The retail technology space during the coronavirus pandemic
Retail Technology Innovation Hub rounds up the key Covid-19 developments from last week.
FinTech Miconex has revealed that over £1.9 million was spent through its Town and City Gift Card programmes in 2020. The 2020 sales data represents 350% year on year growth for the firm.
The overall GB shop vacancy rate increased to 13.7%, from 13.2% in Q3, according to research by the British Retail Consortium and Local Data Company.
It was 1.6 percentage points higher than the same point in 2019. This was the tenth consecutive quarter of increasing vacancy rates.
BALA has chosen Brightpearl and Shopify to help bring its footwear for nurses to market for the first time.
Digital signage and experience platform provider, Raydiant, has closed $13 million in Series A financing co-led by 8VC and Atomic.
The new capital, which brings the company's total funding to $20 million, will be used to invest in product development and expand its go-to-market team.
While e-commerce has seen a surge in popularity during the pandemic, new research from Emarsys reveals that 31% of US consumers still prefer shopping in-store.
M&S has launched a series of free online learning resources, spanning food, fashion and business studies and offering children the opportunity to get insight into working at the retailer.
These are pitched at parents, carers and teachers of primary and secondary aged children to download at home as schools across the UK remain closed during the latest coronavirus lockdown.
Riding an e-commerce wave boosted by the coronavirus pandemic, parcel locker firm InPost this week raised €2.8 billion in its initial public offering on Amsterdam’s Euronext exchange.
The UK contactless payment limit for a single transaction could be raised to £100.
Last year, it went up from £30 to £45 during the coronavirus outbreak.
"Recognising changing behaviour in how people pay, as part of a wider consultation, we will shortly be seeking views on amending our rules to allow for a possible increase in the contactless limit to £100," the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said in an online post.
Nine in ten Brits believe the average supermarket will be significantly different in the near future, according to a study by ThoughtWorks.
The company surveyed 2,007 people and found that 26% reckon the supermarket checkout will have disappeared by 2030, while 18% said shelves would be stacked by robots.
Samsung Next food technology platform, Whisk, has added Sainsbury’s to its ecosystem.
Shoppers can now turn any recipe from Whisk’s network of publishers, brands, and apps into a shopping list and purchase for Click and Collect or delivery from Sainsbury’s.
Metapack has announced the speakers and agenda for its The Delivery Conference virtual event, which is set to take place on 2nd-3rd February.
The agenda is based around the coronavirus pandemic-led events of 2020, the exponential growth of e-commerce, changing consumer expectations and the future of retail.
Zadig & Voltaire has gone live with Aptos’ Allocation & Replenishment and Commercial Buying Session solutions across its stores and online channel.
Digital retailer Very.co.uk, which notched up a record breaking festive period, has compiled its top six ways our online shopping habits changed during Christmas 2020.
Total spend via digital wallets will exceed $10 trillion in 2025, up from $5.5 trillion in 2020, according to Juniper Research.
This will be fuelled by the heightened adoption of digital payments during the coronavirus pandemic.
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