Three cool mobile app rollouts from a hot summer
The summer will soon be a memory, but the mobile innovation that emerged during the season will remain.
As always, summertime has come and gone much faster than anyone would like (my, oh my). While technically the year’s brightest season still has another week or so left, leaves are already starting to change color, kids are back at school and retail has turned its attention to Halloween and even the end-of-year holidays.
[READ MORE: How early Halloween is changing retail]
However, while suntans still remain fresh, let’s take a look at few cool mobile app rollouts that were a highlight of the retail technology 2025 summer season.
Walmart – store associate app tools
Discount giant Walmart provided a new suite of AI tools, enabled by Scandit technology, to store employees that can be accessed via its associate app. The tools aim to eliminate friction, simplify actions and make work more efficient, intuitive and rewarding, according to the company.
They include a workflow tool to help ensure that employees have clear guidance on where to focus their efforts; a generative AI solution to turn process guides into clear, step-by-step answers to questions such as, "How can I process a return without a receipt?"; an augmented reality tool that visually guides associates to apparel items that need to be moved to the sales floor, and an AI-based translator that enables conversations in both text-to-text and speech-to-speech formats and is equipped with Walmart-specific knowledge.
Circle K – mobile alcohol cashback program
Circle K began offering legal-age shoppers mobile cashback rebates on beer, wine and spirits, delivered almost instantly after purchase. The convenience retailer, a subsidiary of Alimentation Couche-Tard, is leveraging the Swiftly alcohol cashback rebate app in more than 4,300 stores across 31 states.
The platform automates state-by-state rebate compliance and streamlines the offer submission process for alcohol suppliers, allowing Circle K to onboard new campaigns more quickly and operate within the legal framework of each participating state.
In addition, Circle K and its supplier partners can utilize back-end reporting tools with analytics including redemption rates and product performance by region to support promotional planning and brand-retailer collaboration.
The program also streamlines the rebate experience for shoppers by eliminating traditional mail-in rebates and delivering digital cashback directly to them.
Grocery Dealz - automated real-time price comparisons
A new mobile app that launched in July streamlines the process of finding and purchasing groceries at the best available prices.
Initially rolled out in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Grocery Dealz uses artificial intelligence technology to provide real-time price comparisons and automate the digital checkout process, linking consumers to their preferred retailer websites to complete their purchase.
Built with the help of digital product service provider InspiringApps, the free app delivers real-time price comparisons across local grocery stores, as well as provides smart product suggestions when preferred items aren’t on sale. Grocery Dealz will then directly integrate with grocery apps for seamless checkout.
