The retail technology week in numbers

74% of retail organisations say the need for speed in digital innovation is putting customer experience at risk. That’s according to a Dynatrace survey of 219 CIOs in the sector. 

21%...SoftBank is to sell its entire 21% stake in Indian e-commerce venture Flipkart to Walmart.

500…Tesco has called time on its attempt to out Amazon Amazon. It is closing its loss-making clothing and homewares website Tesco Direct, putting 500 jobs at risk. 

48 million Americans used one or more mobile pay app last year, and that number is expected to rise to 55 million in 2018, with Starbucks leading the way, according to eMarketer.

2,000…Demand for shopping via digital devices has migrated from online into the physical store, according to PCMS research involving 2,000 UK consumers.

$104 billion…Displaydata and Planet Retail RNG have launched a report which reveals the amount of cash – $104 billion – retailers spend manually changing price labels. 

100…Marks and Spencer is set to close 100 stores by 2022 as part of its five-year transformation plan to make the retailer “special again”.

£84.5 million…Pets at Home reports that profit before tax for the year ending 29th March fell to £84.5 million from £96.4 million a year earlier. This was the result of the retailer shelling out £13 million on lowering prices. Total revenues were, however, 7.8% ahead, at £898.9 million, whilst omnichannel revenues of £51.4 million were up 75.1%.

$1.68 billion…Adobe is to buy e-commerce services platform provider Magento Commerce from private equity firm Permira for $1.68 billion. 

10p…Iceland has become the first UK supermarket to install a reverse vending machine in-store in support of the Government’s Deposit Return Scheme. 

It will be trialling this in its Fulham, London branch, initially for six months. The machine will reward customers with a 10p voucher for every plastic bottle brought into the store. It only accepts bottles bought from Iceland and works this out by scanning the barcode. 

3.94%...The UK High Street experienced a post-Royal Wedding boost on Sunday, with shopper traffic up 3.94% on the daily average, according to ShopperTrak. 

185…Primark will open the doors of its 185th UK store in Westfield London on 14th June.

22.9% of womenswear shoppers purchased from a retailer for the first time in 2017, according to GlobalData. 

500,000…Chinese e-commerce platform, Taobao, has laid out plans to keep pace with Millennials’ demand for niche brands.

During its annual Merchants Summit in Hangzhou last week, the Alibaba Group-owned venture said it would increase the number of hip, independent storefronts to 500,000 from the 100,000 currently on the platform, incentivise and help merchants to scale their Taobao businesses and foster an environment that encourages creativity.

18.8%...UK online retail sales in April were up 18.8% year-on-year, the highest YoY increase since November 2016, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index. 

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