Tracking the retail technology sector during the coronavirus
Retail Technology Innovation Hub rounds up the key Covid-19 developments from last week.
The physical store will be very much alive in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, according to Jysk Executive Vice President Retail, Mikael Nielsen.
UK online retail sales growth was up 32.7% year-on-year in May, the highest annual result since March 2008, according to research by IMRG and Capgemini.
Home and garden, electricals, and beer, wine and spirits were star performers, whilst clothing continued to feel the pressure of weak demand.
Dixons Carphone has announced additions to its Currys PC World zero contact kerbside order and collect service.
Last month, the drive thru offering was launched at 20 stores. “This has gone extremely well and we are pleased to announce that we have now extended the service to 32 further stores nationwide,” says Mark Allsop, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Digital Officer at Dixons Carphone.
The GMB union has hit out at a new tie up between Amazon and the British Chambers of Commerce. The aim of this is to give advice on how firms can get back to work safely as the coronavirus lockdown eases.
Morrisons’ new telesales shopping service - aimed at vulnerable and elderly people - has now received 100,000 orders.
Amazon has announced the lease of 12 Boeing 767-300 converted cargo aircraft from Air Transport Services Group (ATSG). This will bring the e-commerce giant’s fleet to over 80. One of the new aircraft joined Amazon’s air cargo operations in May, with the remaining 11 to be delivered in 2021.
emporix has won a contract to provide its e-grocery software to Hungrily.
Hungrily, which operates in the Andover region of the UK, had to switch from home cooking to online groceries after its existing business model took a back seat amid the coronavirus lockdown. It opted for emporix to provide the necessary technology based on its work with Lieferladen.de in Germany.
Primark will open all of its 153 stores in England on 15th June, in line with the government’s guidelines for non-essential retailers.
“Social distancing protocols, hand sanitiser stations, Perspex screens at tills and additional cleaning of high-frequency touch points in the store are among the measures we are implementing,” the company said in a statement.
It added that personal protective equipment, including masks and gloves, would be available to all employees.
Warehouse robotics startup Locus Robotics has raised $40 million in Series D funding led by Zebra Ventures.
In a break with tradition, the new issue of British Vogue won’t feature a celebrity or supermodel on the front cover, but rather key workers who have been going above and beyond the call of duty during the coronavirus outbreak.
This includes Anisa Omar, 21, who works as a supermarket assistant at Waitrose King’s Cross. She is one of three frontline workers to appear on a special gatefold cover, the other two being London Overground train driver Narguis Horsford and midwife Rachel Millar.
Co-op is extending its deployment of Starship Technologies robots across Milton Keynes and surrounding towns and villages.
Digital identity and payments venture Nuggets has launched a solution which, it says, will help retailers tackle mounting fraud and chargebacks fuelled by the Covid-19 outbreak.
