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 the most important and interesting stories from the past five days.
1. Retailers set for Black Friday boost amid coronavirus outbreak
Brits are set to spend around £6 billion on Black Friday this year, according to research from shopping comparison site, finder.com involving 2,000 people.
2. FreshToHome raises $121 million and eyes rapid expansion
FreshToHome, an Indian e-commerce startup that sells fresh fish and meat, has raised $121 million in Series C funding.
This was led by Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), the principal investment arm of the Government of Dubai, Investcorp, Ascent Capital, US International Development Finance Institution (DFC), and the Allana Group.
3. Walmart embraces new era of retail with omnichannel test stores
Walmart is to use four US stores as test centres in order to find solutions that help its physical locations operate as both shopping destinations and online fulfilment centres.
Two are up and running and two more are in the pipeline.
4. Amazon announces blockbuster third quarter results
Amazon’s third quarter revenues rose to $96.1 billion from $70 billion in the same period a year earlier.
The coronavirus pandemic created demand for household essentials and the e-commerce giant said it was already seeing evidence of early buying for Christmas gifts following its Prime Day event earlier this month.
5. Retailers ramp up tech investment amid coronavirus outbreak
Retailers globally spent over $10 billion on technology to enable home working and enhance their e-commerce channels during the first three months of Covid-19.
That’s according to the 2020 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey, which is based on over 4,200 responses.
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