News

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.

Rewe Group's subsidiary Lekkerland has opened a first Rewe Ready store at the EnBW fast charging park near the Kamen motorway junction with AiFi technology. For two other Rewe Ready locations, Lekkerland is relying on technology from Latebird and on smart fridges from the Portuguese specialist Reckon.ai.

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.

M-Preis standardised communication between its employees in the stores and the headquarters last year. This has enabled the Austrian food retailer to reduce the number of tasks by over 60 per cent compared to previous processes. Christoph Enzinger, project manager at M-Preis, explains the results achieved so far at this year's EHI Technology Days in Bonn last week.

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.

French retail group Les Mousquetaires is testing Shopic's clip-on devices in an Intermarché store in Provins, France. The devices, which can be easily attached to any standard trolley, is powered by computer vision technology, transforming it into a smart cart capable of recognising items without the need for manual scanning. Consultants of Capgemini are part of the project team at…

US petrol station and convenience store operator RaceTrac is implementing GK to improve its operations and customer loyalty. Yesterday, at the EHI Technology Days in Bonn (Germany), Tyler Grubbs, RaceTracs’s Executive Director of Digital and Store Technology, shared insights into the radical techology revamp of the petrol station group.

Tom Tailor is using 7Learnings' AI-based solution to optimise pricing, initially in its online store. The project was presented today at the EHI Technology Days in Bonn.

Aldi Nord is testing a modified self-checkout strategy at three stores in Germany. Similar to its competitor Lidl, the discounter is using GK's software consistently for both manned checkouts and self-checkouts. The discounter also uses the same hardware components in the checkout lanes as at the self-checkouts. The counter for the current self-checkout prototype is supplied by shopfitting specialist Kesseböhmer.

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.