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 some of the most important and interesting stories from the past five days.

1. Tesco customers call for contactless limit rise

Our story starts with the following promoted tweet from Visa: “You can now use contactless for payments up to £45, in many stores. Shop securely with Visa. How You Pay Matters”.

This sparked a furious backlash with many Twitter users weighing in to lambaste Tesco for failing to follow the example of Morrisons, Iceland and Waitrose and increase the contactless payments limit from £30 to £45.

2. Contactless payments key as McDonald's UK steps up reopening plan

McDonald’s UK and Ireland has updated its coronavirus outbreak reopening plan, with contactless payments playing a major role.

3. Coronavirus outbreak increases disparities in UK retail sector

With coronavirus lockdown measures in full swing, April saw a record fall in UK retail sales, according to research from the BRC and KPMG.

4. Target Deliv deal shines a light on underwhelming Walmart

Target’s acquisition of Deliv’s same day delivery technology platform highlights a major Walmart weak spot. That’s according to Brittain Ladd, a former Amazon exec and supply chain consultant.

5. Omnichannel retailers prosper as UK online sales soar

Following the UK’s first full month under lockdown, online sales hit a 10 year high in April, up 23.8% year-on-year.

After March’s poor performance, this represented a month-on-month rebound of +28.2%. IMRG and Capgemini research, which tracks the online sales performance of over 200 retailers, shows that the spike was overwhelmingly driven by omnichannel ventures.