The retail technology week in numbers
15.8 million…Crypto wallet venture, Luno, has launched a Bitcoin Barometer which shows that an estimated 15.8 million UK residents either currently own or are open to owning cryptocurrencies in the future.
10 million…Chinese retailer, JD.com, reports that over 10 million customers have joined its premium membership programme, JD Plus.
2,000…US speciality apparel and accessories retailer, Express, has partnered with European retail and consumer investment and innovation firm, True, as it looks to tap into emerging technologies.
Each year, True sees over 2,000 enterprise-ready technology and consumer-product businesses, via its Live Network. In addition to this, Express will gain access to its sector-specialist expertise and proprietary research.
2,100…Amazon has opened its largest Amazon Go convenience store yet.
The 2,100 square feet store is its third overall and third in Seattle, where the e-commerce giant is headquartered. The first iteration of the Amazon Go concept was 1,800 square feet, and the second measures 1,450 square feet.
$1 trillion…Amazon joined Apple this week in the exclusive $1 trillion club.
132…ebebek, a Turkish mother and baby product retailer, has selected Zytronic projected capacitive technology touch sensors to form the in-store front end of a ‘clicks-to-bricks’ project in 116 stores, rising to 132 by the end of 2018.
2,000…Amazon is yet to conquer the ‘back to school’ market, according to a survey of 2,000 customers by YouGov, IMRG and Ingenico. This found that most people prefer traditional retailers, perhaps for nostalgic or quality reasons.
$21.5 billion…JP Morgan has topped GlobalData’s M&A league table of the top ten financial advisers for the retail industry in Q2 2018. The bank was responsible for five deals worth a combined $21.5 billion, including the industry’s highest value deal – Walmart’s proposed acquisition of a 77% stake in Flipkart for $16 billion.
41% of UK shoppers have ditched the High Street because of long queues, according to research by jisp involving 1,000 people. Consumers also cited difficulty locating products (19%) and unknowledgeable staff (15%) as the main deterrents of visiting traditional stores.
90…Alibaba has nabbed the top spot, ahead of tech giant IBM, on a new iPR Daily list that ranks global organisations by the number of blockchain-related patents they’ve filed.
The media outlet used data as of 10th August from across China, the EU, America, Japan and South Korea, and also consulted the International Patent System from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Alibaba filed 90 blockchain-related patent applications and IBM was close behind with 89. In third place is Mastercard (80) followed by Bank of America (53). Next up is People's Bank of China, which has filed a total of 44 patent applications around its central bank digital currency project.
$77 million…Mission: Impossible – Fallout dominated the weekend box office in China, raking in $77 million over three days. The movie was helped by support from Alibaba, who teamed up with Paramount Pictures as an investor and official promotional partner for the Tom Cruise vehicle.
£4 billion…The Hut Group has in the last few months rejected a string of investment and takeover offers valuing it at nearly £4 billion.
