Tracking the retail technology sector during the coronavirus

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

Trust Inns has teamed up with Screach to help more than 150 UK pubs tackle coronavirus safety issues.

With coronavirus lockdown measures easing, Brits are slowly re-emerging onto their high streets, shopping centres and retail parks.

Research by the BRC and ShopperTrak shows that footfall levels are still well below pre-coronavirus levels. However, a decline in June was softer than in May thanks to the reopening of non-essential retail stores on 15th June.

The UK courier and express delivery market is set to reach £13.5 billion this year, according to Mintel.

The John Lewis Partnership will not reopen eight John Lewis stores as it looks to “secure the business’s long-term future and respond to customers' shopping needs”.

During the coronavirus outbreak, Millennials have been receiving around 50% more online deliveries every week than the over-55 baby boomer generation, according to research by parcel locker firm InPost.

32% of UK retail workers have experienced physical abuse during the coronavirus outbreak, according to research from VoCoVo.

Digital transformation in the retail sector is now unstoppable. That’s according to a new study released by Fujitsu involving 197 ICT decision makers from all sizes of retail organisation, across Australia, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the UK and the USA.

Covid-19 is accelerating retailers’ digital transformation efforts, says GlobalData.

The coronavirus outbreak has also accelerated the sustainability agenda for both consumers and consumer product organisations, according to research from the Capgemini Research Institute.

This sought the views of 7,500 shoppers and 750 senior executives in various sub-sectors of CPR. As a result of the pandemic, 78% of the former believe that companies have a larger role to play in society.

Walmart is set to unveil a new subscription service later this month.

Called Walmart+, the Amazon Prime competitor will cost $98 a year and include perks like same-day delivery of groceries and general merchandise, discounts on fuel at Walmart gas stations, and early access to product deals.

As it re-opens stores, Trotters Childrenswear is using Eurostop’s mobile PoS solution to support social distancing for its customers.

This is based on the Sunmi P2 Lite and provides in built scanning, EPoS and integrated card payments on one device.

US startup AiFi says that it is on track to deploy 330 new and retrofitted autonomous stores by the end of 2021.

Sophie Neary has left Boots UK, where for the past couple of years she served as Director E-commerce & Digital Retail Transformation.

Primark’s digital denial is reminiscent of Sony’s naivety during the Betamax and VHS format war, according to Elliott Jacobs, EMEA Commerce Consulting Director at LiveArea.