Retail innovation tracker
New store formats, AI and technology pilots, payment and delivery experiments from retailers and brands in India: what they tried and where it was reported.
In the last 12 months we have tracked 30 innovations across 23 companies. The busiest month was August 2026, with 7. Amazon appears most often (3). The most common type is “AI” (14).
| Item | innovations |
|---|---|
| Dec 2025 | 2 |
| Jan 2026 | 0 |
| Feb 2026 | 2 |
| Mar 2026 | 3 |
| Apr 2026 | 1 |
| May 2026 | 1 |
| Jun 2026 | 3 |
| Jul 2026 | 3 |
| Aug 2026 | 7 |
| Sep 2026 | 5 |
Chart: WiseRetail
November 2026 2
-
AI
JD.com plans to expand its European logistics network beyond its 60-plus distribution centres.
-
AI
JD.com plans 90-minute delivery in Europe through Uber and 30-minute in-store collection.
October 2026 1
-
AI
Walmart introduced tools letting AI agents shop and complete transactions for customers.
September 2026 5
-
Delivery & logistics
Flipkart's Ekart added over 750 PIN codes and expanded its delivery network capacity.
-
Technology
Snapdeal partnered with YouTube Shopping to offer products through its affiliate programme.
-
Technology
TechnoSport is investing Rs 4.5 crore with IIT Delhi to set up the T-CREST centre.
-
AI
PayU launched Agent HQ, an AI agent store for Indian SMB merchants to deploy agents for commerce tasks.
-
Technology
Swiggy launched a dedicated helpline and in-app channel for food safety complaints.
August 2026 7
-
Technology
Godrej Consumer Products inaugurated a new soap factory in Malanpur producing 4,000 soaps a minute.
-
Delivery & logistics
Karmic Beauty has rolled out drone deliveries for its beauty products.
-
Payments
Zepto raised the minimum order value for free delivery to Rs 299 during high demand.
-
Delivery & logistics
Amazon India expanded its rail logistics on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.
-
Sustainability
Zomato launched PackSwitch to help restaurants adopt sustainable packaging.
-
Delivery & logistics
Flipkart deployed over 1,000 electric two-wheelers for Flipkart Minutes deliveries in Tamil Nadu.
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AI
Snapdeal launched an AI suite with LLM-powered conversational and visual fashion search.
July 2026 3
-
AI
Samsung said it will add India-specific AI features to its next Galaxy phones.
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AI
Pronto launched AI-powered 'Verified' bookings aimed at creating income for blue-collar workers.
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AI
Myntra expanded AI use across customer experience, seller onboarding and product development.
June 2026 3
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AI
Nykaa partnered with OpenAI to build AI-led shopping experiences and deploy ChatGPT Enterprise and Codex.
-
AI
Amazon India expanded AI tools for sellers, including restock recommendations and AI ad support.
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Technology
Flipkart Group partnered with Meta to let creators tag affiliate products and earn commissions.
May 2026 1
-
Delivery & logistics
Amazon opened its logistics and supply-chain network to outside businesses for storage and delivery.
April 2026 1
-
Technology
Amazon expanded its Counterfeit Crimes Unit to India to tackle fake goods.
March 2026 3
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Payments
Zepto rolled out a Pay Later option for interest-free credit on its app.
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AI
Meesho launched a GenAI voice shopping assistant called Vaani for conversational commerce.
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AI
Jumbotail partnered with NEC to integrate AI and retail tech into its kirana platform.
February 2026 2
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AI
Eternal deepened its OpenAI partnership to integrate AI across Zomato, Blinkit and District.
-
Technology
Reliance Retail is piloting a search and discovery platform linking stores with online shopping via QR codes.
December 2025 2
-
AI
Asian Footwears introduced AsianGPT, an in-house AI engine to improve distribution efficiency.
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Delivery & logistics
Amazon Now plans to open two micro-fulfillment centers daily, targeting over 300 dark stores by year end.
How this tracker works
Entries come from company announcements, regulatory filings and news reports about Indian retail. Our system reads each report, records only events it states as new, and checks in code that every company, person and number appears in the report itself before anything is saved. Each entry is written in our own words, dated when the event happened, and labelled with the kind of source behind it: a company announcement, a regulatory filing, media reports, or confirmation from the company itself. Publications this page draws on: Retail Gazette, ET Retail.
Common questions
Where does the innovations data come from?
From company announcements, regulatory filings and news reports on Indian retail, ecommerce, quick commerce and consumer brands. Each entry is labelled with the kind of source behind it and, where we covered it, links to our own story. Brands can confirm or correct entries through our For brands page.
How often is this tracker updated?
Automatically, every time we publish a story that reports a new innovation. Entries are dated by when the event happened, not when we added them.
How do I report a missing or wrong entry?
Email editor@example.com with a link to a public source. We check it and update the tracker; confirmed errors are logged on our corrections page.
More trackers
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- New brands & launches (293)
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- Hiring & layoffs (20)