From Sainsbury’s extending its use of facial recognition technology, to consumers still wanting physical and digital payment options, and John Lewis enhancing its on-site retail media offering, what’s been making waves in retail this week?

Sainsbury’s extends use of facial recognition to tackle theft

Sainsbury’s has confirmed it will extend the use of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) across 150 additional stores ahead of Christmas trading as it look to stem shoplifting and prevent abuse against frontline staff.

The roll out follows a trail of Facewatch’s FRT solution in 55 Sainsbury’s stores, which reduced incidents of theft, abuse and antisocial behaviour by -46% and helped curb repeat offences.

The grocer said that all alerts generated by the system from Facewatch will be manually reviewed by human security teams before any action is taken, and confirmed it wasn’t using the technology to monitor regular customers and employees.

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England’s FIFA World Cup success sees retail theft spike +17% 

Retail theft rose by +17% on the day of England’s final World Cup Group Stage win against Panama, as the Three Lions’ on-pitch success translated to in-store disruption, new figures from SAI reveal.

The late-night fixture also saw a surge in violent incidents and operational burden on match day, up +5% and +8% respectively on the daily average.

“While retailers will be welcoming the World Cup boost to sales, it’s very much a game of two halves and they will also recognise the need to manage the operational disruption that goes hand-in-hand with revenue opportunities,” said SAI’s Head of Marketing & Insight, Chris Bell.

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As cash use falls, shoppers still demand physical & digital payments

Despite use of physical tender falling, consumers still want both cash and cashless payment options to remain available, says The Payments Association’s latest data.

While only 28% of shoppers use cash on a weekly basis, seven in ten still want the choice of using physical and digital payment methods.

Emma Banymandhub, CEO at The Payments Association, said the findings demonstrated consumers’ payment habits were “evolving quickly” but “not necessarily following the digital takeover trajectory that many experts predicted.”

However, digital is now the primary payment choice for day-to-day spending, with mobile wallets now matching contactless debit cards as the UK’s most commonly used method for making everyday purchases (26% each), followed by chip-and-PIN (18%). 

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Klaviyo unveils updates to its Composer & Customer Agents

Klaviyo launched new advancements to its Composer and Customer Agents at its K:LDN event this week.

The new capabilities aim to close the AI customer data gap, connecting agents to the systems and workflows that shape the full customer experience, and providing the context needed to drive marketing performance and engagement.

“Businesses aren’t struggling because they lack AI tools. They’re struggling because most AI can’t act on the context that matters,” said Jamie Domenici, CMO at Klaviyo. “Composer and Customer Agent help brands put that understanding to work.”

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New Look taps Fermat’s AI to speed product development

New Look has deployed Fermat’s AI visualisation solution across its buying and design functions to accelerate product development and improve speed to market.

The rollout will drive efficiencies within its product development processes, allowing the retailer to identify emerging trends faster and bring ideas to market more quickly. It will also streamlined decision-making while cutting waste associated with traditional sampling.

“Creativity has always been at the heart of New Look,” said its Creative Director, Anica Wislawski. “Fermat gives our designers the freedom to bring ideas to life faster, explore more creative possibilities and refine products through multiple iterations before they reach the customer.”

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John Lewis strengthens on-site RMN offering with Kevel

John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has teamed up with Kevel to enhance its on-site retail media capabilities across its John Lewis and Waitrose online platforms.

Kevel has helped JLP build a bespoke ad platform that uses first-party data to created highly targeted segments to drive campaign performance, enabling brands to reach the right shoppers at the right moment.

“This is a huge step forward for our digital retail media offer,” said Kaitlin Craig, Retail Media Lead at John Lewis. “With over 160 years in retail, we hold really rich customer insights – and we’re now able to share this with trusted partner brands.”

The solution from Kevel will include closed-loop reporting, helping the retailer better account for sales attribution between channels, closing the gap on omnichannel visibility and revenue performance.

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Footasylum teams up with THG Fulfil for optimised warehouse operations

Footasylum will partner with THG Fulfil to optimise its warehousing operations, deploying AutoStore, an automated storage and picking system, to support future growth and improve fulfilment efficiency.

The implementation marks a step-change in Footaslyum’s fulfilment capabilities, deploying a fully automated, goods-to-person model to enhance operational efficiency and allow it to scale capacity.

“As Footasylum continues to grow, we are committed to investing in the infrastructure that will support the business into the future,” said CEO Hannah Mercer. “Our fulfilment operation is a critical part of that.”

The partnership marks THG Fulfil’s first AutoStore implementation for an external retailer, built on the same expertise the business has applied across multiple AutoStore deployments within its own global fulfilment network.

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