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. November spawns an online monster as UK sales surge
UK online retailers enjoyed a strong start to November, with sales growth up 61% during the first week, the highest year-on-year rate since June and fourth highest this year, according to IMRG research.
The announcement of a second England lockdown on 31st October – and subsequent closure of non-essential stores – is likely to have driven shoppers to get their Christmas purchasing done earlier this year.
2. Contactless payments boom as coronavirus looms large
A record 62% of UK debit card payments in August were contactless, according to trade association UK Finance.
Much of this can be attributed to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and the higher £45 payment limit introduced earlier this year.
Brits have also been encouraged by retailers, banks etc to pay by contactless cards and mobile phones to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during the pandemic.
3. Best Buy announces Instacart same day delivery tie up
Best Buy has partnered with Instacart to offer same-day delivery across the entire US.
This will cover almost all of the retailer’s locations in the country.
4. Matt Grest swaps BBC for The Very Group and CIO role
The Very Group has hired Matt Grest as Chief Information Officer (CIO).
Grest will join on 21st December from the BBC, where he led a 400-strong team of technologists as Director of Digital Platforms.
5. Marks and Spencer Food preps disruptive Innovation Hub
M&S Food is launching the Innovation Hub, pitched as “a new specialist team that will focus on disruptive innovation to create industry leading products and address some of the biggest sector wide challenges”.
