From Morrisons digitalising the shelf-edge with ESLs across its supermarket estate, to Aldi launching ‘colleague shops’ to prevent food waste and DFS gamifying customer journeys, what’s been making waves in retail this week?

Morrisons taps VusionGroup for estate-wide ESLs

Morrisons will rollout VusionGroup’s electronic shelf labels (ESLs) across all its 497 stores, eliminating traditional paper labels and replacing them with clear and accurate digital pricing and product information.

“We’re excited to be the first large supermarket group in the UK to introduce digital shelf edge labelling across our entire supermarket estate,” said Gordon Macpherson, Group Productivity Director at Morrisons.

The rollout of 10.8million ESLs across its supermarket estate will automate repetitive manual tasks, freeing up Morrisons’ colleagues to focus on customer service initiatives. It will also include integrated shelf-edge cameras to help store staff identify shelf gaps, speed up replenishment and optimise efficiencies for picking ecommerce orders in-store.

The rollout of the ESLs across Morrisons’ supermarket estate will start in early 2026.

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Are High Streets set for bigger Halloween boost than social?

The High Street could see the biggest boost from Halloween spending, with more consumers influenced to make spooky season purchases in-store than across social media channels, says new research by product intelligence business, Vypr. 

Its poll revealed that almost half of shoppers’ Halloween spend will be influenced by what’s in store, compared to under a third (31%) that will be swayed to make purchases on social media.

GlobalData is forecasting that UK Halloween spend will rise by +3.2% year-on-year to £537million – although this represents a weaker performance than 2024, when spooky season sales rose +4.1% compared to the year prior. 

While nearly half of UK shoppers plan to participate in Halloween, 60% say financial pressures may curtail their spending.

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Policies stamp out serial returners, saving retailers £1.7bn

The number of shoppers who identify themselves as ‘serial returners’ has dropped by a quarter, as smart policies and returns deterrents help reduce returns abuse, says new research by ZigZag, a post-purchase solution provider, and Retail Economics.

Original research of over 2,000 UK shoppers in Zig Zag’s annual returns report showed that the number of customers identifying as serial returners has dropped from 12% to 8% in the last 12months.

This decline is projected to save retailers ~£1.7billion in the value of returns from serial returners compared to last year, as policies, including charging returns fees, become more effective at encouraging considered purchasing.

“Retailers have made real progress in curbing the most costly returns behaviours, but the next step is about encouragement as much as deterrence,” said Richard Lim, CEO at Retail Economics. 

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Mention Me acquires Insitu to drive advocacy performance

Advocacy performance platform, Mention Me, has acquired Insitu, a social media content analytics company, to support brands in enhancing and accelerating their end-to-end referral and influencer activations.

The move marks a key step as Mention Me’s solution offering evolves to provide one unified platform for referrals, influencer activation and creative optimisation and analytics.

“When trust is the most important component in a consumer’s relationship with a brand, what [other] customers say matters more than ever,” said Wojtek Kokoszka, CEO of Mention Me. “Customer advocacy is the growth lever AI can’t fake.”

Kokoszka added the acquisition would help CMOs by delivering the tools needed to “amplify authentic voices” and “build trust at scale.”

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DFS builds gamification into shopper journeys with Pinterest

Furniture retailer DFS has partnered with Pinterest UK to launch an interactive, gamified shopping experience on the visual discovery platform, designed to encourage product discovery and engagement.

The ‘What’s Your Thing? Collage Quest’ launches as part of DFS’s new omnichannel brand campaign. The first element of the experience shows users six interior looks, using Pinterest’s Collages feature and shoppable DFS product cut-outs.

Users are invited to hunt for a hidden cut-out clue in each Collage. After completing all six Collages, they can enter a competition by listing the clues found on the dedicated DFS webpage for a chance to win a sofa.

The activation “allows DFS to stand out in a fractured and distracting media environment,” said Catherine Woodward, Head of Digital Marketing at DFS, while Pinterest’s Karen Bloom added that the activation “showcases how [retailers] can push the boundaries on Pinterest to bring their brand world to life.”

The campaign is supported by a Pinterest Spotlight Total Takeover across both the teaser and launch phases.

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Aldi launches ‘colleague shops’ to prevent food wastage

Aldi has launched Colleague Shops across the country to give warehouse operations and office colleagues the chance to buy products that can’t be sold in stores, as part of its work to reduce food waste.

The scheme ensures products that are still good enough to consume find homes instead of going to waste and is expected to prevent an estimated 240 tonnes of food waste each year.

“The Colleague Shop is another example of how we’re working to cut food waste across our operations,” said Luke Emery, National Sustainability Director at Aldi UK. “It’s a practical initiative that benefits both colleagues and the environment.”

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Central Co-op deploys Retail Insight to stop 8.8k tonnes of food reaching landfill

Central Co-op has partnered with Retail Insight, leveraging its WasteInsight solution to prevent 8,800 tonnes of food waste from reaching landfill over the past three years.

“Reducing food waste is a key part of our journey to net-zero,” said Ben Grove, Senior Operational Excellence Manager at Central Co-op. “Partnering with Retail Insight has enabled us to make a real difference.”

Tapping the solution’s capabilities across forecasting, expiration management, dynamic markdowns and even food donation to prevent surplus food being wasted, the retailer is able to improve its full food waste lifecycle.

This has culminated in almost 21 million meals being saved – preventing an equivalent 23,750 tonnes of Co2 being emitted – over the past three years.

“Central Co-op’s clear commitment to sustainability and innovation shines through in their willingness to embed waste reduction into store operations,” said Kieran O’Brien, EMEA VP for Customer Success at Retail Insight.

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