The five biggest retail technology news stories of the week

The weekend is almost upon us, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here's your briefing on the biggest stories from the past few days, including Nuvemshop, The Post Office, Walmart and Amazon.

1. E-commerce venture Nuvemshop raises $500m on $3.1 bn valuation

Latin American e-commerce platform, Nuvemshop, has raised a $500 million Series E round of funding.

This was co-led by Insight Partners and Tiger Global Management, with participation from Alkeon and Owl Rock.

Other investors that joined the round included Sunley House Capital and VMG Partners, as well as existing backers Accel, Kaszek, Kevin Efrusy, Qualcomm Ventures LLC, and ThornTree Capital.

Following the company's $90 million Series D financing in March, this newest round values it at $3.1 billion and brings Nuvemshop’s total funding in the last 10 months to more than $620 million.

2. The Post Office and DPD agree Click and Collect tie up

The Post Office has announced a Click and Collect partnership with parcel delivery firm DPD.

It previously only had an agreement with Royal Mail Group for parcel collections directly at its branches, but has now opened up its network to external carriers for the first time in its 360 year history.

The service will initially be available at around 250 Post Offices this month before rolling out to approximately 1,500 branches across the UK ahead of the peak Christmas period.

We have today announced a new partnership with DPD to roll out ‘Click and Collect’ services across the UK – driving footfall for Postmasters and helping to contribute to the ambition of a ‘carbon free’ last mile for deliveries. See our press release https://t.co/z4tNbyxwNK pic.twitter.com/fv62nsdz6k
— Post Office News (@PostOfficeNews) August 16, 2021

3. Walmart boss praises tech and product teams as retailer reports Q2 earnings

Doug McMillon, President and CEO at Walmart, said: “Our tech and product teams have made a lot of progress modernising our technology and way of working.”

“We’re starting to see more examples of where one idea or one tech product can benefit more of our businesses, and faster. I’m really pleased about the work our tech teams are doing to unlock value across the business.”

Hear from Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on our strong Q2 performance. https://t.co/oFClMlGemB $WMT pic.twitter.com/fKxZTIMalK
— Walmart Inc. (@WalmartInc) August 17, 2021

4. British sellers make over £2.5 billion a month on Amazon

13,483 UK Amazon sellers now operate in the UK, making almost £2.5 billion a month in sales or 5.5% of the entire UK retail (including fuel) sector’s turnover in June, according to Thrasio.

Its research found that London leads the way, with £263 million in revenue generated each month, followed by £66 million in both Birmingham and Manchester, £28 million in Nottingham, and £14 million in Bristol.

The highest average revenues are made by sellers of books, clothing and pet supplies.

The most popular categories include groceries, DIY and tools, home and kitchen products and sports and outdoors. Nearly 5,500 sellers operate businesses in these categories alone.

5. Covid outbreak sees Amazon become bigger than Walmart

The New York Times is reporting that consumers spent $610 billion at Amazon from June 2020 to June 2021, based on estimates from financial research firm FactSet. In that same time frame, shoppers splashed out $566 billion at Walmart.

So, how did Amazon become larger than Walmart based on sales?

How did the latter, with over 5,339 stores in the US, fall behind Amazon when it only has a fraction of that number?

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the increase of e-commerce sales and that undoubtedly benefited Amazon.

However, according to Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon exec, the real reason why Amazon has overtaken Walmart is down to culture and mindset.