The retail technology space during the coronavirus pandemic
Retail Technology Innovation Hub rounds up the key Covid-19 developments from last week.
In partnership with publishers and high street bookshops, Jellybooks is launching a Free Easter Reading campaign for children and adults.
With everyone still in coronavirus lockdown, it has curated a list of ebooks that will enable readers to discover more about our planet, the natural world and the UK and Ireland.
The mobile subscription market in the US has received a major boost during the coronavirus outbreak, research from Emarsys finds.
Around one in three US consumers have subscribed to a new subscription app like Netflix, Spotify and Babbel during the latest lockdown, with the 35–44 age bracket (37%) showing more interest than any other age group.
Despite facing unprecedented disruption over the past 12 months, physical retailers will most definitely come back in a post-Covid world, according to Shopify President Harley Finkelstein.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic sending shockwaves through the UK retail sector, there were still 31,405 openings of independent units in 2020, according to a report released by Local Data Company.
These were just outweighed by 32,847 closures and resulted in the independent market shrinking by -0.4% (-1,442 units).
51% of UK shoppers want to avoid store assistants, and are instead looking for more autonomous and technology-enabled experiences, according to research by K3 Business Technology Group.
After a year of Covid-19 restrictions on stores across the US, 78% of Americans plan to shop more at physical locations this year than before the start of the pandemic.
They miss being able to interact with shop assistants, physically see the goods they are buying and 63% just want to get out of the house, according to research by ChaseDesign involving 1,000 people.
Electrical retailer, Currys PC World, has unveiled a new TV ad campaign to promote its ShopLive video call offering.
The service, which launched in June 2020, connects customers to a video chat with a tech expert.
The 30-second TV spot highlights how easy it is for people to use this tool, and showcases Currys PC World employees in action, rather than actors.
Fluent Commerce has partnered with Dutch pharmaceutical retailer Etos to roll-out a new order management system (OMS).
This will be used to unify and automate the management of in-store and online orders, including inventory management, home delivery, ship from store, and Click and Collect.
With physical stores still hampered by social distancing measures and lockdown closures, online-only retailers such as Asos and boohoo have become the number one purchasing channel for fashion shoppers in the UK ahead of high street retailers’ online sites, department stores, brand stores and Amazon.
Wunderman Thompson Commerce, commercetools and Attraqt’s ‘Fighting for the Future of Fashion’ report – which surveyed 2,000 UK consumers who regularly shop for fashion items – found that two-thirds of fashion spending now takes place online.
New research from Barclaycard Payments reveals the top shifts in consumer behaviour which have emerged as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and are set to outlive it.
Clothing brand, GANT, which has over 750 stores in 80 countries, is close to completing a roll-out of Cegid Retail’s Unified Commerce Platform across Europe.
The cloud-based Point of Sale and merchandising solution has recently been added in France and goes live in the UK in March.
