The retail technology week in numbers

5%...Just 5% of UK shoppers feel they receive a very consistent customer experience (CX) when comparing a retailer’s website to its app or shopping in-store, according to PCMS research.

Euro 4 million…Fashion tech startup, Lookiero, has closed a funding round of Euro 4 million led by All Iron Ventures.

$10 million…AI startup, Nextail, has closed a $10 million Series A funding roundled by venture capital firm KEEN Venture Partners, and also including Sonae Investment Management and existing investor Nauta Capital.

760 million…The global number of mobile contactless users will exceed 760 million by 2020, up from an estimated 440 million in 2018, according to Juniper Research. OEM Pay services, including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay, will reach 450 million by 2020, with Apple accounting for one in two users globally.

47%...Half of 18 to 34-year-olds in Britain say retail loyalty schemes make them a more loyal customer, but while 70% regularly collect points only 47% are engaged enough to claim the rewards owing to them. That’s according to a YouGov survey conducted on behalf of Yoyo.

£7 billion…The Brits have become a nation of serial returners, according to research from Barclaycard.

Shoppers return £7 billion of purchases each year. 26% of retailers have seen a rise in returns in-store and online over the last two years. Brits splash out an average £313 on online clothes shopping each year and send £146-worth back, often citing sizing issues.

47% of UK shoppers are purchasing gift cards to spend on themselves, according to research commissioned by Zeek Mobile involving 2,000 people.

250 million…Retail tech startup RedBrain now lists over 250 million products across Germany, France, Italy, Spain and its native UK.

One in four European merchants in the retail, travel, hospitality sector have experienced data theft and 61% believe they are at greater risk of a security breach than they were a year ago, according to research by ACI Worldwide and Ovum.

275 million…The adoption of Alexa and Google Assistant will be a key factor behind smart home growth, with 275 million voice assistant devices used to control smart homes by 2023. This is up from an estimated 25 million in 2018.

$29 million…US-based inventory robots venture, Bossa Nova, has closed a $29 million funding round led by Cota Capital.

80…Retailers’ site performance is embarrassingly slow, especially on mobile, as third party technologies impact page load times, according to a Retail Systems Research report on behalf of Yottaa.

This evaluated 80 major retail websites and ranked from 1 to 80, with the average score being 45%. While many received high marks for “beautiful, intuitive, and shoppable” mobile experiences, almost all of them were penalised for being very slow.

6,000…House of Fraser’s Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) proposals have been given the green light by its creditors, resulting in up to 6,000 job losses.

74% of UK Millennials still prefer stores to online shopping, according to research by I-AM involving 2,000 people.