Instacart is reportedly rolling out an app targeting Gen Z consumers, centered around group orders of drinks and party snacks. This app, Fizz, lets multiple users contribute to a single order, pay for their own purchases and have them delivered together for a flat fee of $5. Fizz will be complementary to Instacart, with younger users employing the app and then turning to Instacart as their “lives evolve.” The push follows Instacart’s recent move to reduce the minimum spend to $10 from $35 for paid subscribers to receive free delivery, a decision that increased engagement. Instacart began work on the app at the beginning of the year, Daniel Danker, Instacart’s chief product officer said. Merchants offering the drinks and snacks on Fizz are grocery and liquor stores with existing relationships with Instacart. Danker said Fizz will bring more retailers to Instacart.
Walgreens micro-fulfillment centers that use prescription fulfilemt robots generated approximately $500 million in savings by cutting excess inventory and boosting efficiency
Walgreens is expanding the number of its retail stores served by its micro-fulfillment centers as it works to turn itself around and prepares to go private. Those centers use robots to fill thousands of prescriptions for patients who take medications to manage or treat diabetes, high blood pressure or other conditions. Relying on those centers frees up time for pharmacy staff, reducing their routine tasks, eliminating inventory waste and allowing them to interact directly with patients and perform more clinical services such as vaccinations and testing. The centers offer Walgreens a competitive edge, as independent pharmacies and some rivals don’t provide centralized support for their stores. Walgreens aims to free up time for pharmacy staff, reducing their routine tasks and eliminating inventory waste. Walgreens hopes to have its 11 micro-fulfillment centers serve more than 5,000 stores by the end of the year, up from 4,800 in February and 4,300 in October 2023. As of February, the centers handled 40% of the prescription volume on average at supported pharmacies, according to Walgreens. That translates to around 16 million prescriptions filled each month across the different sites. To date, micro-fulfillment centers have generated approximately $500 million in savings by cutting excess inventory and boosting efficiency, said Kayla Heffington, Walgreens’ pharmacy operating model vice president. Heffington added that stores using the facilities are administering 40% more vaccines than those that aren’t.
Twilio’s new ConversationRelay, allows developers to build voice agents using their choice of LLMs; plans to make RCS messaging and WhatsApp Business Calling generally available
Communication tool provider Twilio announced updates including a next-generation customer engagement platform built for an artificial intelligence and data-driven future, along with a new strategic partnership with Microsoft Corp. to advance conversational AI. Leading the list of announcements was a next-generation platform designed to unify communications, data and AI into a single, flexible infrastructure for customer engagement. The platform integrates omnichannel communication tools, including voice, SMS, email, video and over-the top, with contextual data from Twilio’s Segment Customer Data Platform and a growing portfolio of native AI capabilities. The enhancements unveiled by Twilio span three core areas — conversational AI, compliance and personalization. The updates are designed to help businesses deliver more intelligent, compliant and tailored customer engagement at scale. ConversationRelay, a tool that allows developers to build voice agents using their choice of large language models. The service includes features such as real-time streaming, advanced speech recognition, interruption handling and human-like voice rendering. Conversational Intelligence is now generally available for voice and entered private beta for messaging, allowing companies to turn conversations into structured insights. Twilio introduced a new Compliance Toolkit, now in public beta, to help businesses manage requirements such as the U.S. Telephone Consumer Protection Act more easily. The company also announced plans to make RCS messaging and WhatsApp Business Calling generally available later this year. For personalization and insights, Twilio updated its Segment Customer Data Platform with a redesigned Journeys architecture that now supports event-triggered workflows and richer contextual payloads. The improvements are complemented with new integrations for SMS and SendGrid, as well as new partnerships with Amplitude Inc. and Attribution App. Twilio is also expanding data residency options in the EU for email and SMS, further strengthening its global compliance capabilities. Along with product updates, Twilio announced a new strategic partnership with Microsoft to jointly develop and deploy conversational AI experiences at scale. Under the partnership, Twilio will integrate its engagement platform with Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry to power AI-driven communications, including multi-channel AI agents, advanced contact center assistants via Twilio Agent Copilot and multi-modal customer interaction tools.
Chipotle’s new gamified promotion offers extra points and exclusive badges for completing up to four milestones; dashboard tracks Chipotle Rewards members’ performance against other users in their state based on transactions per month
Chipotle Mexican Grill will run a three-month program to give away more than $1 million in free burritos to its U.S. loyalty members. From June 1 to Aug. 31, 2025, Chipotle is offering a gamified promotion for members of its Chipotle Rewards loyalty program. Called “Summer of Extras,” it will let loyalty members earn extra points and exclusive badges for completing up to four milestones per month. Participating loyalty members will also be able to gain sweepstakes entries for a chance to receive free burritos for a year and a limited-edition stainless steel gift card. At the end of the summer, there will be one sweepstakes winner per state in the 48 states in which Chipotle operates, plus Washington D.C., for a total of 49 winners. Once Chipotle Rewards members opt into the “Summer of Extras” program in their account, they will unlock the seven-visit streak challenge described above. Milestones will reset at the beginning of each month, providing opportunities to earn extra benefits, extra points and extra free Chipotle. Participants are limited to two qualifying entrée purchases per day during Summer of Extras. Chipotle is further gamifying “Summer of Extras” with a dashboard that tracks Chipotle Rewards members’ performance against other users in their state based on transactions. Each week from June 1 through August 31, Chipotle Rewards members who have opted into the “Summer of Extras” program can enter the weekly drawings by making any in-restaurant or digital Chipotle entrée purchase or by submitting an online entry, during the applicable entry period for the weekly drawings.
Donatos Pizza to open first fully autonomous restaurant in airport that will operate 24/7 and leverage robotics and data science tech to streamline the customer experience from placing orders to receiving their pizza
Donatos Pizza and its sister company, smart kitchen technology developer Agape Automation, are partnering with robotic food tech provider Appetronix to open the pizza chain’s first robot-operated restaurant in its headquarters city. The new fully automated Donatos Pizza restaurant will debut before security in front of Concourse B at the John Glenn Columbus International Airport in June 2025 and will be operated by franchisee HMS Host. The autonomous restaurant will operate 24/7, leveraging robotics and data science technologies to streamline the customer experience from placing orders to receiving their pizza while they watch it being freshly prepared in real time. The new automated restaurant is part of a larger four-point strategy Donatos Pizza launched in March 2025, which includes innovating for the future, staying relevant, driving sustainable growth and leading with vision. Other high-tech efforts Donatos is undertaking include implementing a new voice AI-based ordering system from Revmo AI that will automate its phone orders. Rollout to all 174 Donatos restaurants across multiple states is expected to be completed by May 2025. The company anticipates that Revmo’s AI-based voice ordering technology will enhance the customer experience and increase order conversions, ultimately driving revenue across its locations nationwide. According to Donatos, this technology has the potential to transform food service in airports, hospitals, college campuses, industrial environments, and other location where a traditional kitchen may not be feasible.
Splitit expanding its orchestration service to let processors participate in the transaction while giving them issuer channels through which to make direct offers to the consumer and also adding digital wallets to the mix
Splitit’s approach in the service economy is to construct an orchestration layer that lets customers pay for purchases over time using cards. “We’re expanding our service offering with more capabilities via the processor and the issuer based on the demand by these various players,” John Beisner, head of client success at Splitit, said. Among the near-term initiatives lies the ability to let processors participate in the transaction and give the issuer channels through which to make direct offers to the consumer amid a merchant interaction. As to the changing dynamics in the competitive arena of installment payments, Beisner said, “you’ve got the typical buy now, pay laters. You also have bank financing offers and other FinTechs involved in making financing offers to consumers.” “We think that by orchestrating that, bringing it into a single experience… we’re doing that at a level where it’s not just eCommerce, but it’s also for in-store transaction,” he said. “So, we’re trying to bring all of that together and provide a very focused capability to enhance the consumer experience. We’re also making sure that we maintain the relationship between the merchant and the consumers.” Consumers, in turn, discover that they can manage their funding more adroitly and find the spending power to “upgrade” their purchases to bigger-ticket choices as they don’t have to take out new loans to do so, he said. “We’re spending time getting out front of the transactions so that the consumer understands that they have options and that these are not loan-based options,” Beisner said. The checkout experience remains the same, as consumers enter their card details (or if they are already registered with a merchant, one-click checkout is an option). Splitit is also adding digital wallets to the mix, including Google Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, he said, “where the merchant does not even need to be signed up, where the customer can walk in with their wallet into any storefront and make a purchase — and then decide how they want to split those payments up,” he said. Splitit will also be rolling out a service where the merchant and the consumer share in the cost — “and we’ll still be using the ‘open to pay’ on a card to make that decision,” rather than a new loan, he said.
Indiana’s HEA 1125 recognizes that On-Demand Pay is a unique financial product, and mandates appropriate consumer protections
Indiana has passed earned wage access (EWA) legislation into law. “Indiana’s HEA 1125 codifies the industry’s best practices into law, including recognizing that On-Demand Pay is a unique financial product, and mandating appropriate consumer protections,” EWA provider DailyPay said. The company added that Indiana joins other states, including California, Nevada, Utah, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and South Carolina. Indiana’s HEA 1125 codifies the industry’s best practices into law, including recognizing that On-Demand Pay is a unique financial product, and mandating appropriate consumer protections. Indiana now joins multiple states across the country, including California, Nevada, Utah, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and South Carolina, which have also taken affirmative steps to ensure appropriate regulation is in place for the product. “We applaud Indiana legislators for responding to the realities facing working people in the state and ensuring continued access to a crucial financial option with common-sense guardrails that allow consumers and businesses to benefit,” DailyPay Vice President of Public Policy Ryan Naples. The company will make its On-Demand Pay platform available to new and existing clients with operations in Canada, DailyPay said. “Expanding into Canada is a major step in our mission to better serve our multinational clients and partners and to provide On-Demand Pay to everyone, everywhere,” DailyPay Vice President of International Josh Durodola said.
Mastercard partners broker to offer Business Bonus Scheme small business owners access to personalized advice from expert mortgage advisers on their end-to-end mortgage needs in one streamlined, digital journey
Habito has partnered with Mastercard’s Business Bonus Scheme to make mortgage support faster, simpler, and completely free for SME owners across the UK. Business owners will now be able to access Habito’s team of expert mortgage advisers at no cost, whether they’re buying a home, refinancing, or investing in a rental property. The goal? To give entrepreneurs the clarity and support they need to make confident decisions, without jargon or unnecessary paperwork. This partnership means Mastercard Business Bonus Scheme members can explore a huge range of mortgage options through Habito’s platform, get personalised help from qualified advisers, and secure deals that match their unique circumstances, all in one streamlined, digital journey. Ying Tan, CEO of Habito, said:“We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Mastercard to support the UK’s business community. Running a business is hard enough. Your mortgage shouldn’t be. SME owners deserve smart, reliable advice that just works, without the stress or the sales pitch. That’s exactly what we’re delivering with this partnership.” Whether they’re buying for the first time, refinancing their home, or growing a portfolio, Mastercard SME customers can now feel more in control of their mortgage choices with Habito on hand to guide them through every step.
Study: U.S. shoppers pull back from Temu, Shein; shift spending to Old Navy, Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom Rack and others known for affordability
New data from Consumer Edge showed a sharp deceleration in U.S. consumer spending growth in April on ultra-discount Chinese retailers Temu and Shein. In the three weeks leading up to April 27, American brands including Old Navy, Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom Rack and Savers Value Village picked up a significant amount of redirected consumer dollars from former Temu and Shein shoppers. According to the data, Temu’s U.S. year-over-year spend growth slowed sharply in April 2025, decelerating from nearly 50% growth at the start of the month to almost zero growth by the end. Shein experienced a similar deceleration, with year-over-year spend growth declining from approximately 30% to around 20% during the same period. “This dramatic slowdown coincides with rising U.S.-China trade tensions, the elimination of the duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value imports and a reduction in advertising spend that had previously fueled both platforms’ rapid growth,” noted Consumer Edge. To identify where consumers spent their money, Consumer Edge analyzed shoppers who made at least two purchases at Temu or Shein in January or February 2025 but no purchases in March or April. Key findings include: Old Navy regains market share: Long known for its affordability, Old Navy is reclaiming cost-conscious shoppers and capturing spending from those moving away from ultra-discount platforms. Its broad assortment of clothing for all age groups and genders continues to resonate. Legacy department stores reclaim value shoppers: Bloomingdale’s, Kohl’s and Nordstrom Rack are pulling in significant dollars from ex-Temu and Shein shoppers, benefiting from their wide selections across categories. Resale gains ground: Savers Value Village is also seeing momentum as resale becomes the new value frontier. Beauty shoppers shift: Retailer Ulta Beauty and brand SpoiledChild are benefiting from consumers looking to make personal care swaps.
Target teams with Shipt to offer members of its loyalty program unlimited same-day delivery from a curated network of 100-plus retailers beyond Target and free of price markups
Target Corp. has unveiled a new program for members of its Target Circle 360 loyalty program that provides delivery from more than 100 beloved retailers beyond Target – with no same-day delivery price markups that would get passed on to customers. While same-day delivery from Target has always been free of price markups, this latest offering aims to make this service from many more locations even easier and more affordable. In contrast to many other membership programs that limit access to a one retailer, Target Circle 360 now gives members unlimited same-day delivery from Target and Shipt’s curated network of 100-plus retailers, among them CVS, PetSmart and Lowe’s Home Improvement, along with such popular regional grocers. New Target Circle 360 members who want to access this latest benefit will receive a special $20 off their first order of $75 or more. In addition to this new feature, Target Circle 360 members take advantage of the following everyday exclusive benefits: 1) Early and exclusive access to such deals and experiences as Target Circle Week, in addition to limited-time offerings and partnerships; 2) Recently introduced monthly Target Circle 360 freebies that allow members to choose from free products, dollars toward their next purchase and more, redeemable in-store or online. 3) Free two-day shipping on hundreds of thousands of items 4) Extended windows on returns 5) Unlimited same-day delivery on orders of $35 or more 6) All of the benefits of Target Circle, including access to automatic deals and personalized bonuses.