Joachim Pinhammer

Itab has announced to acquire its French competitor HMY for 320 million Euros. The two companies, which are roughly the same size and have different regional focuses, want to strengthen their market position internationally. The Retail Optimiser spoke to Klaus Schmid, SVP at Itab Group, about expectations for the move.

Albert Heijn has become the first Dutch supermarket operator to expand its customer app with a generative AI-powered assistant. The application, developed by the in-house tech team Gen AI Labs, answers frequently asked customer questions and offers tips on everything to do with the kitchen and household.

dm will deploy forecasting and replenishment software from Relex across Europe in future. Since the end of 2021, the drugstore operator has been planning product ranges and shelves store specifically with solutions from the Finnish technology provider.

Together with service provider Arvato, Douglas has put an automation solution from Knapp into operation at its new central warehouse in Hamm. After a 25-month implementation phase, the solution is set to largely automate order processing for the retailer’s stores and online business in the DACH region.

Under the name Amazon Grocery, the US online giant is piloting a store in Chicago that sells brand-name items, drinks and snacks at a Whole Foods market. The new C-store uses a range of self-service systems, but not the just-walk-out technology.

Hornbach is implementing AI-based forecasting and replenishment solutions from Relex across Europe. With the platform from the Finnish software provider, the DIY store operator is replacing SAP's F&R Engine.

Kaufland has taken its highly automated distribution centre in Geisenfeld fully into operation. It took more than three years to optimise the systems and to gradually put them into operation. The heart of the system is a picking solution from Vanderlande, which uses robotic arms to pick and push dry goods. Kaufland picks fruit and vegetables using a customer-specific development…

Together with Mondelēz International, Markant Group and its subsidiary Retail.ai developed the Product Wizard, which uses generative artificial intelligence to create channel- and target group-specific product descriptions. The solution won this year's GS1 Germany ECR Award in the Innovation Excellence category.

Hornbach has selected Blue Yonder for its new order management solution. With this, the operator of DIY and garden centres aims to offer its customers a seamless shopping experience across all channels.

Dutch Maxeda DIY Group has transformed key supply chain processes with demand planning and fulfilment solutions from Blue Yonder. The operator of DIY stores in the Benelux countries has thus created an unified demand and supply planning environment for its three sales banners Praxis, Brico and BricoPlanit.