Merchandising & Store OpsSaturday, October 17, 2026
Amazon announced in January 2026 that it will deploy its newest-generation Dash Cart smart carts to dozens of Whole Foods Market locations across the U.S. by the end of 2026.
White Castle has debuted a prototype restaurant integrating a Flippy robotic fry assistant, an AI-powered drive-thru voice assistant, and 1,000 slider self-order kiosks.
Retail pharmacy chains are integrating in-store robotic systems with app-based purchase platforms to enable AI-powered prescription fulfillment and same-day delivery.
Retail media CTV ad spending is forecast to hit approximately $5 billion in 2025, growing roughly three times faster than retail media search according to eMarketer.
Harmons deployed Simbe's Tally autonomous shelf-scanning robot across 17 stores after a pilot, reporting a 20% reduction in out-of-stocks on high-velocity items.
Yum! Brands' proprietary Byte platform, which integrates point-of-sale, kitchen management, and online ordering, is in use at approximately 25,000 Yum restaurants as of February 2025.
