The retail technology year in review: January

RTIH takes a look back at January and rounds up the winners and losers.

Winners

RTIH saluted Asos for seeing the funny side of an online roasting.

Co-op, meanwhile, embarked on a £200 million investment programme which would see it open 100 new food stores during 2019 and provide major makeovers for a further 200

In 2017, blockchain technology was a revolution that was supposed to disrupt the global financial system. In 2018, it was a disappointment. In 2019, it would start to become mundane, and Walmart would be a key player, the MIT Technology Review argued.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s London and Stratford City centres attracted 15.6 million shoppers over the festive period, an uplift of 11% year-on-year.

The founder of Japanese online clothing retailer Zozo ousted a chicken nugget obsessed US teenager to lay claim to the most retweeted tweet of all time.

Spanish bank BBVA’s investment arm, Propel Venture Partners, led a $12 million Series A funding round involving PayTech venture Grabango.

Boohoo reported that like-for-like revenues rose 44% to £328.2 million in the four months to 31st December. In the UK, they jumped 33% to £180 million, whilst US sales were up 78% to £70.4 million

PrettyLittleThing reported an increase in online engagement, customers’ time to next purchase (+57%) and an improved marketing engagement rate (+44%) after implementing Narvar technology.

American rapper Snoop Dogg, aka Calvin Broadus, became a minority shareholder in PayTech firm Klarna.

Online sex toy retailer Lovehoney reported that 2017/18 financial year profits were up 22% to £11 million, whilst sales increased 22% to £93 million

London-based UX analytics platform ContentSquare closed a £45 million Series C funding round led by French private equity firm Eurazeo. This built on the £47.7 million raised through two prior rounds.

Losers

Marks and Spencer is the quintessential British High Street store, perhaps even one of the most important bellwethers of the UK economy, which makes its struggle to recover from the Great Recession so concerning, argued Manu Tyagi, Associate Partner, Retail and Consumer Goods at Infosys Consulting.

Missguided saw losses deepen after what it said was an "extremely challenging" year.

UK online retail sales growth hit an all-time low of just +3.6% year-on-year in December, according to the Capgemini IMRG eRetail Sales Index.

B&Q said it was taking action after being told that it exposed details of suspected store thieves to the net without password protection.

Also in January…

Next said that online sales rose 15.2% between 28th October and 29th December from a year earlier, while store sales fell 9.2%. The retailer expected an annual profit of £723 million, slightly lower than its previous forecast of £727 million.

RTIH reported that Marks and Spencer was in talks to buy distribution centres, delivery vans and lorries from Ocado as it ramped up its food delivery service plans.