The five most important retail tech news stories of the week

It’s Friday, the week is nearly done, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail technology space. Here's your briefing on some of the most important and interesting stories from the past five days.

1. Puma hits New York with physical first

Puma has opened a flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York.

2. BRC condemns Michael Gove's 'categorically untrue' Brexit/fresh food claims

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has hit out at Michael Gove after he claimed on The Andrew Marr Show that a No Deal Brexit wouldn't result in any food shortages

3. Awful August for UK retailers as uncertainty rules

UK retail sales flatlined in August as the 12-month average dropped to a new low of just 0.4%, according to research from the BRC and KPMG. Even the usually buoyant e-commerce space struggled, with online sales of non-food products up 2.2% last month, against a growth of 7.5% in August 2018.

4. Amazon trials Whole Foods biometric payment system

Amazon is testing out biometric payment tech that it plans to roll-out to Whole Foods stores by early next year. 

5. Apple Pay exec: Cryptocurrency has interesting long-term potential

Jennifer Bailey, Vice President at Apple Pay, has said that the company sees value in cryptocurrencies.

Sign up for our free retail technology newsletter here.