The five biggest retail technology news stories of the week
It’s Friday, the weekend is nearly here, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here's your briefing on the most important stories from the past five days, including Sainsbury’s, ICA Gruppen, Ocado Group, Tesco, and Shopify.
1. Sainsbury's opens SmartShop Pick & Go store at Holborn Circus, London
Last month, we reported that Sainsbury’s was set to open a cashierless store in London during late November, using Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.
This, we noted at the time, would make it the first customer outside the US for the tech that powers Amazon Go and Fresh stores.
Said SmartShop Pick & Go store opened to the public this week, after being tested out by Sainsbury’s staff members.
2. ICA Gruppen opens Ocado powered automated online groceries warehouse
ICA Gruppen has gone live with an automated warehouse in Brunna, outside Stockholm, powered by Ocado Group technology.
ICA says that it is the first retailer in Sweden to open a facility that features an automated solution for online groceries.
The warehouse has a total area of 32,000 square metres. An e-commerce operation in Jordbro will be gradually transferred to the new facility.
3. Quick commerce startup Jokr nabs unicorn status with mega funding round
Rapid delivery venture, Jokr, has landed $260 million in Series B funding and ventured into unicorn territory with a valuation of $1.2 billion.
It will use the cash to expand its business across the US and Latin America.
Jokr aims to bring people groceries and other consumer goods in 15 minutes from urban micro-fulfilment centres. It last raised $170 million in July.
4. Shopify notches up record breaking Black Friday
Canadian e-commerce platform giant Shopify has announced a record setting Black Friday with sales of nearly $2.9 billion from the start of Black Friday in New Zealand through the end of the event in California.
This represents a 21% increase over 2020 when sales by Shopify merchants surged 75% over 2019 driven by Covid-19 lockdowns, and is more than double their sales on 2019.
5. Tesco unveils UK’s largest closed loop grocery media and insight platform
Tesco has launched Tesco Media and Insight, powered by data science specialist dunnhumby.
The new platform aims to help suppliers and agencies engage more effectively with customers and understand their evolving needs.
Alessandra Bellini, Tesco Chief Customer Officer, says: “As the UK grocery sector evolves, we want to ensure we provide a more relevant and personalised offer to meet our customers’ changing needs.”
“Our new platform will bring together the wealth of customer knowledge we have, with the insights from dunnhumby, and use it in a way that helps our brands to be more efficient and targeted and ultimately to serve our customers better.”
“We’re excited to work with our suppliers and agencies to drive better engagement with customers and add value to their businesses.”
