Tracking the retail technology sector during the coronavirus

Retail Technology Innovation Hub rounds up the key Covid-19 developments from last week.

Non essential retailers have been given the green light to start reopening next month as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries to ease the coronavirus lockdown.

Shopify, the e-commerce platform provider that has emerged as the anti-Amazon, is now a digital by default company.

As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, it will keep its offices closed until 2021, CEO Tobi Lutke, said on Twitter, “so that we can rework them for this new reality”.

Amazon is moving its annual Prime Day sales extravaganza to September as the Covid-19 pandemic increases demand on the e-commerce giant’s warehouses.

Another week of staying home to combat the coronavirus means Pornhub Apparel continues to give away free Stayhomehub products. Not everyone is happy about that, however.

“Retail will never, ever be the same again,” entrepreneur and former Dragons' Den star Theo Paphitis told the BBC. The shift to online buying has been accelerated by five years, he believes.

Dixons Carphone is now offering a contactless kerbside collection service at 20 of its Currys PC World stores in England.

OLPRO has launched an augmented reality service that enables customers to see how tents, campervan and caravan awnings would fit in their gardens

Asda is trialling a virtual queuing system as part of social distancing measures.

Many UK retailers are falling to capitalise on Covid-19 related growth in e-commerce due to crippling tech anxiety, according to research from Brightpearl.

Consumers around the world are switching to contactless payments to help with social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak, according to RBR.

Brits are set to make a permanent multi-billion-pound shift to grocery shopping online once the coronavirus outbreak ends, according to research by Ensono.

57% of Brits are shopping online more than ever, with hair clippers, dumbbells and books among the most popular products, according to research from Mastercard.

Ahold Delhaize is accelerating its development of robotic technologies that can clean stores and process orders.

UK footfall decreased by 84.7% in April, due to the mandatory coronavirus lockdown, a record decline for the retail sector, according to research from the BRC and ShopperTrak.