The retail technology week in numbers

£8 billion…British retailers are losing an estimated £8 billion in revenue due to a lack of payment options online, such as digital wallets or international methods. That’s according to research by Adyen, involving 811 UK consumers and 95 senior decision makers.

70%…Consumers increasingly prefer to interact with bots rather than humans, especially when it comes to researching products, learning about new services or following up on post-purchase queries.

According to a research by the Capgemini Research Institute, involving over 12,000 consumers and 1,000 business executives, nearly 70% of the former will progressively replace visits to a store or bank with their voice assistant within three years’ time.

2,500…Research by Bazaarvoice, conducted among 2,500 respondents in the US, UK, France, and Germany, finds that both younger and older consumers complete the majority of their gift buying in shopping centres.

£4 million…London-based FinTech Curve has become the fastest startup to reach £4 million on Crowdcube following the launch of its crowdfunding campaign - reaching that figure in 42 minutes.

7.2%…The UK’s gift card and voucher market grew by 7.2% year-on-year, according to research from the UK Gift Card & Voucher Association and KPMG UK.

71.3%…GlobalData research shows that 71.3% of UK consumers would be willing to use food refill services as Morrisons and Waitrose take leading roles in this space.

0.4%…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.

£1.76 billion…UK shoppers are set to spend £1.76 billion on back to school items in 2019, with the market forecast to grow by 1.5%.

18,000…Puma has opened a flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York. The 18,000-square-foot space, spanning two levels, is its first bricks and mortar location in the city and the first of its kind in North America.