News

Swedish Vertiseit group has acquired digital signage specialist Scala. Until recently, Scala was part of US retail media group Stratacache. Its British subsidiaries, Stratacache UK and PRN UK, have been in insolvency and liquidation proceedings since the beginning of May. Furthermore, there are clear signs of widespread financial difficulties within the Stratacache Group. The Retail Optimiser reported.

Lidl’s online shop will be working with the commerce intelligence platform Criteo in the Retail Media sector. The aim is to expand the Retail Media offering and create new advertising opportunities for brands. According to the company, Criteo will also take over the exclusive marketing of advertising inventory on Lidl.de.

The crisis at Stratacache is causing unease in the retail media market. Since 5 May 2026, two UK subsidiaries of the US retail media group, Stratacache UK and PRN UK, have been subject to insolvency and liquidation proceedings. Currys and Iceland Foods are particularly affected by the UK liquidation proceedings.

The US retail company Albertsons has introduced an AI-based tool that helps its staff in distribution centres to assess the quality of fruit and vegetables more consistently when receiving goods.

Norwegian retail market leader Norgesgruppen is enabling more of its Spar supermarket operators to run their stores 24/7 or extend opening hours beyond staff working times. Technologically, the stores are based on the RMA-Butikkstyring platform from Norwegian technology provider Liberty Now.

French retailer Carrefour is implementing QR codes based on the GS1 Digital Link standard in private-label ranges. To date, 50 own-brand products packages already feature the new-generation QR codes, across categories as varied as baby food, wine, organic or regional culinary specialities. The number of products is expected to continue to grow over the coming months.

Lidl is expanding its UK food redistribution programme through a new partnership with food-sharing platform Olio, adding a second distribution layer to its existing collaboration with charity matching platform Neighbourly. The move aims to capture surplus food that cannot be collected by charities.

Estonian grocery retailer Coop has chosen Vusion and Strongpoint as its exclusive electronic shelf labels suppliers. The rollout is set to begin in the second half of this year with a portion of Coop Estonia’s stores.

Albert, the Czech subsidiary of netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize, is deploying AI-powered shelf-scanning robots. The provider selected following an initial pilot is US-based Brain Corp which provides a platform on which 40,000 robots operate worldwide.

This month, French grocery retailer Intermarché is set to open a new automated grocery click&collect station using technology developed by Ouidrop. The new collection point will be located in the small town of Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, close to the Spanish border.