Retail Tech Roundup: Hanshow, Ikea and Tesco Lead Innovation

Autonomous robots and AI-driven waste management are reshaping the British retail landscape this week, as major chains deploy advanced digital tools to optimize store operations. From Tesco’s shift toward robotic floor cleaning to Ikea’s creative approach to food sustainability, retailers are increasingly turning to automation to solve long-standing operational inefficiencies.

Tesco has initiated a rollout of autonomous cleaning robots across 600 of its Express stores in partnership with ICE. These machines, designed to function as co-bots, handle routine floor maintenance to allow staff to focus on customer service. The deployment marks a significant move toward data-driven automation within the UK convenience sector, providing consistent cleaning standards backed by automated reporting.

Simultaneously, Ikea UK is addressing food waste through smart technology developed with Winnow. By utilizing AI to track discarded items by weight and cost, the retailer has achieved a £14 million reduction in waste costs over the past decade. To highlight these efforts, Ikea launched a limited-edition apple juice made from surplus fruit, accompanied by in-store workshops aimed at improving consumer food storage habits.

In the technology sector, Hanshow has introduced xPilot, a real-time store execution assistant built on Microsoft Azure. The platform integrates data from smart shelves, robotics, and IoT sensors to create a digital twin of the store environment. By deploying AI agents to interpret this data, retailers like China’s Rainbow Department Store are moving from reactive management to proactive, intelligence-led operations, allowing for immediate adjustments to shelf availability and planogram compliance.