The retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail technology? Then this is the article for you.
33.5%…Year-on-year UK retail footfall decreased by 33.5% in October, with a 3.4 percentage point decline from September, according to research from the BRC and ShopperTrak.
High streets and shopping centres fared worse of all as the public shunned city centres in favour of out of town locations with their on-site parking.
100…Evoke Creative has delivered a digital marketing solution for JD Sports at the brand’s flagship US store, which opened in Times Square, New York, last month.
This combines over 100 different digital signage and interactive kiosks, all controlled by Evoke’s cloud-based platform.
47% of UK consumers intend to spend less during this December festive season compared to last year, according to research by EY.
£375 million…Primark has no plans to venture online despite the latest round of coronavirus related closures in markets such as the UK, Spain and Ireland costing it about £375 million of lost sales.
100 million…Watsons, the flagship health and beauty brand of A.S. Watson Group, is laying claim to 100 million loyalty members in Asia.
416…Wilko has announced that all its 416 stores across the UK will remain open during the second coronavirus lockdown.
$300 million…Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has confirmed media reports of a $300 million investment in luxury fashion platform Farfetch.
566…M&S has rolled out its Sparks Book & Shop online reservation service to all 566 UK foodhalls and larger stores with foodhalls.
It says that it is the first major UK retailer to deploy such an offering. Sparks customers can use it to arrange shopping times and avoid the need to queue when they arrive.
265…Dutch co-operative supermarket chain PLUS Retail has placed a follow up order for an on-going project involving the deployment of Pricer’s electronic shelf label (ESL) platform in its 265+ stores.
500…Walmart has cut ties with Bossa Nova Robotics, which produces shelf-scanning inventory robots, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Its report says that the retailer has come up with other simple and cost-effective ways to manage the products on its shelves with its human workers. Around 500 robots were in Walmart’s more than 4,700 stores when the contract ended.
130…Bookshop.org, which launched in the US earlier this year, has gone online in partnership with more than 130 UK shops.
$14 million…US-based last mile delivery venture Onfleet has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round led by Kennet Partners.
€300 million…AnaCap Financial Partners has entered into exclusive negotiations for the purchase of a 60% stake in Market Pay from Carrefour.
The deal, valued at around €300 million, is expected to complete in H1 2021 and would see Carrefour retaining a minority stake in the omnichannel payments platform.
2…Ocado has purchased two North American robotics firms, Kindred Systems and Haddington Dynamics, as it looks to boost its grocery picking and packing capabilities.
13.2%…With a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic underway, there has been a record increase in the number of shuttered stores in the UK, new British Retail Consortium/Local Data Company research reveals.
In the third quarter of 2020, the overall vacancy rate increased to 13.2%, from 12.4% in Q2. This was the ninth consecutive quarter of increasing vacancy rates.
