The retail tech space in October: good month/bad month
Retail Technology Innovation Hub takes a look at the retail technology space during October and rounds up the winners and losers.
Good month for…
Tesco has made an undisclosed investment in Trigo Vision’s frictionless shopping platform. This is in addition to a $22 million funding round recently announced by the Israeli startup.
Nine in ten UK retailers are planning to invest in Click and Collect services over the next five years with the market set to be worth almost £10 billion by 2023, according to research from Barclaycard.
The new look Nectar app made it to number one on the App Store.
DXP startup Contentstack has closed a $31.5 million Series A funding round led by Insight Partners with participation from existing backers Illuminate Ventures and GingerBread Capital.
Customer feedback platform Critizr has closed a €15 million funding round.
Namogoo, an Israeli startup that has developed a solution for online enterprises to prevent customer journey hijacking, has raised $40 million in Series C funding.
A wave of digitally-savvy, internationally-minded upstarts are powering growth in the retail sector, according to Loqate’s latest International Retail Index.
This benchmarks the 30 top performers by brand recognition, global presence, online capabilities, and volume of sales. Four of the top six are pureplays (Amazon, Asos, Boohoo.com and Zalando).
Selfridges has not just survived in the internet age, it is thriving, according to Manu Tyagi, Associate Partner for Retail and Consumer Goods at Infosys Consulting.
The retailer has increased sales by 6% to £1.85 billion for the year to February 2019. But profits slipped to £170 million, from £175 million the previous year, as it increased investment. This includes the flagship Oxford Street branch becoming the first department store in the world with a cinema from November.
Self-driving electric shipping vehicles startup Einride has closed a $25 million Series A round.
HMV will return to profit this year and aims to open new stores in 2020, having stared into the abyss earlier this year.
Following the closure of the Oxford Street, London store, the HMV Vault, opening in a former Ikea warehouse beneath a car park in Birmingham City centre, is being described as the group’s new flagship. At 25,000 square feet, it contains a large live music space as well as more than 100,000 vinyl albums and CDs.
Contactless payments accounted for half of all debit card transactions in July. It is the first time the 50% level has been reached, according to figures from banking trade body UK Finance.
Forbes Media has presented the Malcolm S. Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award to Alibaba Group founder and partner Jack Ma.
Lemon Way, a Paris-based payment processor for marketplaces, e-commerce sites and crowdfunding platforms, has raised €25 million from Toscafund Asset Management.
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.
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.
Israeli micro-fulfilment startup Fabric, formerly known as CommonSense Robotics, has raised $110 million in a Series B funding round.
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.
Bad month for…
PayPal has pulled out of the Libra Association that is looking to launch Facebook's digital currency Libra. And so have Visa, eBay, Stripe and Mastercard.
Profits at Asos have plunged, driven by significant tech investment and warehousing issues in Germany and the US.
Despite an increase in sales of 13%, the pureplay, which has issued two profit warnings in the past 12 months, made a pre-tax profit of £33.1 million in the year to 31st August, down by 68% from £102 million in 2017-2018.
The jury’s out on…
Kroger stock has been downgraded from a buy to a hold by analysts at equity research firm Jefferies.
It cited Kroger’s partnership with Ocado as a concern and a "misstep when compared to micro-fulfilment," according to a note emailed to investors. Jefferies believes that each Ocado shed could take about four years to turn a profit and return limited market share gains.
Target is partnering with the parent company of the Toys R Us brand, TRU Kids, on the relaunch of ToysRUs.com.
The under pressure John Lewis Partnership is integrating the teams behind its two brands, John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners, and narrowing its senior management team.
New research from Riskified highlights a significant disparity between retailers’ and online shoppers’ awareness of the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2).
The company’s survey of 2,000 consumers and 200 retailers, with respondents split across the UK, Germany, France, and Spain, found that nine out of ten retailers believe consumers are ‘somewhat’ or ‘very aware’ of PSD2. However, 76% of consumers report that they haven’t even heard of it.
