The retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail technology? Then this is the article for you.
310…Marks and Spencer has increased its Mobile Pay Go network from 100 to 310 stores.
The service enables customers to buy their groceries (up to the value of £30) without visiting a till, using the M&S mobile app.
50…Argos is to stop printing its catalogue after almost 50 years, with the retailer saying that digital shopping offers “greater convenience”.
41%…New research from parcel locker firm, InPost, reveals how UK consumer attitudes have changed towards their communities and their local environments during the coronavirus outbreak.
The company surveyed 2,000 Brits and found that 41% now think about the impact that environmental issues have on their local area and not just globally. The same number care more about where they live and have embraced community spirit.
18…A.S. Watson is opening up its Moneyback loyalty programme to retailers across Hong Kong as it looks to stimulate consumer spending during the coronavirus outbreak.
The move will enable retailers to promote their business on the platform for free by uploading offers. The aim is to encourage cross-retailer shopping in all 18 Hong Kong districts.
500…The GMB union has called on Asos to “come clean” on the scale of job losses in the offing at the pureplay’s customer care centre in Leavesden, Hertfordshire and HQ in Camden, London.
This follows a report in the Sunday Times which said that 500 jobs would go, as the location of call centre staff are "aligned" to parts of the world where customers live.
3…Nike is opening a third House of Innovation, situated at 79 Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Over four floors and some 26,000 square feet, this will give access to Nike’s best innovations, athlete storytelling and experiences. It lines up alongside flagship stores in New York and Shanghai.
34… Auchan Retail Portugal is to deploy Trax’s autonomous shelf monitoring solutions, including robots, across its network of 34 supermarkets and hypermarkets.
20,000…Waitrose and John Lewis have announced plans to increase the use of electric vans as they look to end the use of fossil fuels across their entire transport fleet by 2030.
The John Lewis Partnership will use two new designs of vehicle for its Waitrose.com food deliveries and for smaller John Lewis deliveries, saving over 20,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.
50,000…Walmart Marketplace has surpassed 50,000 sellers, doubling in size from July 2019. A partnership with Shopify, announced last month, has accelerated its growth, bringing over 5,000 new sellers during the six weeks since, according to Marketplace Pulse.
4…India’s Flipkart has launched a hyperlocal service, Flipkart Quick, in suburbs of Bangalore, four years after the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant pulled the plug on a previous foray into this space.
This leverages its supply chain infrastructure and a new location mapping technology framework to deliver more than 2,000 products across grocery, perishables, smartphones, electronics accessories, and stationary items within 90 minutes to customers.
300…Amazon has fired a shot across the bow of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ocado et al.
The e-commerce giant is now offering its Amazon Fresh service to Prime subscribers across 300 postcodes in the South East, giving them free two-hour food delivery slots on orders of more than £40.
€15 million…Computer vision platform provider, Advertima, has closed a €15 million Series A investment round led by existing shareholder Swiss real estate company, Fortimo Group.
10…US online grocer Farmstead is moving to a larger San Francisco facility to increase its delivery capacity by 10x.
It says that this is the result of the coronavirus pandemic driving a huge increase in demand for grocery delivery.
5…Sainsbury’s is testing out a virtual queuing system in five of its stores: Uxbridge, Pimlico, Dome Roundabout in Watford, Leicester North and Newham Royal Wharf.
32…As mask wearing becomes mandatory in UK stores, retail analytics startup Uncrowd has issued a tongue-in-cheek chart that enables staff members to identify the mood of shoppers. This maps 32 eye moods to enable staff to diagnose and pre-empt potential problems.
