The retail technology space during the coronavirus pandemic

Retail Technology Innovation Hub rounds up the key retail systems related Covid-19 developments from last week.

One month on from non-essential retail reopening in England, data from Mention Me shows that online sales declined by 6% against the previous month.

Sales typically decline by just 3% at this time of year, indicating that customers are diversifying their spending.

To mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day, eBay UK has announced it will be the headline sponsor of this year’s Purple Tuesday on 2nd November.

It notes that in the UK the ‘Purple Pound’ is worth £274 billion and yet many retailers are failing to capture this market due to inaccessible websites or stores.

Profits at Royal Mail have soared as the coronavirus pandemic drove a surge in demand for online deliveries.

Pretax profits jumped to £726 million in the 12 months to the end of March, up from £180 million the previous year. Adjusted operating profit, meanwhile, rose to £702 from £325 million.

We have announced our Full Year results for 2020-21. Read more about our performance here: https://t.co/PQNy2aUO5L pic.twitter.com/yuSWLutg6w
— Royal Mail News (@royalmailnews) May 20, 2021

Go Instore has teamed with sofa and carpet retailer ScS to launch myScSlive, a live video service offering personalised advice for customers shopping from their homes.

Resolver, a UK-based customer issue resolution service, has revealed what 900,000 people complained about during the coronavirus outbreak.

Online shopping dominated the research with 267,141 complaints, up 138% on the previous year.

English Premier League champions, Manchester City, are marking their title winning campaign with the launch of a series of commemorative digital artwork, the ‘1’ collection, which will be available for purchase as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

This will be the first ever time a Premier League champion has dropped an NFT (a digital asset and collectible, the authenticity, rarity, scarcity, ownership etc of which is independently guaranteed, verified, and secured on blockchain tech), to celebrate a title win.

🔥 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 #𝗡𝗙𝗧 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴! 🔥#ManCity x @JonNoorlander collab series - 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟰 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟴𝗽𝗺 𝗕𝗦𝗧

An exclusive collection to mark our @PremierLeague title win! 🏆

Preview on @makersplaceco: https://t.co/avs0QxODBL
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 19, 2021

UK retail footfall was somewhat underwhelming on the first day of indoor hospitality reopening on Monday, according to Sensormatic Solutions.

Its research, based around 40 billion shopper visits each year, showed that UK traffic fell -6% week-on-week on Monday, with poor weather blamed for keeping people away.

Homzmart, a Middle East-based furniture and home goods marketplace platform, has closed a $15 million Series A funding round.

Vertebrae is partnering with New York eyewear and fashion brand MOSCOT to deliver a virtual try-on experience.

MOSCOT now offers 3D and AR enabled visualisations at accurate size and scale for several popular styles of glasses.

This allows shoppers to see how the frames will fit on their face, examine materials and details close up, and more easily determine which styles, colours and sizes are right for them.

72.5% of online shoppers are likely or very likely to stop recommending a retailer following a poor delivery experience. That’s according to research from Circuit, involving 1,000 people.

Consumers around the world bought 15.8 billion fewer litres of alcohol beverages last year, according to research from Euromonitor International.

Global alcohol sales volumes declined by more than 6% year-on-year in 2020, according to data from more than 100 countries, amid widespread closures of hospitality venues and coronavirus restrictions on socialising with friends and family.