The retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail technology? Then this is the article for you.
250…Tesco is teaming up with food sharing app and social enterprise Olio in a drive to reduce food waste in stores across the UK.
This follows a six month trial, held earlier this year, at 250 of the retailer’s stores which had the most food surplus and which saw a high rate of pick up
500…Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group’s Alibaba Cloud division has unveiled an autonomous logistics robot for last mile deliveries.
Developed by the Alibaba DAMO Academy, this can carry 50 packages at one time and cover 62 miles (or 100 kilometres) on a single charge.
Alibaba Cloud estimates that the robot should be able to deliver as many as 500 packages a day to one designated community or campus as demand for speedy last-mile delivery increases in China.
98…We don't mean to alarm you but we are less than 100 days away from Christmas (98 to be precise).
Have no fear, though. Online retailer Prezzybox has put together a Christmas Gift Guide for 2020 to show you some of its best festive presents. And it’s pretty damn awesome, if we say so ourselves.
£1 billion…Reporting its unaudited results for the half year ended 25th July, John Lewis Partnership noted that Waitrose has seen a strong pick up in demand since it parted ways with Ocado on 1st September.
“Waitrose.com orders were up 9% in the first week. Waitrose.com is now a £1 billion annualised business and we will further expand capacity by around 50% to 250,000 orders a week,” Chairman Sharon White said in a letter to Partners.
$9 million…Mira Beauty has raised $9 million in a round led by Unilever Ventures and 14W.
300…Chinese retailer JD has opened its first home appliance flagship store in Bengbu, a fourth-tier city in Anhui province.
The company is looking to launch 300 of these in prefectural-level cities on a one-city-one-store basis by 2025.
Six months of the coronavirus pandemic have completely changed how Brits shop. And 81% of us are going to stay that way, according to research by e-commerce agency Melody.
£22 billion…Retailers’ failure to sell across online and offline channels is costing the UK sector up to £22 billion, according to research by Adyen.
Anonymised transaction data across the company’s global payments platform found that half of retailers adopting a unified commerce or omnichannel approach saw their total number of transactions remain consistent during the coronavirus pandemic.
£450 million…Record numbers of people buying legally certified cannabis products will see the UK market grow by 50% this year to £450 million, according to research by London-based marketplace Alphagreen.
51% of global holiday shoppers plan to buy locally this year, as the coronavirus continues to loom large, according to new research from Rakuten Advertising.
70% of Americans would prefer a completely human free, contactless shopping experience, according to research by Sense Photonics.
3…Empire is expanding its e-commerce offering to Atlantic Canada with the launch of Voilà by Sobeys Curbside Pickup.
Powered by Ocado Group’s in-store fulfilment technology, this is available at three Sobeys locations in Nova Scotia, with customers able to order online at voila.ca or by downloading a mobile app.
1,000…UK fashion retailers are launching a range of new online services as a response to Covid-19, according to research by Brightpearl.
The company surveyed 1,000 retailers and found that 44% are looking to offer free delivery by 2021, whilst 34% plan to launch free returns before the year is up.
$10.65 billion…Swedish buy now, pay later specialist Klarna has raised $650 million in an equity funding round, at a post money valuation of $10.65 billion.
100,000…Amazon is recruiting 100,000 more workers, the fourth Stateside hiring spree it has announced this year as online shopping demand increases during the coronavirus outbreak.
550…Discount retailer TJ Morris is tapping new motion sensor technology from Hitachi Europe for a traffic light queueing system at all 550 of its Home Bargains stores across the UK.
1…Aldi is piloting its first UK Click and Collect service.
The German discounter is currently running a trial for staff members from a store in the Midlands and plans to extend that to customers in the coming weeks.
36 million…There will be over 36 million connected sextech devices in use in 2020, rising from 19 million in 2019, according to Juniper Research.
24…McDonald’s UK and Ireland is testing out a Click. Park. Collect service in 24 restaurants.
15…Amazon.com sold essential items like toilet paper and antibacterial soap at inflated prices during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report by consumer rights group Public Citizen.
This analysed 15 products, including those sold by third-parties and items listed as “sold by Amazon.”
4.1%…UK online sales growth remains strong but is slowing down as more Brits return to physical stores during the coronavirus outbreak.
According to research by IMRG and Capgemini, online sales growth was up 43.5% YoY in August, although sales were down 4.1% MoM.
