The retail technology week in numbers

£13 billion…Sainsbury's and Asda have ditched their planned £13 billion merger after it was blocked by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), with the regulator saying it would lead to higher prices in stores, online and at many petrol stations across the UK.

$11 million….US startup Happy Returns has closed a $11 million funding round headed up by PayPal.

377,850…UK retailers reported 377,850 shoplifting incidents in 2018, with no suspect identified in 42% of cases, according to analysis of police data by Checkpoint Systems.

2.4%…Year-on-year total UK retail employment fell by 2.4% in Q1 2019, a higher reduction than the one of 2.2% seen in Q4 2018, according to the BRC. And more jobs will disappear unless the Government changes its approach to the sector, the organisation claims.

€1.1 billon…Helsinki-based blockchain-powered social marketplace SOMA has closed a €1.1 billon bridge funding round, which includes the Finnish Government and private angel investors.

73%…Bristol is the contactless capital of the UK, whilst Manchester and Newcastle are falling behind, according to Paymentsense research.

This found that 73% of the former’s card transactions were made on contactless in 2018, a 14% increase from 2017. Hull came second and London third. The latter, meanwhile, is somewhat unsurprisingly the capital of all card payments with 93 million total card transactions last year.

200…The first biometric fingerprint card issued by a UK bank entered circulation on Wednesday as part of a three-month NatWest pilot involving 200 customers.

556%…Rackspace reports that Eagle Eye’s migration to Google Cloud has enabled the digital marketing platform to scale its loyalty and reward interactions for retailers and brands by 556% in FY18.

43% of Brits are more likely to shop with a retailer if they offer a good range of sustainable delivery options, according to research by Click and Collect venture Doddle involving 2,196 people.

15%…A new report from Adyen highlights the value of unified commerce to retailers.

This analyses data across its global payments platform, which processed €159 billion in transactions in 2018. Omnichannel shoppers spend 15% more per purchase than those who shop just on one channel.

22%…Only 22% of retailers use influencers to engage customers, whilst just 10% of consumers have bought a product based on their recommendations, according to research by Fresh Relevance.

80%…Amazon and Kohl’s are expanding a partnership enabling customers of the former to return their items to the latter’s stores.

Kohl’s will handle all aspects of shipping and the service is free. The US retailer has been offering this option since 2017 at around 100 of its stores and is now rolling it out to every location. 80% of America lives within 10 miles of a Kohl’s.

32%…Jigsaw has implemented OneStock technology that enables e-commerce orders to be shipped directly from its stores if the items are unavailable online. The fashion retailer reports that online transactions increased by 32% over the first 11 months. It also saw conversion rates rise by 29%. 36% of the extra web sales were fulfilled by a store.

20%…Carrefour wants to track 20% of all in-house products on the blockchain by the end of 2019.

343…River Island is rolling out Nextail's AI platform to its network of 343 stores across the UK, Ireland, Asia, the Middle East and Europe and across its entire product line.

8,000…Narvar and Walgreens have teamed to provide package pickup and returns at more than 8,000 Walgreens locations with FedEx OnSite services. Participating retailers include Urban Outfitters, Levi Strauss & Co., Cole Haan and Alexandre Birman.