The retail technology year in review: March 2020

RTIH takes a look at the retail technology space during March and rounds up the winners, losers and major developments.

Good month for…

AI-powered customer service chatbot startup Ada raised $44 million in a Series B funding round led by Accel.

US-based computer vision and AI-powered video analytics company, Deep North, raised $25.7 million in Series A funding.

Alma, a Klarna like payments startup, announced a $14.1 million funding round.

US online retailer Brooklinen snagged $50 million in new funding from growth equity firm Summit Partners.

Customer data platform venture mParticle announced a $45 million Series D funding round led by Arrowroot Capital.

iPrice, a platform for comparison shoppers in Southeast Asia, closed a $10 million Series B round.

Refurbished electronics startup refurbed announced a $17 million Series A round of funding led by Evli Growth Partners.

Espressive announced a $30 million Series B investment.

Bad month for…

The GMB union hit out at Matalan for putting employees in danger by ignoring coronavirus guidelines. It also slammed Asos.

Cash usage in Britain halved in just a few days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined strict new measures to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

Online retailer Overstock faced a lawsuit from investor John Murphy after former CEO Patrick Byrne’s abruptly departed the company and cashed out on $90 million in stock.

Boots suspended payments using Advantage Card points in stores and online after a cyber attack.

The incident closely followed a similar issue that hit 600,000 Tesco Clubcard holders.

People were not happy with WHSmith and its attempts to portray itself as an essential retailer during the coronavirus outbreak. And they let the company have it on social media.

Also in March…

Tesco’s Chief Technology Officer applauded the grocery giant’s tech teams for their hard work during the coronavirus crisis.

Ocado bought 100,000 Covid-19 test kits for its grocery packers and delivery drivers.

Stuart Rose called on Brits to stop stockpiling groceries.

Carphone Warehouse said it would close all its 531 standalone stores on 3rd April, resulting in 2,900 redundancies.

Starbucks mobile app users would soon be able to pay for their drinks with Bakkt Cash.

US-based Starship Technologies launched its robot delivery service in central Milton Keynes.

Amazon was set to bring its first British checkout-free supermarket to Notting Hill, according to the Times.

Ikea debuted a flagship store on Alibaba Group’s B2C online marketplace Tmall; the first time the retailer has sold its products on a third-party platform. Integrated with Ikea’s membership programme, this offers over 3,800 products and furnishing solutions.

Amazon unveiled a new business line selling the Just Walk Out technology which powers its Amazon Go stores.

Target was set to continue its significant investment in technology, supply chain and new stores, its new CFO said.

Target also unveiled a new concept store in downtown San Francisco. Game Room lets people try out Magic Leap and Oculus Quest headsets, gaming PCs and mobile gaming rigs.

Amazon installed “mini-fulfilment centres” closer to where customers live in Philadelphia, Phoenix, Orlando, and Dallas. These allow the e-commerce giant to reduce same-day delivery times down to just a few hours for Prime members.

Alibaba Group’s Ant Financial Services Group, owner and operator of Alipay, took a minority stake in Swedish buy now, pay later specialist Klarna.

Ant Financial also announced plans to open its Alipay platform to 40 million service providers in China over the next three years and help them digitise their offerings.

US off-price retailer Burlington Stores decided to pull its e-commerce operations, which account for about 0.5% of total sales, and focus on growing its bricks and mortar business.

Amazon created a $5 million Neighbourhood Small Business Relief Fund, providing cash grants to small businesses impacted by the coronavirus outbreak in its hometown of Seattle.