Lead story
RETAIL RUNTIME · By Changwan Kim
Retail’s AI Problem Is Not Intelligence. It Is Execution.
Retailers have spent years improving systems and, more recently, improving models.
Models meet operations
AI
The systems, compute and deployment choices turning artificial intelligence into retail infrastructure.
CONTINUING COVERAGE
FEATURED REPORTING
Three stories shaping this desk
RETAIL RUNTIME · By Kim Dohyun
Shinsegae Duty Free rolls out AI safety monitoring at store and logistics sites
The retailer has applied a two-stage CCTV system at its Myeongdong flagship and an Incheon Airport logistics center, using vision AI then a vision-language model before alerting staff.
RETAIL RUNTIME · By Takahashi Ken
Valor AI deli trial cut waste 12.6% as sales and profit rose
A 20-store test with SoftBank and Japan Weather Association tied weather, footfall and store data to production, markdowns and staff explanations versus similar control stores.
RETAIL RUNTIME · By Park Seoyoon
Lotte Department Store puts Brand AI on tenant mix
An in-house tool maps more than 4,000 brands for scouting, adjacency and entry-exit work, with a chatbot planned later this year.
LATEST
The newest reporting from this deskRETAIL RUNTIME · AUG 28, 2026 · By Park Seoyoon
On-Out Agent F targets fashion allocation and inventory moves
The Korean firm’s Agent F is framed as an execution layer over ERP, sales and logistics data, automating merchandising work from initial store allocation to transfers and markdown timing.
3 min read ↗
RETAIL RUNTIME · AUG 29, 2026 · By Changwan Kim
AI Can Read the Internet. The Store Is Harder.
Artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape online shopping around information that machines can interpret.
9 min read ↗
RETAIL RUNTIME · AUG 30, 2026 · By Changwan Kim
Retail’s AI Ambitions Are Outrunning Its Hardware Cycles
Software is evolving faster than the physical infrastructure expected to support it.
6 min read ↗
RETAIL RUNTIME · AUG 29, 2026 · By Kim Dohyun
Lotte Mart opens automated Busan grocery CFC
Zeta Smart Center Busan uses a goods-to-person grid, robotic picking for standard SKUs and staff for fragile items, with Ocado technology in deep freeze.
3 min read ↗
RETAIL RUNTIME · AUG 28, 2026 · By Alice Mercer
Tesco expands UK Tally robot trial to more stores
Simbe’s autonomous shelf scanner is now operating beyond a single Tesco supermarket, still as a limited trial rather than a national rollout.
3 min read ↗
RETAIL RUNTIME · AUG 28, 2026 · By Hannah Weber
Hybrid Edeka store in Freiburg tests unattended grocery hours
Beckesepp’s Waltershofen market pairs daytime staffing with after-hours access, AI produce ID and a cashierless bakery—without claiming a fully independent store.
3 min read ↗