The retail technology week in numbers
10…The theme of this year's International Women's Day (IWD) was #PressforProgress. To celebrate IWD 2018, RTIH put together a list of 10 women who are pressing for progress and making positive impacts on the retail and retail technology sectors.
£700 million…There has been an alarming spike in violence against retail staff causing injury, according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual Retail Crime Survey. Career criminals are intentionally using violence and abuse when challenged over stealing. The increasingly common requirements to age-check and refuse sales are also adding to the problem.
There have been noticeable improvements in some areas, such as fraud, where the cost to retailers has fallen by nearly £30 million, as a result of their significant investment in prevention. Despite that spending, the total direct financial cost of retail crime has climbed to £700 million, up 6% from the previous year. ‘Customer theft’ remains the largest element, now over half a billion pounds per year, a 15% increase on the previous results.
66…New Look is planning to take an axe to its UK store estate and cut rental costs following a tough 2017 which saw a widening of losses and ended with poor Christmas sales.
It is instigating a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) and seeking approval from creditors (due later this month) on its plan. New Look has identified 60 out of its total 593 stores in the UK for potential closure, alongside a further six sites which are sub-let to third parties.
44.5%...Amazon is in talks with several leading banks to offer a "checking-account-like" product for customers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
And the move would appear to be a no brainer. A recent survey by LendEDU found that 44.5% of the 1,000 respondents (who had recently purchased something from the e-commerce giant) were open to the idea of using an account created by Amazon as their primary bank account, while 39.1% were unsure, and 16.4% rejected the idea. However, more respondents, 49.5%, were willing to use a savings account created by Amazon, while fewer respondents – 14.9% – were not keen. Over half of Prime members (52% for primary banking and 58% for savings) were interested in letting Amazon handle their accounts.
2…Amazon and Whole Foods have launched free two-hour grocery delivery for Prime Now members in Atlanta and San Francisco. Delivery within one hour is available for $7.99 on orders of $35 or more.
200…Nordstrom has announced a partnership with Anthropologie to introduce more than 200 items from the Anthropologie Home collection at 15 full-line stores and on Nordstrom.com.
£8.4 billion…The UK’s largest online retailers pulled in £8.4 billion in the 12 months to August 2017, up from £6.8 million the year before, according to research by law firm RPC.
$40 billion…Voice shopping is set to become the next major disruptive force in retail, jumping to $40 billion in 2022, up from $2 billion across the US and UK, according to OC&C Strategy Consultants. The driving force here will be a surge in the number of homes using smart speakers, rising to 55% from 13% today, with Amazon leading the way.
10%...Shares in Overstock sank about 10% after the online retailer’s cryptocurrency-focused subsidiary, tZero, said the US Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating its plan to raise $250 million by offering digital tokens.
5,415…Contactless-related fraud is on the rise in the capital. City of London Police data shows there have been 5,415 reports of fraud since 2013, with a significant increase since 2015 when the amount at which a purchase can be made without a pin was increased from £20 to £30.
30% of Brits would be happy to sign over access to their financial data to trusted tech companies such as Apple, Google or third party apps using such platforms, according to research by the Prepaid International Forum (PIF).
$250 million…Target is gearing up for a big year of store remodels, including a major investment in its hometown of the Twin Cities. It will put $250 million towards overhauling 28 of its Twin Cities stores (about half) this year, on the way to enhancing all area stores over the next few years. It’s part of the retailer’s efforts to reimagine more than 1,000 locations across the US by the end of 2020.
1,000…UK shoppers would feel more reassured to part with large sums of cash online if they trusted the retailer and knew exactly what they were getting for their money, according to PushON research involving 1,000 people.
6,000…UK consumers are most uncomfortable with sharing their personal data on messaging platforms and least uncomfortable with doing so on fitness trackers. That’s according to research by OnBuy.com, based on findings from Mindshare, who surveyed more than 6,000 people.
