Joachim Pinhammer

Marks & Spencer is using artificial intelligence to ensure sustainable animal welfare at all dairy farms supplying its M&S milk range. The technology utilises cameras already installed in barns and complements the AI-powered monitoring solution provided by CattleEye. The British retail company claims to be the first retailer using AI to monitor animal welfare across its entire milk supply chain.…

Edeka regional subsidiary for Northern Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia is operating a semi-autonomous grocery store for the first time. The Diska store in the municipality of Obermaßfeld-Grimmenthal in southern Thuringia enables customers to shop autonomously without staff outside regular opening hours. The technology for this so-called hybrid operation is provided by Austrian smart-store specialist Anystore.

Rewe Group’s Centre of Excellence for Agriculture has launched an AI research project to analyse animal welfare, in collaboration with stakeholders from academia and the industry. Advisory board member Max Esser-Geneschen initiated the project, which aims to investigate the potential of camera and sensor technology in livestock farming under real-world conditions.

Sainsbury’s has appointed a new Head of Martech. With immediate effect, Dave Cain is responsible for strategy, governance and futureproofing of the British supermarket operator’s martech and adtech stacks. Martech plays currently a central role in Sainsbury’s digital transformation.

Belgian Colruyt Group has decided to operate its unattended Okay Direct convenience stores exclusively in the vicinity of a traditional Okay outlet in future. This explains the closure of two of its three existing locations at the end of last month. At the same time, the company has announced plans to bring the 24/7 stores to the capital, Brussels.

Waitrose is currently rolling out electronic shelf labels from the Korean supplier SoluM. The British supermarket operator of the John Lewis Partnership has now equipped more than 200 of its about 420 stores with the technology.

The Very Group is implementing an AI-based solution for price optimisation. The UK-based online retailer has signed a three-year contract with software provider UiPath for this purpose. From the move, the pure-play retailer expects to increase agility in pricing and improve margins.

Tesco is trialling Simbe Robotics’ inventory robot, Tally, in one of its stores. This reports Toby Pickard, Retail Futures Senior Partner at British trade association Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD). Tally moves autonomously through the store’s aisles to detect out-of-stocks, pricing errors and misplaced products.

In collaboration with Google, Salling Group has launched a project in agent-based retailing. The Danish retail group plans to use Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, to help online customers of its BK, Bilka and Salling retail chains select suitable products. The group aims to be the first Danish retailer to proactively utilise this new technology.

Partner Tech Europe and Anker Group have jointly acquired the rights to the Bottlecomp systems from insolvent Trautwein SB Technik. This is intended to safeguard operations and future viability of the product platform and protect investments made by retail customers.