The retail technology week in numbers
10…Top 10: last year’s most popular retail technology articles
5…Best of 2017: Our top five interviews.
£2.5 billion…Brits will return over £2.5 billion of online orders to retailers this Christmas, according to LCP Consulting. The majority will be sent back between mid-December (following Black Friday) to mid-January.
157%...The amount Brits spent via contactless rose 157% in 2017, although the number of actual transactions only went up by 47%, according to Barclaycard. In comparison, the amount spent in 2016 increased by 166%, while the number of transactions shot up by 111%.
Five billion…More than five billion items were shipped worldwide with Amazon Prime in 2017, although it may be reaching saturation point in the USA, according to Morgan Stanley.
2,300…Amazon will buy Target this year, according to Gene Munster, tech analyst and co-founder of investment firm Loup Ventures.
“Amazon believes the future of retail is a mix of mostly online and some offline. Target is the ideal offline partner for Amazon for two reasons, shared demographic and manageable but comprehensive store count,” Munster writes in a blog post. “As for retail stores, its acquisition of Whole Foods 470 stores along with testing of the Amazon Go retail concept is evidence that it sees the future of retail as a combination of mostly online and some offline. Despite gaining Whole Foods, its approximately 470 store presence still dwarves Walmart at 11,695 (global). If Amazon acquires Target that would jump its store count to about 2,300.”
£55-65 million…Debenhams has warned on annual profits after a disappointing Christmas. The retailer said full year profits would be in the region of £55 million to £65 million. Analysts had been expecting £83 million.
5…Online office furniture retailer, Kit Out My Office, has released the top five most annoying office phrases that it believes should be stamped out as part of New Year’s resolutions. These include think outside the box and amazeballs.
