2025’s biggest retail tech trends: Robots, video content, and employee equipment

New for 2024, Retail Week, Ancoris, IBM and Wipro present The Innovation Report, a showcase of 50 global retailers leveraging affordable low-resource tech solutions alongside the latest cutting-edge tools to gain competitive advantage. 

Below, we reveal four key retail tech trends shaping the strategies among some of the top 50 retailers and how this should be used to influence retailer strategies in 2025 and beyond:

The robot revolution  

While it is easy to dismiss robots as a fun CX gimmick, many of the 50 retailers celebrated in The Innovation Report are using robots to generate real ROI and are making them a core focus of their investment strategies in the months ahead. 

For instance, The Co-op is growing its robot delivery arm to be the most extensive in the UK with its starship bots supporting customer convenience. French grocer Carrefour is making headway with the introduction of its advice robot to manage customer and internal queries, while Italian supermarket chain Esselunga is using a robotic store assistant to speed up its store checkout processes. John Lewis is also using robots to ease the burden of heavy lifting on its warehouse workers. 

Robots are being used to elevate the store experience too, with the likes of Polish convenience retailer Żabka installing a ‘Robbie’ hot dog maker for shoppers on the go. 

Tech-driven employee engagement 

Tech can work in harmony with colleagues to make them more engaged, more productive and offer customers a better experience. 

In the report, JD Sports is recognised for equipping its shop floor staff with handheld devices to help them better manage stock levels.  

Elsewhere, B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher is highlighted for implementing a platform to modernise staff training, and German retailer REWE Group for leveraging holograms to support staff onboarding. Retailers are even innovating with digital tools to make staff safer such as Holland & Barrett’s investment in its new platform for staff to easily report crimes.  

Supply chain automation 

Amazon and Ocado were early adopters of supply chain automation and have long been ahead of the pack, but the report makes it clear that this is the direction of travel for the industry – F&B brands in particular. 

For instance, in January 2024, Aldi’s Asian unit migrated to an automated supply chain platform; One Network Enterprise. The tie-up enables it to manage its global freight and distribution partners on one AI-powered solution. 

Similarly, Australian grocer Coles is now using Ocado’s platform Ocado Solutions to automate its processes. As of August 2024, its shoppers in Sydney and Melbourne have been served by customer fulfilment centres built on the Ocado Smart Platform. This comprises significant robotic and automation power to speed up orders and drive productivity. Retailers would do well to explore the opportunity in 2025 to avoid getting left behind.  

Video content 

Media is not dead; it is just evolving. That is the clear message to be taken for 2025 from the strategies among the 50 global innovators. Video content is having a revival and being successfully used by retailers to capture consumer attention and as a result, new sales. 

Chinese giant Alibaba’s Taobao business has invested a whopping ¥10bn (£51.5m) into video content curation. Zara is bringing live shopping streams to the West after a successful pilot in China, and German marketplace Zalando has implemented a new tool to push video content to consumers to help them discover new trends.