RTIH presents the retail technology week in numbers

Do you like numbers? Do you like getting the latest retail systems news? Then this is the article for you.

12…Asda is testing out online grocery boxes at customers’ homes for unattended deliveries.

This is scheduled to run for 12 weeks, with shoppers receiving a box (height 900mm; width 700mm depth 475mm) that they can use for both Asda and third party deliveries.

$3.25 million…E-commerce venture, Recurate, has announced partnerships with La Ligne, Mara Hoffman, and Peak Design.

It has also completed a $3.25 million seed round led by Gradient Ventures.

$10 million…E-commerce startup Carted has received $10 million in seed funding led by Blackbird Ventures.

Our design team just did a @YouTube demo of @carted and it’s damn cool 😎 pic.twitter.com/SXUzGA82Rz
— Mike Angell (@evulse) February 22, 2021

5.15%…Things Remembered says that it has seen a 5.15% increase in conversion rates since implementing Namogoo’s machine learning and AI powered customer journey hijacking prevention solution.

54% of UK shoppers prefer interactions with both workers and technology rather than fully automated retail experiences, according to research from VoCoVo.

22% of UK shoppers regularly use guest accounts to purchase online goods in order to avoid handing over personal data, according to a new report from Empathy.co.

$2.1 billion…Subscription e-commerce venture, ReCharge, has raised $277 million in growth capital from Summit Partners, ICONIQ Growth, and Bain Capital Ventures.

This values it at $2.1 billion.

🎉 We are incredibly excited to announce that we have raised $277 million in growth capital at $2.1 billion valuation from @SummitPartners, @ICONIQGrowth, and @BainCapVC.

Read the press release here: https://t.co/m6LQ1NVzMh
— ReCharge (@ReChargePayment) May 6, 2021

350,000…Online furniture retailer Made.com has announced the development of an additional 350,000 square foot warehouse at DP World’s London Gateway Logistics Park in Tilbury.

The UK-based firm’s current furniture warehouse at the Tilbury site measures 225,000 square feet, handles approximately 750,000 units per year and has an average SKU range of 2,300.

$10 billion…Not to be outdone by Amazon and Walmart, The Kroger Co. has teamed with Drone Express, part of TELEGRID Technologies, for a pilot involving grocery delivery via autonomous drones.

"This is part of the evolution of our rapidly growing and innovative e-commerce business – which includes pickup, delivery, and ship and reached more than $10 billion in sales in 2020," says Kroger's Jody Kalmbach, Group Vice President of Product Experience.

Anything, anytime, anywhere – and now by drone. Read more about our new partnership with Drone Express, a division of @Telegrid, to deliver groceries to customers via autonomous drones. https://t.co/V9jyKhReWX pic.twitter.com/avz7FQ3Jk1
— Kroger News (@KrogerNews) May 3, 2021

140,000…Asda has launched Our Inclusion Network, a digital platform where its 140,000 employees can be part of the retailer’s inclusion initiatives and discussions.

4,000…M&S has broken the Guinness World Record for most tickets booked for an online cooking tutorial.

The retailer achieved this at last week's Sparks Live Cookalong with resident chef Chris Baber, with 4,000+ people getting involved.

5,000…There are around 5,000 fewer physical UK stores since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, meaning one in seven shops now lie empty, according to the British Retail Consortium and Local Data Company.

6…Delivery firm DPD is rolling out a new air quality monitoring programme across six UK cities.

Project BREATHE is live in London with 100 mobile air quality sensors on the roof of DPD vans and 20 fixed units on the company’s PickUp shops close to schools and play areas.

By the end of May, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff will join the initiative, creating a network of over 400 sensors in total, delivering 1.5 million pollution readings a day.