The retail technology week in numbers

260,000…There has been a gradual rise in cryptocurrency acceptance at Asia-Pacific (APAC) merchant locations, with companies being won over by benefits such as lower transaction fees, no chargebacks, and cheaper payment acceptance from foreign tourists, says GlobalData.

Large merchants such as Bic Camera and Yamada Denki in Japan and Goto Mall in South Korea are now onboard, which is likely to push many more peers to look at this area. Earlier this year, cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb partnered with Korea Pay Services to enable 6,000 retail outlets across South Korea to accept cryptocurrency payments. And in April 2017, another crypto exchange, Coincheck, teamed with Recruit Lifestyle to roll-out its Bitcoin-enabled PoS app AirREGI across 260,000 merchant stores in Japan.

$7 million…Computer vision startup, Trigo Vision, has emerged from stealth and bagged $7 million in a seed funding round led by Hetz Ventures and Vertex Ventures Israel. 

£12 billion…Long queues are costing retailers up to £12 billion a year, according to Adyen.

$3,000…Plutus has announced a bounty programme that sees hackers rewarded for finding bugs in the company’s platform.

Coders will compete for a jackpot prize of $3,000 equivalent paid in Pluton, the house digital currency that can be spent at NFC-enabled terminals using the Plutus Tap & Pay app or debit card via the DEX P2P exchange platform.

2…Marriott International has announced a joint venture with Alibaba Group to test facial recognition check-ins at two China hotels.

200…Target has expanded its Drive Up service across the US. Two hundred additional stores in the Midwest and select states have added the option, which allows guests to place orders in the retailer’s app, then have their items brought out to their car by a store team member.

1,047…RichRelevance has released research which asked 1,047 UK consumers to rate a number of different technologies and trends as either ‘creepy’ or ‘cool’.

£9 million…Ocado’s half year results are a relatively solid performance for a company that's putting the right building blocks in place to get back in the black next year, and stay there for many years to come. 

That’s according to Fiona Cincotta, Senior Market Analyst at City Index. Investment in new warehouses and IT systems saw the online grocer post a £9 million loss in the six months to 3rd June, compared with pre-tax profits of £7.7 million a year earlier. Underlying earnings, meanwhile, fell 13.9% to £38.9 million.

3…The John Lewis Partnership has revealed the three finalists that will join its retail tech innovation programme, JLAB, following the first pitch day of 2018, which was based on a health and wellbeing theme.

2…Amazon is gearing up to open a second Amazon Go store in its hometown of Seattle.  

$18.76 billion…The global retail automation market is set to reach $18.76 billion by 2023, up from $10.31 billion in 2017, according to Research and Markets.

$1.6 billion…Prime Day 2018 will be a $1.6 billion loss-leader, creating millions more Prime members, predicts ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks. 

75%...The average retailer’s data is only about 75% accurate when it comes to knowing exactly what inventory is actually in stock at any particular time, according to IoT and RFID specialists, Detego. 

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