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.

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.

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.

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.

I'm biased but I think this is probably the best job ever. Come work with me as Shopify's CTO and build the future of commerce. https://t.co/qYTh7O3G0y
— Tobi Lutke 🌳🌲🛒🕹 (@tobi) May 26, 2021

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.

UK retailers received a much needed boost on Saturday, 22nd and Sunday, 23rd May 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.