The retail technology week in numbers

70%…Apple Pay has overtaken Starbucks as the most popular mobile payment app in the US, according to eMarketer. The former is set to be available in 70% of US retailers by the end of 2019.

100%…adidas has opened the doors to its new Oxford Street flagship store.

This includes over 100 digital touchpoints, all 100% powered by green energy. Meanwhile, a Bring It to Me feature in the brand’s mobile app uses in-store geolocation tracking so that shoppers can scan products, check stock, request their size and purchase without the need for queues or designated collection spaces.

40% of UK retailers are planning to use store associates to engage in digital conversational commerce in the next two years, according to research from iAdvize.

5…UK retail is set to lose over half a million jobs to robots, with IT execs in the sector expecting up to one in five jobs to be replaced by AI/automation within five years, according to the 2019 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey.

$30 million…Julie Bornstein, former Chief Operating Officer at Stitch Fix, has taken the wraps off her new venture The Yes. She has raised $30 million from the likes of Forerunner Ventures’s Kirsten Green, True Ventures’s Jon Callaghan and NEA’s Tony Florence. Comcast Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures have also participated in its Series A and seed rounds.

47% of consumers are looking for holiday season gift ideas and inspiration when they shop online or in-store, according to research by Periscope By McKinsey. And the smartphone has become a vital aid for them.

$110 million…Israeli micro-fulfilment startup Fabric, formerly known as CommonSense Robotics, has raised $110 million in a Series B funding round.

25…Merlin Entertainments is using Adyen’s payments platform across more than 130 attractions, including Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds, in 25 countries.

£387 million…UK Halloween spending is expected to reach a record £387 million, up 5.5% against 2018, according to Savvy.

5…Starbucks has expanded its Starbucks Delivers service to five new US markets: Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, and also announced further expansion in the New York Metro.

4%…It is now possible to earn 4% back in Bitcoin when you shop on Amazon via Moon.

8.5 million…A Black Friday Post Office strike will see retailers attempting to pass on 8.5 million parcels to other carriers, according to research by BearingPoint.

250…Intermarché, part of European retailer Os Mosqueteiros Group, has rolled out the Zetes cloud-based supply chain visibility solution, ZetesZeus, across its 250 stores in Portugal and network of 1,250 suppliers delivering orders to three different distribution centres.

£80.27 billion…UK Christmas spending is set to increase by just 0.8% this year (from £79.72 billion in 2018 to £80.27 billion) due to concerns over the impact of Brexit.

200,000…Alibaba Group this week kicked off the 2019 11.11 Global Shopping Festival and promised that the event will be “bigger than ever in both scale and reach”. More than 200,000 brands will participate in what is the 11th 11.11, 22,000 of which will be from 78 overseas markets.

€130 million…German e-commerce venture commercetools has announced a €130 million investment from Insight Partners to support its plans for growth in the USA, Asia-Pacific and Europe.

£5.3 million…UK-based e-commerce analytics firm e.fundamentals has closed a £5.3 million funding round led by Maven Capital Partners and also including long-term investment partners Downing Ventures and Scottish Enterprise.

$450 million…Shopify, the e-commerce platform provider that has emerged as the anti-Amazon, has completed the $450 million acquisition of warehouse automation and management technology developer, 6 River Systems.

73% of German consumers would not use Facebook's planned digital currency Libra, according to a poll conducted on behalf of the Wirtschaftswoche magazine and Creditplus Bank.