The five most important retail tech news stories of the week
It’s Friday, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail technology space. Here's your briefing on the most important and interesting stories from the past few days.
1. Instacart is quietly exploring the launch of micro-fulfilment centres
US grocery delivery service Instacart is reportedly looking into the use of robotic warehouses to fulfil its orders
It currently uses more than 500,000 gig workers for this.
According to a FT article, citing several people familiar with discussions, Instacart has initially expressed a desire to open as many as 50 micro-fulfilment centres across the US in about a year.
2. Mark Carney joins board of digital payments giant Stripe
Former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has joined the board of online payments provider Stripe.
The announcement closely follows reports that the US firm is planning a primary funding round, valuing it at more than $100 billion.
3. Locus Robotics becomes the newest retail technology unicorn
Locus Robotics, which specialises in autonomous mobile robots for fulfilment warehouses, has bagged $150 million in Series E funding, bringing its valuation to $1 billion.
4. UK Digital Business Association launches with Asos and boohoo as members
Asos, boohoo, Gymshark, The Hut Group, Ocado Group and AO World have launched a new trade body called the UK Digital Business Association (UKDBA).
This comes amid heated debate around tax and business rates and the acceleration of e-commerce across all demographics during the coronavirus outbreak.
5. Primark takes huge Covid hit as stores remain closed during lockdowns
Primark has estimated that non-essential retail closures across its global store estate cost it £1.1 billion in lost sales in the first half of its financial year.
It does, however, expect the post-coronavirus lockdown period to be “highly cash generative”.
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