The retail technology week in numbers
$550 million…Target is to buy Shipt for $550 million.
8,000…Amazon has expanded its Prime same-day delivery and one-day shipping service to thousands more markets across the US. These were previously available to Prime members in 5,000 cities and towns; that has now risen to more than 8,000.
70,000…Despite a barrage of hype and the best efforts of the banks, card schemes etc, mobile payments are miles away from mainstream success. According to the annual Connected Life study by Kantar TNS, involving 70,000 people in 56 countries, only a minority of internet users in the likes of the US, the UK, Canada, France and Germany preferred the use of mobile payments to other methods. China and Mongolia were the only two countries in which a majority of respondents said they favoured this way of paying for items.
3.1%...UK supermarket sales increased in value by 3.1% YOY for the 12 weeks to 3rd December, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
33%...A third of UK consumers would be more likely to buy a high-ticket item on the spot if they could first use augmented reality (AR) to be sure what it looked like at home. 49%, meanwhile, think that being able to plan out, test and view multiple room designs and products before spending money would be the biggest benefit of this type of technology.
$45 million…The Jack Ma Foundation is to spend RMB 300 million ($45 million) over the next 10 years to help discover and cultivate teaching talent in the rural regions of China.
31%...The number of UK consumers who will consider using their in-home assistant for Christmas shopping this year has doubled since 2016, according to SAP commissioned research of 1,000 people. 31% of consumers now trust AI-enabled technology to help make important decisions like gift research and purchases compared to 15%, 12 months ago. Convenience and speed (29%) and the search for deals (12%) are key factors here.
842…Asda has revealed that more than 842 roles are at risk of a pay cut or redundancy. In a handout given to staff, bosses said: “A proposition based on being the cheapest of the big four [supermarkets] is no longer a viable business model. We need to look at ways to reduce our operating costs to close the price gap with the discounters.”
200…Drivers are being asked to deliver up to 200 parcels a day for Amazon UK while earning less than the minimum wage, a Sunday Mirror investigation has found. Staff have so little time for stops they snatch meals on the run and urinate into plastic bottles kept in their vans, the newspaper claims.
280%...Data released by Apptus highlights the impact of Black Friday online. Compared with the same period last year, home electronics user sessions rose by 280%, orders by 2,232%, and revenue by 3,358%. Media retailers saw user sessions shoot up 570%, orders 1,969%, revenue 3,809%, and profit 1,344%. Fashion enjoyed a doubling of user sessions (up 108%), orders were up 1,469%, revenues rose by 1,242% and profit 1,302%.
“Typically at Christmas everyone in retail talks about Super Saturday. Last year the two pre-Christmas Saturdays were our busiest days of the year with close to 600,000 people passing through the doors of Westfield’s two London centres,” says Myf Ryan, Chief Marketing Officer. “This year, shoppers have double the opportunity with a full weekend of shopping with Christmas Day falling on Monday. We’re expecting to see one of our busiest shopping weekends of the year as people take advantage of Super Saturday and Sunday.”
£1.65 million…London-based startup, MishiPay, has raised over £1.65 million in seed funding in a round led by Nauta Capital.
£750 million…Brits will spend £750 million on their pets this Christmas.
10 million yuan…Guangzhou Tengshi Information Technology has wrapped up a third round of funding, from four investors, including Youchuang Venture Capital and Lanshan Venture Capital (Beijing) Consulting. The Chinese automated convenience stores operator says that it has brought in over 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) as it looks to invest in store expansion and technology.
42%...A month away from a UK ban, many small businesses and retailers are yet to drop card processing surcharges, according to research from Paymentsense. Its study of 1,029 consumers reveals that 42% are still faced with surcharges at the small businesses, independent shops and food outlets they regularly visit.
30%...Many of the UK’s top 240 retailers may be jeopardising 30% of their Christmas sales due to limited delivery options, according to research by Visualsoft.
