The retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail technology? Then this is the article for you.
72% of consumers feel the retail sector needs a new set of standards to combat fake reviews, according to research by Bazaarvoice involving 10,000 people across the US, UK, France, Germany and Australia.
£1.2 billion…UK retailers are spending a record £1.2 billion on crime prevention. At the same time, however, the losses resulting from retail crime have climbed to £1 billion, which includes over £770 million from customer theft, according to the BRC.
5%…Lolli users can now earn 5% Bitcoin back when shopping online at pet retailer Chewy.com.
4…Amazon has installed “mini-fulfilment centres” closer to where customers live in four US cities: 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.
1%…Alibaba Group’s Ant Financial Services Group, owner and operator of Alipay, has taken a minority stake in Swedish buy now, pay later specialist Klarna. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, Reuters reported the stake amounts to less than 1% and is made up of existing and new shares.
$50 million...US online retailer Brooklinen has raised $50 million in new funding from growth equity firm Summit Partners.
$10 million…iPrice, a platform for comparison shoppers in Southeast Asia, has closed a $10 million Series B round.
5…Wholesale chain METRO has rolled out Blue Yonder’s forecasting and replenishment solutions across five countries, including Poland and Germany.
26%…Business and IT decision makers from UK retail organisations waste 26% of their working day on tasks that do not add critical value, according to Vanson Bourne research commissioned by Dropbox.
$45 million…Customer data platform venture mParticle has announced a $45 million Series D funding round led by Arrowroot Capital.
489%…US buy now, pay later venture Sezzle has reported a 489% increase in customer numbers in its full-year results.
9%…In 2008, 60% of UK payments were made in cash. By 2018 this had fallen to 28% and has been predicted to drop to 9% by 2028.
$985 million…In the final quarter of its fiscal year, Wayfair made a net loss of $330 million; this brought the total loss for the year to $985 million.
24…Waitrose is adding its online delivery service to 24 more UK stores in preparation for its split from Ocado.
