Coronavirus outbreak and the retail technology space
Retail Technology Innovation Hub rounds up the key Covid-19 developments from last week.
Aldi UK has expanded its home delivery trial with Deliveroo to nearly 130 stores.
Co-op has launched an augmented reality experience to celebrate the £15 million its members have helped raise for more than 4,500 local causes across the UK.
Retail technology big hitter Aptos has hired Pete Sinisgalli as CEO.
He will head up the now combined Aptos and Revionics organisation following the former’s acquisition of the AI-powered price optimisation venture in September.
90% of retailers are pinning their hopes for success over the next 12 months on Black Friday and Christmas, according to research from Ometria.
Iceland is looking to fill a number of positions as online sales surge amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The retailer, which celebrated its 50th birthday this year, is recruiting for such roles as Dev Manager, Information Security Analyst, Online IT tester and Online Insight Manager.
Retail Assist has released research around Black Friday, which will take place on 27th November.
The company surveyed over 1,200 people and found that 66% will start their Christmas shopping earlier this year.
A record 62% of UK debit card payments in August were contactless, according to trade association UK Finance.
52% of US shoppers believe that large retail stores should close during the Black Friday weekend, in order to protect the public against Covid-19, according to research from Contentsquare.
UK-based online marketplace, OnBuy, has reported a record breaking week with almost 1.5 million users browsing its site. This resulted in nearly £2.75 million in sales between 1st-8th November.
Because we could all do with some Christmas cheer right now…Harvey Nichols has unveiled the Christmas window scheme at its Knightsbridge, London store.
Currys PC World has released its Insiders Guide to Black Friday.
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.
Two-thirds of small and medium-sized enterprises in England feel more prepared for the current national coronavirus lockdown than they did for the first one in March, according to research from Barclaycard Payments.
Strive Capital has made an undisclosed investment into mobile food and drink ordering app venture FETCH.
61 UK high street bosses have signed a letter calling for the coronavirus lockdown in England to not be extended beyond 2nd December.
The likes of Steve Rowe from Marks & Spencer, Peter Cowgill from JD Sports and Alex Baldock from Dixons Carphone have stressed that non-essential retailers are losing £2 billion a week in sales for every week of lockdown.
Tower Records has returned to action in the US as an online store. The retailer closed its stores 14 years ago and declared bankruptcy.
Transaction values for physical goods sales online will grow from $3.3 trillion in 2020 to $4.4 trillion by 2025, thanks in no small part to the coronavirus outbreak, according to Juniper Research.
Further growth will, meanwhile, be driven by increased availability of e-commerce in emerging markets over the next five years.
