the retail technology week in numbers — Retail Technology Innovation Hub

-3.90%…American Eagle’s in-store visits fell -3.90% across the USA last week, coinciding with rising backlash over its campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney.

The actress has recently faced criticism over her political associations, with calls to boycott brands she works with gaining traction online. American Eagle, one of her most prominent partnerships, saw its first notable drop in store traffic in weeks, hinting that the controversy may be moving from digital discourse into consumer behaviour.

64…REWE Group reports that 64 new Mercedes-Benz eSprinters will now be handling deliveries in Berlin, and from September also in Neuss.

These vehicles represent REWE Delivery Service’s largest single order with new partner Mercedes-Benz. It is investing almost five million euros in the EVs alongside charging infrastructure expansion.

“We are delighted to support REWE with our eSprinter vehicles and to be able to contribute to making everyday life easier for many people. In terms of their efficiency and range, the vehicles are ideally suited to the needs of our commercial customers. They demonstrate that locally CO2 emission free driving, impressive performance, and comfort can be optimally combined,” says Andreas Böger, Head of New Vehicle Sales at Mercedes-Benz Transporters and Vans Germany.

2 and 3…Ikea is gearing up to open a new location in Norwich on Thursday, 28th August. This small store format is the second of three to open, with a third planned for Chester in the coming months.

These locations, all of which are located in retail parks, reflect a new format for Ikea, designed to be quick to market and offering a simpler, faster shopping experience, just around the corner.

Key features and services include: 

• A showroom and market hall featuring Ikea’s most popular families, home furnishing accessories and limited edition seasonal ranges.

• Online access to the full range, with the option of home delivery or free collection in 48 hours.

• Planning services for kitchens and bedroom storage to help customers design their dream spaces.

• The opportunity to buy pre-loved Ikea products at more affordable prices and bring back items that are no longer needed in exchange for store credit.

• A selection of food offered at The Swedish Bite for those wanting to eat in or take away.

$37.5 million…Augmodo, a real-time inventory and task tracker using wearable Smartbadges to create live 3D store maps, has closed a $37.5 million Series A funding round.

This was led by TQ Ventures, with participation from existing backers Lerer Hippeau, NewFare, WIN and Interlace, who joined newcomer Arena Holdings – an investment firm founded by Feroz Dewan, former Managing Director at Tiger Global, as well as Jefferson River Capital – the family office of Tony James, former President and COO at Blackstone Group.

In a LinkedIn post, Ross Finman, CEO and Founder at Augmodo, said: “This will accelerate bringing spatial AI to the largest workforce on the planet: retail. Combining wearables plus AI with our Smartbadges is going to change the physical workforce just as much as AI is changing knowledge work today.”

“While there is a lot of excitement about the future across the industry, retail has the biggest physical data problems today and are very grounded applications solving out of stocks, inventory, safety, training, and more.”

2…The MACH Alliance, a non-profit profit group whose members include software vendors, systems integrators, agencies, and individual experts known as “Ambassadors”, advocating for open technology ecosystems, reports a change to its leadership structure.

There will be shift over to a model that will see main positions filled by end user companies instead of vendors. Two end user ambassadors will be appointed to the executive board in September alongside the nine elected member seats.

Current President Casper Rasmussen will step down on 30th September 2025 after three years in the post. A President will be elected from its membership in September 2025 and then there will be a transition to an appointed end user President in September 2026.

25…Ocado’s 25th anniversary celebrations have prompted James Gralton, Chief Product Officer, to think back on his own 20 year journey with the company.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: “Walking through the doors in 2005 I could not have imagined the journey Ocado and I would go on. It’s a story of many companies all wrapped up into one. I originally joined as a software engineer, working on new Java applications for our customer fulfilment centre.”

At that time, Ocado had just one warehouse. Watching the firm go from a single fulfilment centre to an international business with sites live all over the world has been a clear highlight for Gralton.

“Our journey has had its fair share of bumps but the tenacity and hard work of our teams has pushed us through each challenge. I’ll never forget launching our first two international CFC partners on the Ocado Smart Platform, at the same time, in the midst of Covid-19,” he commented.