The retail tech space in December: good month/bad month
RTIH takes a look at the retail technology space during December and rounds up the winners and losers.
Good month for…
UK Boxing Day footfall decreased by 11.8% compared to 2018, according to ShopperTrak.
The UK Click and Collect market will this year grow by 8.2% to 29.3 million buyers, according to eMarketer
Barcelona-based on-demand delivery startup Glovo has closed a €150 million ($167 million) Series E funding round, led by Mubadala, with support from previous investors Drake Enterprises, Idinvest and Lakestar.
Analysts said Ocado has the vision to become the “Microsoft of retail tomorrow” and transition into the FTSE’s most valuable tech giant.
Adyen has landed a deal to power international mobile app payments for McDonald’s, starting in the UK in 2020.
The installed base of contactless-enabled PoS devices will exceed 161 million by 2024, up from 78 million in 2019, according to Juniper Research. Contactless PoS devices will then be 94% of all PoS devices in use.
Blackrock is increasing its stake in The Hut Group as part of a €1 billion-plus capital-raising that will transform the online retailer’s balance sheet.
Retail delivery platform venture, Sorted, has hit the £1 billion shipment mark.
Tesco has claimed top spot in the third Top 10 Christmas Ad Rankings by marketing technology company 4C.
Cashierless checkouts startup, Zippin, has closed a $12 million Series A funding round, led by Evolv Ventures.
LizEarle.com, RicherSounds.com and WexPhotoVideo.com have been announced as the joint best online retailers in a Which? survey of over 7,000 shoppers.
SaaS enterprise customer service platform venture, Kustomer, has raised $60 million in Series E funding.
Flow has snagged $37 million in Series B funding from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), American Express Ventures and Latitude Ventures.
Hastee has secured £208 million of investment to fund the development of its solution that gives workers immediate access to their earned pay.
mPOS transaction values will exceed $1.9 trillion by 2024, up from $850 billion in 2019, according to Juniper Research.
DPD UK has recorded its biggest ever Cyber Weekend, with parcel volumes up 13% on last year.
Artificial intelligence startup Cosmose AI has raised $12 million seed investment, led by TDJ Pitango and OTB Ventures, to fund its international expansion.
FlexPay, a Canadian FinTech that taps AI and machine learning tech to help merchants recover lost revenues from declined transactions, has raised $6 million in a funding round led by Impression Ventures and also including BMO Capital Partners.
Bad month for…
Amazon pulled Holocaust themed Christmas decorations from sale after the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum flagged the items up on social media.
Quiz has reported a plunge in sales and profits.
Walmart Canada pulled from its online store a jumper that showed Father Christmas doing lines of cocaine.
The Book People filed for administration.
Convenience store chain Wawa disclosed a card breach after it found malware installed on its payment processing systems.
The jury’s out on…
November saw UK retail sales decrease by 4.4%, against an increase of 0.5% in November 2018, according to research by the BRC and KPMG. However, If adjusted for the later timing of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, sales are more likely to have increased by 0.4% like-for-like.
