Merchandising & Store OpsFriday, October 16, 2026
Instacart and ALDI SOUTH Group announced a global partnership to deploy Instacart's AI-powered Caper smart trolleys across ALDI U.S. stores, including a pilot in Austria, alongside connected store technology and e-commerce fulfillment services.
Appetronix has installed its first fully automated robotic kitchen at John Glenn Columbus International Airport in partnership with Donatos, marking the first live deployment of autonomous food preparation in a non-commercial, high-traffic institutional setting.
Major payment networks and retailers have launched agentic commerce protocols enabling AI-driven instant checkout across multiple platforms.
Grocery TV has introduced a measurement solution for its in-store retail media network that links ad impressions to verified store sales to calculate return on ad spend.
The global RFID market reached $13.46 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $29.04 billion by 2033, driven by item-level tagging mandates and applications in self-checkout and inventory management.
Casey's General Stores has implemented the SYNQ3 Restaurant Solutions AI voice-ordering assistant across its entire store footprint, integrating with its POS and loyalty platforms to handle phone orders and drive sales.
