The retail technology week in numbers
8.5%…UK online retail sales rose by 8.5% year-on-year in June, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index.
175 million…Amazon’s fifth annual Prime Day event wrapped up on Tuesday, having kicked off Monday morning.
The e-commerce giant reports that sales surpassed those of both the previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, producing "the largest shopping event in Amazon history”. Prime members purchased more than 175 million items throughout the event. 2019 was also the biggest yet for the company’s devices, when comparing two-day periods – top-selling deals worldwide were Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, and Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote.
4,500…Walmart’s 4,500 stores give it the distribution firepower it needs to compete against e-commerce rivals, in particular Amazon.
This compensates for the fact that it has 20 fulfilment centres supporting its online business, compared with 100 for Amazon. "One of the realities of fresh and perishable food is if you don't sell it, you throw it away or give it away," Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon said in an interview with Fortune.
30…Carrefour and Glovo have announced a 30-minute delivery partnership in Argentina, Spain, Italy and France, with exclusive rights in the latter country.
70% of British shoppers believe pop-up shops can revitalise retail, according to research by OnBuy.com.
78% of Brits do not understand the daily recommended levels of salt, fat and sugar consumption, according to research carried out by Spoon Guru and involving 2,000 people.
€330 million…PayTech venture SumUp has secured a €330 million loan, backed by the likes of Bain Capital Credit, Goldman Sachs Private Capital, HPS Investment Partners and TPG Sixth Street Partners.
15.9% of all shops and retail outlets in the UK now lie empty, according to information obtained by corporate restructuring advisor Duff & Phelps under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).
$7 million…US startup Bulletin has raised $7 million in a Series A round led Foundation Capital and with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Trail Mix Ventures and Afore Capital.
50…Alan Turing will feature on the design of the new £50 note.
1.1 million…Walmart has rolled out a new scheduling system to more than 1.1 million of its workers across approximately 4,600 stores, supported by JDA Software’s Workforce Management solution.
2.9%…Footfall across the UK declined by 2.9% in June, compared to the same point last year when it fell by 0.9%, according to research by the BRC and Springboard.
£1.5 million….Sustainable sourcing platform SupplyCompass has raised £1.5 million in seed funding, led by early-stage venture capital investor Episode 1 and also involving Unicorn Ascension, Ascension Ventures and Andy Chung and Philipp Moehring from AngelList.
12…itsu, the British chain of Asian-inspired fast food shops, is rolling out cashless payments.
“We trialled this earlier in the year at stores with the highest percentage of card transactions in order to assess customer feedback before rolling out to others,” a spokesperson told RTIH. “We now have 12 and have plans to continue as the response so far has been largely positive.”
$55 million…Kroger has announced plans for a new customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in Forest Park, Georgia, USA. A $55 million investment that will create more than 400 new jobs, this is set to be operational in 2021.
