The retail technology week in numbers

350,000…Caffè Nero reports that its payment and loyalty app has gained more than 350,000 registered users since it was launched a year ago.

35%...Up to 35% of consumers' peak season planned spend is being lost, according to Zetes research. This also found that 40% of shoppers have had an issue with a promotion, whilst 62% of retailers admitted that they do not have access to real-time information regarding product availability.  

60%...Amazon has made a formal offer to buy 60% of Indian e-commerce venture, Flipkart, putting it on a collision course with arch rival Walmart.  

£9.5 million…Poq has raised £9.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Smedvig Capital and also including previous backers Beringea and Revolt Ventures. It brings the total amount raised by the app commerce specialist to £16.5 million since it was founded in 2011.

16…Romanian startup, Tokinomo, has been announced as Retail Business Technology Expo’s (RBTE) 2018 Innovation Award winner. 60 applications for the prize were whittled down to 16 and these featured on the Winners Wall at the show, which took place this week at Olympia, London. Check out the shortlist here.  

$1 trillion…Amazon’s latest blockbuster results have seen Wall Street analysts value the e-commerce giant in excess of $1 trillion. But how does the company top that? Check out our Editor, Scott Thompson’s take on this here.

Seven…Wasabi has launched its first ever customer loyalty promotion across its Central London outlets. Instead of being asked to download an app, customers will be able to tap or scan a smartcard with their mobile to join the ‘Wasabi Club’ and collect loyalty points. Those who collect seven loyalty stamps will then be able to claim a free meal.

The campaign, which will run until 30th June, is being delivered using mobile technology platform Thyngs. It will be supported by wireless messaging from Devicescape and Point of Sale materials created in-house.  

500,000…Tesco reports that payments via its mobile app, Tesco Pay+, now take place every 1.5 seconds across the UK. The service recently reached 500,000 customers, following a relaunch in September last year. More than £5 million payments are made per week, with 10,000 new customers getting onboard over the last seven days.

£65 million…Digital identity app Yoti has appointed former Tesco executive John Browettas a general advisor to its Board of Directors. This follows a funding round which valued the company at £65 million. 

2,000…Amazon is set to expand its Boston Tech Hub and create an additional 2,000 jobs in fields including machine learning, speech science, cloud computing and robotics engineering. 

10…Here are the ten most popular retail technology articles from last month.

9.6%...UK online retail delivery order volumes were up 9.6% year-on-year in March, according to the IMRG MetaPack UK Delivery Index.  

1,000…Starship Technologies is planning to deploy over 1,000 delivery robots by year end.

£6.6 billion…The percentage of UK grocery shopping that is done online is growing extremely slowly, according to Nielsen research. Online grocery sales in Britain rose by 4.6% in 2017 to £6.6 billion, a third faster than in-store sales (+3.4%). Yet online’s share only increased from 6.3% to 6.4% across the year.

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