The retail technology year in review: November
RTIH takes a look back at November and rounds up the winners and losers.
Winners
Against a back drop of Brexit uncertainty and a late general election, UK Black Friday footfall increased by 6% compared to the 2018 event, according to ShopperTrak.
PayTech venture Klarna secured over 60,000 new merchants globally during 2019, an increase of 140% compared to the full year of 2018.
Shares in Alibaba surged in its Hong Kong trading debut.
FactGem, Surfly, Pez.AI and Hexa emerged as the winners of AO.com’s Innovation Lab pitch day competition.
VR and AR will add £62.5 billion to the UK economy, a 2.4% boost to GDP, by 2030, according to a report by PwC.
Alibaba's annual Singles’ Day notched up $38.4 billion in sales.
JD.com laid claim to a record breaking Singles’ Day. Total transaction volume weighed in at RMB 204.4 billion for the 11-day sales event (held from 1st-11th November).
Payments and fraud prevention solutions provider, Riskified, closed a Series E funding round of $165 million, led by General Atlantic, at a valuation of more than $1 billion.
SupplyKick, the US startup behind a marketing and inventory management solution for brands selling on Amazon, announced a seven-figure investment from Decathlon Capital Partners.
Loop, a US startup that helps brands handle returns from online purchases, closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by FirstMark Capital and also featuring Lerer Hippeau and Ridge Ventures.
Australian buy now, pay later venture Afterpay Touch landed $200 million from Coatue Management.
Product visualisation software platform venture, Threekit, closed a $20 million Series A round led by Shasta Ventures.
Losers
The frequency of people buying items on Amazon six times or more per month dropped to 40% this year from 80% in 2017, according to research by First Insight.
Only two in five British consumers are looking forward to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in online customer service, according to research from Acquia.
Macy’s confirmed that some customer data on its website may have been hacked during a weeklong window in October
Also in November…
Blockchain systems are great in theory but there’s no guarantee that they will deliver for the likes of Walmart, argued PwC Agribusiness Leader Craig Heraghty.
Apple criticised German lawmakers after they passed new legislation that would force it to open up its mobile payment system to rival providers.
