The retail technology week in numbers

$90 million…Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne has sold his 13% stake in the US online retailer for $90 million.

50%…Generation Z consumers in the UK are much more likely than other generations to embrace a wider range of alternative payment methods, according to research by Paysafe.

The company surveyed 6,197 consumers from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Austria and Bulgaria. 50% of Gen Z had some experience of in-app payments, and 18% made them regularly - significantly higher than all other consumers (24% and 8%). 50% have used a mobile wallet (versus 30% of other consumers) and 25% (versus 11%) regularly make payments with one.

40%…UK credit card spending overtook cash in 2018, according to the British Retail Consortium’s latest Payment Survey.

Debit cards remain the most popular method of payment, accounting for almost three-in-five transactions. The use of cash has been falling steadily. Over the past five years, use of notes and coins has dropped from over half of all transactions in 2013 to under 40% in 2018. The value of those transactions has fallen from 28% to 20% during the same period.

50% of UK retail CIOs and CTOs are focusing their technology investments on backend IT infrastructure as they look to futureproof their organisations in a challenging climate, according to research by REPL Group.

90%…More than 90% of consumers have concerns about shopping via social media, yet nearly one-third still use it as a shopping platform, according to new research from MarkMonitor.

24…Vodafone has announced plans to take on at least 24 empty UK premises by the end of this year and fit them out as new retail stores as part of its franchise programme.

79%…Consumer knowledge about digital currencies is limited and cash is still king, according to research from ING.

The Dutch FI surveyed 14,824 respondents in 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the UK, Australia and the USA. 79% of Brits knew at least a little about cryptocurrency (identifying at least one out of five true or false statements correctly). Among this group, a third had high expectations for it, just ahead of 28% with low expectations.

$6 trillion…Global online retail sales will exceed $6 trillion in physical and digital goods by 2024, according to Juniper Research.

$45 million…Beekeeper has closed a $45 million Series B funding round.

5-10…The business impact of blockchain will be transformational across most industries within five to 10 years, according to Gartner. But, it adds, these opportunities demand that enterprises adopt complete blockchain ecosystems. Without tokenisation and decentralisation, most industries will not see real business value.

$22 million…Trigo Vision, a computer vision startup providing checkout-free systems to grocery retailers, has raised $22 million in a Series A round.

24% of Brits have already started their festive shopping for 2019, according to research from American Express.

$26 million…Simbe Robotics has landed $26 million in a Series A equity funding round led by Venrock, with participation from Future Shape, Valo Ventures, and Activant Capital.