking forward to working alongside the team to implement the technology across all its stores.”
Chinese retailer Rainbow opens its first Hanshow powered Store Digital Twin supermarket in Shenzhen
Rainbow, a Chinese omnichannel retailer, has opened its upgraded Shahe sp@ce supermarket in Shenzhen. Developed in collaboration with Hanshow and Rainbow's technology subsidiary Lingzhi Digital Technology, the project marks its first Store Digital Twin implementation, bringing together real-time store visibility, decision support and operational execution within a live retail environment.
Located in Shenzhen's Nanshan District, the Shahe sp@ce location has served the local community for nearly 17 years. In 2026, the wider Shahe Rainbow development was upgraded into an urban lifestyle destination that brings together retail, dining, services and entertainment. The move reflects Rainbow's broader ambition to expand the role of physical retail beyond transactions and create a more engaging destination for the surrounding community.
The newly opened sp@ce supermarket, built around Rainbow's "City • Garden • Food Hall" concept, features nine experiential areas designed around different food, lifestyle and community occasions. The store also incorporates Rainbow's intelligent fulfilment centre, supporting more efficient home delivery services and aiming to strengthen the connection between in-store shopping and its broader omnichannel retail model.
As its first Store Digital Twin enabled supermarket, the store brings together more than 17,000 IoT devices and AI capabilities to provide greater visibility into store conditions and support more timely operational decisions and actions.
Morrisons teams with Instacart owned Instaleap to boost online marketplace and in-store fulfilment
Instaleap, a company providing software for e‑commerce fulfillment and last mile operations that was recently bought by Instacart, and Morrisons have announced a new partnership.
“We’re proud to partner with Morrisons, one of the UK’s most respected grocery retailers, as they continue to strengthen their omnichannel offering,” says Antonio Nunes, Head of Instaleap. "Consumers now increasingly expect ordering from their local supermarket to be as easy as ordering take-away. Meeting that demand at scale - efficiently, reliably - takes technology built specifically for grocery. That's exactly what we're giving Morrisons."
“We’re constantly looking for ways to make online grocery shopping easier and more convenient,” says Charlotte Exell, Group Online Director at Morrisons. “More of our customers are choosing to shop from us through one of our immediacy partners and they expect an efficient, dependable service every time. Working with Instaleap powers our online operations behind the scenes, helping us deliver fresh groceries directly to our customers’ doors quickly and reliably.”
Payments big hitter Ingenico boosts global leadership team following reset of its capital structure
Ingenico has announced the following additions to its executive leadership team: Maria Parpou as Chief Product Officer (CPO), Paul Gardiner as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Ieuan Owen as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), and Oliver Moore as Chief Customer Excellence Officer (CXO).
This follow the payments giant’s recent announcement of a reset of its capital structure anchored by a €150 million investment from a PIMCO led group of global investors.
"We have been clear about our priorities: accelerating innovation, building the best products, and delivering exceptional experiences for our customers and partners. Our new executives bring world class expertise across product, technology, and customer excellence. Together, they strengthen every critical capability we need to deliver on our strategy,” says Floris de Kort, Chief Executive Officer, Ingenico.
Parpou joins from Mastercard, where she led the company's global gateway business serving more than 200 acquiring banks worldwide.
She has also held senior leadership positions at Paysafe and Barclays. Gardiner brings more than 25 years of experience spanning software engineering, payments infrastructure and technology transformation. Most recently, as Chief Information Technology Officer at NCR Atleos, he led the company's separation from NCR and the modernisation of its service operations platforms.
Owen most recently served as Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Director at Xplor Technologies' Fitness & Wellbeing business. Prior to that, he held senior leadership roles in strategy, transformation, and corporate development, including at Worldpay. Moore brings experience in senior customer and service leadership roles at Colt Technology Services, Deltek and Sitecore. Most recently, he led Sitecore's global Customer Support and Operations organisation.
Simbe brings in former Meta, JPMorgan, American Express exec Claudia Molina as VP of Client Success
Physical AI and shelf intelligence specialist, Simbe, has announced the appointment of Claudia Molina as Vice President of Client Success, alongside new roles for Senior Vice President of Marketing Caitlin Allen and Senior Vice President of Strategy & Client Success Benjamin Bond at Food Marketing Institute (FMI).
Molina joins following roles at Meta, JPMorgan and American Express, where she led customer strategy, operational transformation and enterprise growth initiatives. At Simbe, she will guide executive customer relationships, long-term success strategies and transformation programmes.
"Physical AI offers an entirely new operating layer for retail," says Brad Bogolea, CEO and Co-Founder at Simbe. "The opportunity extends beyond identifying what's happening on a shelf. Trusted, real-time ground truth of the store enables retailers to orchestrate actions across channels. Claudia brings the strategic and enterprise experience to help our clients realise that value at scale."
Allen, meanwhile, has been appointed to FMI's Daunting Data Dilemma Industry Task Force, where she will contribute to industry efforts focused on retail data quality, interoperability and real-time operational visibility. Bond has joined FMI's Fresh Food Leadership Council, contributing expertise to initiatives focused on improving forecasting, reducing food waste and increasing visibility across fresh operations.
"We're pleased to welcome Caitlin Allen and Benjamin Bond to these important industry leadership roles, where their combination of retail expertise, technology leadership and operational perspective will strengthen the work of our committees," says Doug Baker, Vice President of Industry Relations at FMI. "We look forward to collaborating with them as FMI's Daunting Data Dilemma Industry Task Force and Fresh Food Leadership Council advance practical frameworks and best practices for the food retail industry."
Backed by Nuwa Capital and Cotu Ventures, e-commerce startup Keep Converting emerges from stealth
Keep Converting, an AI powered e-commerce platform that personalises product pages for shoppers in real-time, has emerged from stealth with $2 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Nuwa Capital and COTU Ventures.
Keep Converting is pre-integrated with Shopify, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce, Zid, Salla, and various other commerce platforms. It says that client setup takes approximately ten minutes, and most brands see measurable conversion lift within two weeks of going live.
“Everyone says AI will kill the merchant website. We bet the opposite. Shoppers still want to visit the site, see the real product, and connect with it before they buy. So Keep Converting transforms every product page into the form that speaks to each shopper, and lets the site win the AI shift instead of just surviving it. We've now proven it works, and the next chapter is bringing it to every merchant,” says Mohammad El Mougi, Founder and CEO at Keep Converting.
Mougi previously served as Chief Product Officer at Vezeeta, a health tech platform in the Middle East, and earlier led marketing at Vodafone. Co-founder Manuel Prinz previously served as Head of Product at TikTok Shop US and on the product management team at Walmart.
“At TikTok Shop and Walmart, I watched the world's best commerce teams ship one personalisation framework after another and still hit the same wall - a recommendation engine here, a banner test there, none of it touching the page itself,” says Prinz. “Keep Converting is the first platform that rebuilds the actual experience per shopper. That's the unlock.”
The $2 million pre-seed will fund onboarding merchants and growing the engineering team behind the platform's cross-client intelligence.
Hotel Chocolat agrees exclusive tie up that brings retailer on to Deliveroo quick commerce platform
Hotel Chocolat has announced an exclusive partnership with Deliveroo, launching initially with five of its locations - Manchester Cross Street, Chiswick, Staines, St James's and Wimbledon. Customers will be able to shop the Velvetiser, Hotel Chocolat's new boxed selections, its signature selectors, and Velvetised Creams.
Carrie Martin, UK General Manager at Hotel Chocolat, says: “Thoughtful gifting has always been at the heart of what we do, and we're constantly looking at how we can make it easier for customers to mark the moments that matter.”
“Partnering with Deliveroo gives customers a completely new way to access and send Hotel Chocolat gifts: combining the quality and originality they expect from us with greater choice and flexibility. It’s an exciting next step in how we’re growing the brand and meeting customers where they want to shop.”
Suzy McClintock, VP Consumer at Deliveroo, says: “We are building a new destination for gifting at Deliveroo. Customers are no longer using our platform just to shop for themselves but to send something special to a loved one, whether for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, a birthday and more. As a true gifting specialist, Hotel Chocolat brings real brand authority and category expertise to our retail offer, and we are excited to help them reach more consumers who are on a mission to find a meaningful last minute gift.”
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