Zippin gets busy, InPost and Vinted strengthen ties: last week’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, launches, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Including Hanshow, Gopuff, Koddi, Alipay, Mr.Bricolage, Pets at Home, Pizza Hut India, Circle K, Quorso, Tesco, GS1 UK, Adyen, and Artinian Group.

Instacart and Schnucks

Instacart reports that its AI powered Caper Carts are being deployed across more Schnucks locations in Missouri and, for the first time, into Illinois.

The roll-out brings them to five new stores and introduces a key new hardware feature: a lower tray, designed to help customers easily shop for heavy, bulk items like cases of water and pet food. 

Schnucks was one of the first grocers to deploy Caper Carts in 2024. Customers can scan as they shop, track their total, receive personalised recommendations and savings, and check out directly from the cart, with no lines required.

“Schnucks was an early adopter of Caper Carts, so they’ve seen first hand how the carts can drive a double digit basket size increase,” says David McIntosh, Chief Connected Stores Officer at Instacart. “Whether customers are looking to save money, stay on budget, or simply enjoy the convenience and ability to scan, pay, and go - we’re proud to offer an engaging and personalised way to shop for Schnucks customers.”

“It’s clear to us that customers love shopping with Caper Carts - and at our newly launched stores, we’re seeing many times throughout the day where all ten carts are in use,” says Chace MacMullan, Senior Director of Digital Experience at Schnucks.

“As a family owned grocer, we’re always looking for new ways to stay competitive and improve the in-store experience for our customers. Caper Carts are intuitive and make shopping fun and engaging.”

Tesco

As part of an expanded pilot, Tesco is trialling QR codes powered by GS1 in a small number of stores.

This replaces traditional barcodes on 12 own brand meat and produce lines in a small number of locations across southern England.

Developed in collaboration with GS1 UK and ten supplier partners, the initiative is primarily focused on capturing use by dates and batch numbers.

This is pitched as the first trial of its kind and scale by a UK supermarket. The focus here is on core operational data and laying the foundation for future use cases, such as linking to allergen information, sourcing and sustainability credentials, and recycling guidance.

“While it’s still early days, we’re already seeing the benefits of connecting our products to dynamic digital information that will help customers to know more about the products on our shelves,” says Isabela De Pedro, Supply Chain Development & Change Director at Tesco.

”As well as improving the customer experience and unlocking new supply chain value, we are testing how QR codes can help Tesco with issues including traceability, compliance, sustainability and shelf-edge communication.” 

Iain Walker, Director of Industry Engagement at GS1 UK, says: “This trial is a clear signal that the retail industry is entering a new chapter. QR codes powered by GS1 allow brands and retailers to share richer, more trusted information - at the Point of Sale, at home, or anywhere in between. Tesco is helping to lead the way, demonstrating how digital product identity can unlock both commercial and consumer value.”

Zippin

Autonomous stores specialist Zippin reports that it has launched 15 locations over a 10 week period.

In a LinkedIn post, Krishna Motukuri, Co-founder at Zippin, said: “Some of these were expansions in venues we already had Zippin stores, and some were in new venues. Some were indoors, some were outdoors. Many were Walk-ups or Lanes, and some others were markets. Nearly all of them were retrofits (very little new construction involved).”

He added: “For existing clients of ours, the new stores were a great opportunity to see how far our platform and underlying tech has come since three or four years ago when they got their first Zippins. Both the cost of the technology as well as the effort and time to install it is significantly lower now. But more notably, almost all of the newly launched stores started outperforming the older ones right from the get go, despite being, in many cases, smaller than the previous stores.”

By way of example, Motukuri highlighted a new Walk-up at Capital One arena, which already had two older drink markets powered by Zippin. Offering freshly made hot food along with popcorn, chips and soda, the new stand outperforms its larger sister stores, he observed.

Gopuff

Koddi has announced a partnership with Gopuff which aims to enhance the instant commerce company’s ads platform with incrementality tools.

These enable advertisers to understand and measure the incremental impact of their Gopuff Ads campaigns beyond what would be possible organically.

“We’re building solutions that put control and power back into brands’ hands - and the new incrementality tools we developed with Koddi are a perfect example of that," says Michael Peroutka, Head of Ads & Partnerships at Gopuff. “With reliable tools for measuring incremental revenue from ads, our partners can run more effective and impactful campaigns."

Tesco

Solivus has been awarded a contract for the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of PV solar systems for Tesco’s Watford Extra store.

The six-week project will see close to 750 lightweight solar panels mounted by Solivus on the rooftop of the 80,000 sq ft store.

In the first year alone, the solar installation is expected to generate 339,506 kWh of electricity, delivering significant carbon savings. Using Solivus modelling, it is estimated that the installation will generate 10% of the store’s annual electricity requirements, reducing reliance on grid electricity.

The project forms part of Tesco’s wider commitment to installing solar panels on 100 of its large stores across the UK, helping increase the proportion of renewable electricity that comes from direct sourcing. .

Alipay

Alipay Tap!, a QR code-based contactless payment and customer engagement solution introduced by Alipay in China in June 2024, has picked up over 100 million users within an 11 month period.

Users tap their unlocked phone against a merchant’s terminal or an Alipay Tap! Tag, eliminating the need to open an app, scan a code, or click through multiple screens.

Data from early adopters shows the solution also allows merchants to integrate customer engagement tools more seamlessly into the experience. FamilyMart, a nationwide convenience store chain, reports that membership sign-ups at checkout tripled post-integration.

According to Cyril Han Xinyi, CEO at Ant Group, the company has committed RMB 10 billion to grow the Alipay Tap! ecosystem.

“From leadership in payment innovation to extensive investments in agentic AI solutions, Alipay is accelerating the two flywheels for its growth: digital payment and 360° digital connectivity,” said Han in a message to Alipay's 80 million merchant partners at the 2025 Alipay Tap! Ecosystem Summit. “We believe Alipay Tap! and more similar exciting new initiatives will continue to transform the checkout moment into a wider gateway to enriched consumer experience and merchant business growth.” 

The service is also available to international visitors to China, who may now bind their international cards to an Alipay account to pay and travel like a local across the country.

Mr.Bricolage

Mr.Bricolage, a French retailer offering home improvement and DIY goods. recently opened a new store in Rouen, a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France.

This features electronic shelf labels from Hanshow.

In a LinkedIn post, the latter said: "The objective: to lay the foundations for fluid, centralised and responsive management, on more than 11,000 references on two levels. Why Hanshow? Recognised expertise in the deployment of electronic shelf label solutions in demanding environments. Local support at each stage of the project. Adaptability to compact formats and urban constraints"

It added: "This partnership embodies our vision: to provide retailers with powerful and easy to manage technological tools to improve their efficiency, strengthen their competitiveness, optimise the store's margin and guarantee a fair price for customers."

Pizza Hut India

Pizza Hut India, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, has onboarded MoEngage to centralise its customer engagement initiatives.

“MoEngage stood out to us because of three primary things - capability, scale, and support. The platform’s advanced analytics suite, coupled with the AI enabled offerings, will help Pizza Hut create relevant programmes for its end consumers,” says Manish Gupta, Chief Digital & Technology Officer at Pizza Hut India.

“Additionally, the support provided by the Customer Success team and the Implementation team proved to be unmatchable in the market. We are excited about this partnership and look forward to exploring new and intuitive ways to communicate with our customers and uplift satisfaction metrics significantly.”

Automating customer data reports was another crucial objective for Pizza Hut. Using MoEngage’s reporting capabilities, it has been able to achieve this, cutting down the manual efforts required to execute it. 

Vinted and InPost

InPost has inked an eight country, multi-year delivery contract with Vinted, which will will run through to the end of 2027 and will see the former handling the latter’s parcels across the UK, Poland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, including services through Vinted’s Mondial Relay unit.

Sellers of second-hand items on Vinted’s platform will be able to use InPost’s network of more than 82,000 lockers and PUDO points.

Rafał Brzoska, Founder and CEO at InPost, comments: "We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Vinted, demonstrating our ability to support the largest marketplaces and merchants across Europe with our extensive out-of-home delivery network.”

“This agreement underscores our commitment to providing reliable and more sustainable delivery solutions, and we look forward to contributing to Vinted’s continued success. This partnership is also a testament to our strategic vision of becoming the number one player in European logistics. Commercial wins, such as the contract with Vinted, are key to InPost's strategy and help us further strengthen international presence, including in the UK, where we recently elevated our business through the acquisition of Yodel."

Vytautas Atkočaitis, Vice President at Vinted Go, says: "We are excited to continue our collaboration with InPost and Mondial Relay across multiple European markets. This partnership aligns perfectly with our commitment to providing our users with efficient, affordable delivery solutions."

Pets at Home

Pets at Home is launching a new in-store service, Easy Repeat, a subscription offering allowing customers to receive regular orders of their pets’ favourite products, backed up by a best price guarantee.

This is pitched as a big step forward in the retailer’s omnichannel offer, linking online to in-store services and the Pets Club loyalty scheme.

Pets at Home Chief Consumer Officer, Kathryn Imire, comments: “Launching Easy Repeat as an in-store as well as online service is a really exciting moment for us. Customer feedback is clear: people appreciate the service they receive from our expert colleagues and genuinely love coming into our stores.”

“Easy Repeat demonstrates our strong customer proposition, rewarding customers for loyalty and locking in a best price guarantee. This is also huge moment in our journey towards building a world class petcare platform as an omnichannel pet care provider; linking online services to the expertise of colleagues in-store. We're all for pets and this launch is another service which enables customers to spend less time thinking about essentials and more time enjoying their pets."

Artinian Group

Adyen has partnered with Artinian Group with a focus on the omnichannel payment experience for its jewellery brands, Sartoro Genève and MARLI New York in the UAE.

By leveraging Adyen’s single platform solution, Artinian Group can now support a wide range of payment methods and currencies. It alo gets unified payment processing, built-in fraud prevention, and data driven insights.

“We are committed to providing innovative payment solutions that empower businesses to enhance customer experiences and scale efficiently," says Daumantas Grigaravicius, Head of Middle East at Adyen.

"Our partnership with Artinian Group reflects our shared dedication to excellence, ensuring that they can offer seamless transactions and unparalleled convenience to their customers worldwide."

Circle K

Circle K is deploying Quorso Intelligent Management Platform technology across 12 European countries in 11 different languages.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Circle K to bring simpler, more effective operations to their teams," says Julian Mills, CEO at Quorso. “Our partnership with them has broadened our ability to work on an international scale and localise the Quorso platform for users across many countries.”

Finn Legaard Kopart, Head of Operations Excellence Europe at Circle K, says: “Quorso’s store first approach, utilising data to support personalised actions, has received overwhelming support from our Store and Sales Market Managers."

"We’ve initially started on improving sales and cutting waste in our stores but are really excited by the flexibility to target every aspect of operations. Quorso will enable our ‘Fast, Friendly, and Customer Ready’ strategy by allowing our store teams to spend more time with customers and on the sales floor, knowing they are focusing on actions that will drive the most value.”