RTIH presents the retail technology week in numbers

Do you like numbers? Do you like retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Featuring Tesco, Shopify, Amazon, Glovo and Made.com.

40…TV and radio presenter Laura Whitmore has been unveiled as the face of Master Your Money, a new campaign from buy now pay later provider Laybuy that is pitched at UK women under 40.

8.6%…Canadian e-commerce platform giant Shopify is recruiting for a Chief Technology Officer.

“We’re chasing a future where Shopify is the platform where commerce happens. And we’re well on our way: 8.6% of the retail e-commerce sales in the US in 2020 happened on our platform,” a job spec states.

60…Tesco is testing out a new rapid delivery service, Whoosh, at an Express store in Wolverhampton.

Customers will be able to order via the retailer’s app or Tesco.com, with products delivered by partner Stuart within 60 minutes by bike, moped or car, for a £5 delivery fee.

1…Lisbon-based startup Sensei has announced its first autonomous store opening to the public, in partnership with Portuguese retailer Sonae.

It's official! #Amazon is set to acquire #MGM for $8.45 billion @amazonnews https://t.co/xG9tBtesgP
— Retail Technology Innovation Hub (@RTIH_RetailTech) May 26, 2021

84% of online shoppers would turn their back on a retailer after a bad returns experience, according to new research from buy now pay later specialist Klarna.

€170 million…Spanish q-commerce startup Glovo has announced an agreement with online food delivery venture Delivery Hero to acquire some of its companies in Central and Eastern Europe.

Glovo will buy the foodpanda brand in Romania and Bulgaria, the Donesi brand in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Pauza in Croatia in deals worth €170 million.

£2.5 billion…New research from the BRC highlights the scale of violence and abuse faced by retail staff.

This shows there were 455 incidents of violence or abuse each day in 2019/20, up 7% from 2018/19.

Whilst the total cost to retailers of crime and crime prevention was £2.5 billion, an increase of 14% on the previous year.

47%…Levi’s is upgrading its relationship with MySize from pilot to partnership in Turkey, with the potential to expand further internationally after the initial deployment of the MySizeID solution reduced return rates by 47%.

This utilises Levi’s size charts, product tables, GTIN, descriptions, and other relevant details, alongside MySize's patented algorithms, to provide online shoppers with size recommendations.

The plug and play widget is integrated into Levi’s site.

$300 million and $3 billion…E-commerce fraud prevention venture, Forter, has raised $300 million in Series F funding led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from Third Point Ventures and Adage Capital Management.

Six months ago, Forter completed a $125 million Series E round.

It has now raised over $500 million of capital and almost tripled its valuation to $3 billion, whilst claiming to be the most valuable privately held company ever in the fraud prevention space.

Contentsquare raises $500M Series E funding to build a better digital world! Learn about our latest (and historic) funding round here: https://t.co/NMHYnB4qVm pic.twitter.com/OiC1NA4aOO
— Contentsquare (@Contentsquare) May 25, 2021

27…European unmanned grocery stores venture, Lifvs, has selected Pricer’s electronic shelf label (ESL) solution to power staffless pricing.

Lifvs launched its first store in 2019 and its estate now spans 27 outlets.

Unlike rivals Amazon Fresh and China’s Auchan Minute concept, both of which focus on urban convenience, the Swedish startup targets remote communities that have lost their local shops over recent years.

5…Food to go retailer, Pret A Manger, has selected Tech Mahindra as its technology and digital transformation partner.

The five-year contract will focus on streamlining and optimising Pret’s IT infrastructure through cloudification, systems re-engineering, consumerisation of IT systems and data engineering.

£1 billion…Online furniture retailer Made.com has announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange.

There have been rumours about the pureplay, which was co-founded by entrepreneur Brent Hoberman, making the move since February, but it has thus far declined to press the button.

An IPO will see some existing investors sell shares but also raise new money, and could value the business at anything up to £1 billion.

800 million…Chinese e-commerce group Pinduoduo has surpassed 800 million users for the first time.

Revenue for the first quarter rose 239% to 22.2 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) in the three months ended March.

The number of annual active buyers for the 12 months ended March increased to 823.8 million, making Pinduoduo the most widely used e-commerce platform in China.

Pinduoduo Chairman and CEO Chen Lei says the company continues to look at “how things are done with a fresh pair of eyes, with no preconceptions” as annual active users surpass 800 m. #ecommerce #agriculture https://t.co/B8d580DsQv
— Pinduoduo (@PinduoduoInc) May 26, 2021

5.3%, 4.9% and 2.7%…UK retailers received a much needed boost on Saturday, 22nd and Sunday, 23rd as hospitality venues had their first weekend fully reopened, following months of dealing with coronavirus restrictions and closures, research by Sensormatic Solutions shows.

Based on its footfall index, which captures 40 billion shopper visits each year, Sensormatic’s data revealed that UK traffic saw a lift over the weekend across retail parks (+5.3%), shopping centres (+4.9%) and high streets (+2.7%) compared to the weekend prior.

1…Irish retailer Dunnes Stores has launched its first ever app.

129…Best Buy Canada has placed an order to deploy Pricer’s electronic shelf labels (ESL) system in its 129 stores.

6%…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.

$76 million…Wayflyer, a revenue-based financing platform for e-commerce merchants, has announced a $76 million Series A fundraise led by Left Lane Capital.