The Retail Recap – 20 June 2025 – what’s been making waves in retail this week?

From Boots extending its on-demand delivery service hours up to midnight to Asda going green for last-mile fulfilment with EV investment and B&Q partnering with Pennies for micro-donations to support charity fundraising, what’s been making waves in retail this week?

The North Face partners with Prolong to expand UK repair service

The North Face has teamed up with aftersales technology provider, Prolong, to standardise repair processes as well as upgrading and expanding its repair operations in the UK.

The partnership introduces a streamlined system that manages both in- and out-of-warranty repairs, making it easier for customers to access post-purchase support – even for older products.

The move strengthens The North Face’s commitment to environmental responsibility by extending product lifespans and reducing waste, while opening up new revenue streams through paid repairs of out-of-warranty items.

Asda goes green for last mile delivery with £1.3m investment in EVs

Asda has announced that it will more than double its Electric Vehicle (EV) home delivery fleet as it looks to cut carbon emissions, investing £1.3million to launch an additional 112 home delivery EVs.

This takes the supermarket’s total electric fleet to 194.

By September, 21 Asda stores will operate a fully electric home delivery fleet, with the EVs expected to make over a million deliveries between the launch and the end of the year.

With a range of up to 130 miles, the electric fleet will help save an estimated 1,700kg of CO2 emissions per year.

Sainsbury’s and Nectar launch new unified retail media platform, Nectar360 Pollen

Nectar360, the business which runs loyalty, insight and retail media for Sainsbury’s, has announced it will launch of a new unified, AI-powered retail media platform, Nectar360 Pollen in late 2025.

It will combine audience insight, media planning and activation, optimisation and measurement all in one single platform, powering omnichannel campaigns across in-store, online or off-site. It will also deploy Gen AI to optimise creatives, as well as building hyper-relevant audiences to enable speed and scale within retail media campaigns.

“We’ve created Nectar360 Pollen to help brands and agencies easily navigate the potential of retail media, create omnichannel experiences and deliver enhanced measurement,” Amir Rasekh, Managing Director at Nectar360, said.

Carrefour pilots VusionGroup’s hyper-connected store system

Carrefour is testing a hyper-connected store solution from VusionGroup, which blends smart rail systems, Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs), computer vision and AI to reshape in-store experiences for customers and colleagues.

Deploying VusionGroup’s EdgeSense platform, Carrefour aims to improve merchandising compliance, increase on-shelf availability, automate pricing and promotions and deploy product geolocation to CX while optimising in-store ecommerce picking.

“The goal is threefold,” Thierry Gadou, Chairman and CEO of VusionGroup, said. “To significantly improve store performance, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction.”

Boots to offer late-night on-demand delivery up to midnight

Boots will extend the hours of its on-demand delivery service up to midnight, making it easier and more convenient for customers to access health and beauty products when they need them.

The extended hours service is being trialled in ten of the health & beauty retailer’s busiest central London stores, which serve over 2million customers and patients. The move is part of Boots’ ongoing investment in digital and delivery innovation to allow it to meet the changing needs of customers.

Shoppers can now make late-night Boots orders on Uber Eats and Deliveroo, choosing from almost 10,000 health, beauty and wellness essentials across the delivery platforms, with fast fulfilment taking as little as 20 minutes.

Father’s Days gifting drives +18% uplift in online orders

UK and global ecommerce order volumes increased in the lead-up to Father’s Day 2025 with year-on-year growth reaching +18% ahead of Sunday 15 June, according to data from Scurri.

During the week of Father’s Day (09 – 14 June 2025) the highest order volumes occurred on Wednesday 11 June (+22% YOY) and Saturday 14 June (+20% YOY) as shoppers were split between mid-week planned purchases and last-minute present buys. Order volume dipped on Friday 13 June by -14% YOY reflecting earlier purchasing or in anticipation of delivery deadlines.

Fast delivery options were in high demand; 45% of all online orders processed in the week preceding Father’s Day were fulfilled by ‘Express Parcel with Signature’ deliveries, highlighting shoppers’ need for speed and certainty their parcel would arrive in time.

B&Q links with Pennies for micro-donations, making it easier for shoppers to support charities

DIY retailer B&Q will partner with leading UK charity Pennies to make it easier for customers to donate to good causes by offering micro-donations at checkouts across its UK & Ireland stores.

Micro-donations give shoppers the opportunity to make a small contribution to charities when paying by card or mobile-wallet at store tills. The collaboration will create a new way of fundraising for B&Q, with the potential to raise over £1.7million annually through optional donations made by its shoppers.

“By partnering with Pennies, we aim to make it as simple as possible for our customers to donate what they can to causes we both care about,” Tom Hampson, Director of Marketing at B&Q, said.