May 17, 2022

Shakeeb Masri has departed Carrefour Majid Al Futtaim where he held the position of Vice President E-commerce.In a LinkedIn post, he said: “As I step forward on a new path in my career journey, I can't help but reflect on all the great moments and achievements we’ve created together, all the incredible people I've had the absolute pleasure of working with and all the opportunities I’ve been blessed by during my 20 years.” Our customers could soon receive their groceries via self-driving robots thanks to an agreement with @yandexcom! With @rta_dubai support we will launch a pilot program in 2022 to explore autonomous technology solutions to enhance @CarrefourUAE last-mile delivery capabilities pic.twitter.com/J3KuHzxKeo— Hani Weiss (@haniweiss) November 3, 2021 He added: “I still remember the day in 2018 when I took the lead role in the digital transformation as Head of Omnichannel Business Unit.”“During this amazing journey, we succeeded in scaling up our e-commerce in 23 cities, opening the first largest e-grocery and fresh food licensed dark stores in the Riyadh and Dammam and the first grocery state-of-the-art automated/robotised micro fulfilment centre in Jeddah.”“In three plus years, we grew by 340% while increasing the market share to be a leading online grocery player in KSA.”Masri  did not reply to our request for comment regarding his next move and replacement at Carrefour Majid Al Futtaim.Nalla KarunanithyNalla Karunanithy also recently departed Majid Al Futtaim Retail, where he served as Chief Digital Officer. In a LInkedIn post, he said: “After three plus long and great years, I bid adieu to Majid Al Futtaim - Retail to pursue my next adventure.”“Goodbyes are hard. The mixed feeling l’m having as if I just dropped off my kid at college. I am filled with pride and some inexplicable melancholy at the same time.”He added: “In the last three plus years, midst of the pandemic, we scaled our digital commerce offering to 12+ countries and grew by 200x, with over 220+ e-commerce facilities, along the way launched the region’s first three fully automated grocery dark stores.”“And in becoming region’s leading omnichannel retailer with over 470+ stores across 17 markets, region’s first unmanned store (Carrefour City+), and scaling (Mobile) Scan & Go to over 155+ stores with NPS over 60.”“No mean feat against well funded competition in a diverse & fragmented market. I unlearned, learned and relearned many things during these three plus years.”Karunanithy signed off by thanking Hani Weiss, CEO at Majid Al Futtaim Retail, “for the opportunity and always having my back. Thanks to my retail executive colleagues for a great fun along the way. And thanks MAF Retail Board for the guidance and support.”“To my global omnichannel operations team & CORP HO team, I send virtual hugs and you have a friend for life. To every MAFer, thank you for the great journey. To everyone else, say continue to watch the space from MAF Retail team’s great work.”On his next move, Karunanithy told RTIH he was building “a new digital B2B and B2C marketplace ecosystem in the MENA region.”“Primarily to rapidly accelerate modernisation of the traditional trades. A new digital tech commerce company from ground up to be the next GoJek or Grab of the region.” Sign up for our free retail technology newsletter. Retail Technology Innovation Hub RT @CorpA2z: $AZ thanks you @RTIH_RetailTech for continued exposure as we launch into a new demographic today in #Asia. We now h… https://t.co/uVwYAhaWvS May 16, 2022, 8:42 PM Retail Technology Innovation Hub Last week’s biggest #retailtech plays at a glance, inc. @Lowes @Cleveron_Robots @SeguraSystems @scibids @trylolli… https://t.co/JyNlaBATLd May 16, 2022, 3:44 PM Retail Technology Innovation Hub COMMENT: Reality bites as Zara charges for online returns #ecommerce #onlineshopping #shoppingonline #coronavirus… https://t.co/g4068rggvM May 16, 2022, 2:48 PM Retail Technology Innovation Hub .@dominos is teaming with @netflix to launch an immersive mind ordering app experience which places “test subjects”… https://t.co/Qu3bFoq0zM May 16, 2022, 2:30 PM Retail Technology Innovation Hub Top 10: last week’s most popular RTIH retail technology articles, including @Clekt_Data @thoughtclothing… https://t.co/Pv7GwCphU6 May 16, 2022, 10:20 AM Retail Technology Innovation Hub Events news: @katenash @TheBasementJaxx and @thefeeling headline @shoptalk Europe after show party #shoptalk… https://t.co/R0zPgeqaKV May 16, 2022, 9:09 AM Retail Technology Innovation Hub Marks and Spencer wraps digital and data solutions hackathon @MandSnews #retailtech #hackathon #data… https://t.co/WPm0K0667E May 16, 2022, 9:07 AM Retail Technology Innovation Hub .@madedotcom, an online retailer which designs and sells homewares and furniture, has announced the appointment of… https://t.co/ErHAVSJp8B May 16, 2022, 9:05 AM