Rapid delivery and holiday shopping: 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. Including Just Eat, Getir, Chicago Town, Gorillas, Shopify, Banked, Contentstack, and London Dynamics.

2,000…Just Eat Takeaway.com is partnering with rapid delivery company Getir across Europe.

As part of this, the latter’s entire product portfolio will be integrated into Just Eat Takeaway.com's marketplace and will be delivered directly by Getir couriers.

The partnership will kick off in Germany next week, with approximately 2.000 items ready for customers to buy online from all Getir stores, through Lieferando’s app and website.

It will be rolled out to other European markets including the UK, Spain, Italy and France, in the coming weeks.

£1 million…London Dynamics, a provider of product visualisation and augmented reality solutions to retailers, has announced a seed funding round of £1 million.

The startup, led by Michael Valdsgaard, former SVP Digital Transformation at Ikea, has built a client list including Bremont Watches, Colnago and Crate & Barrel.

The round, involving a group of family offices and angel investors, will see London Dynamics bolster its brand presence, sales and customer services team.

30 and 36…Chicago Town has teamed up with Gorillas, offering UK consumers the chance to have its pizzas ordered, delivered, and cooked in just 30 minutes.

The partnership launches ahead of the 2022 World Cup on Friday 18th November across 36 Greater London locations. 

Acton, Battersea, Clapham, Hackney, and Tottenham are a few of the areas that Gorillas delivers to.

2,000 and 1,000….The Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday Report has revealed how consumers plan to buy differently this holiday season.

The study of more than 2,000 consumers and 1,000 SMBs in the UK - which is part of a global research programme surveying 24,000 consumers and 9,000 businesses in 12 countries -  shows a shift away from “stack them high, sell them cheap” towards high quality, durable products.

It also highlights how customers want to stay connected to the brands they love, even if they’re not currently in a position to buy.

152,000Unified customer intelligence startup Chattermill has analysed feedback from over 152,000 responses to some of the most popular fashion retail brands, revealing Asos and New Look as the ones with the best customer experience.

It looked at publicly available Trustpilot reviews, registered from 1st January 2021 to 4th September 2022, from customers buying at Asos, H&M, New Look, Next and Zara.

Asos has received consistently high scores over the past 12 months, while New Look is on an upward climb after a relatively low period.

The data indicates a significant decline in customer loyalty across the retail industry as a whole. The decrease can be linked to a rise in customer returns (and the hassle tied to it), complaints about delivery, and inconsistent product sizing and fitting.

$80 millionContent experience platform and composable architecture specialist, Contentstack, has announced $80 million in Series C funding.

Georgian and Insight Partners co-led the round with participation from Illuminate Ventures.

All three companies continue to grow their investment with Contentstack, contributing to a $169 million total raised thus far.

The company says it will use the funds to “continue supporting enterprise companies on their path to composable, empowering them to meet consumer demand for omnichannel and personalised experiences”.

€10 millionifeel, a startup providing an emotional well being service for companies, has raised an €10 million Series A investment led by UNIQA Ventures.

Nauta Capital and other investors also participated.

Born in 2017, the company has combined data analytics and clinical research by psychologists on its platform to provide employees with a way to manage their emotional well being, from self-care to therapy sessions. 

Clients include Glovo, Gympass, and Thoughtworks.

$15 millionBanked, a London-based FinTech company building a global payment network, has raised over $15 million in a Series A extension round, led by Insight Partners.

The round was supported by Citi and National Australia Bank Ventures. Newly announced commercial partner and payments firm Rapyd also participated.

The extension came as a result of an oversubscribed Series A earlier this year that was led by Bank of America. This latest infusion of capital brings Banked’s total investment raised to date to over $50 million and  supports the company’s expansion into new geographies with a focus on the US. 

£1 millionAmbl – a platform matching diners and drinkers with hospitality venue availability - has closed a £1 million funding raise and officially launched.

Founded in 2021, the London-based startup’s app geographically matches people looking for an immediately available venue, with real-time capacity within a 30-minute time window.

The investment has come from hospitality industry heavyweights including Paul McKenna, Jon Spiteri and serial entrepreneur Mark Gordon. It is Ambl’s fourth pre-seed funding round with total investment to date sitting at £2.3 million.  

68% of retailers agree that getting their omnichannel strategy right is essential for a successful holiday season, according to research from Avalara.

Despite shoppers forming new habits over the past few years, in-store experiences (53%) remains the most important touchpoint in the omnichannel shopping journey, followed by websites (49%), and marketplaces (44%) respectively.

That said, there is still a fair share of challenges to overcome, with 35% of retailers finding supply chain logistics (i.e. processing returns, managing customs requirements) and customer service fulfilment (36%) on holiday orders putting a damper on their holiday cheer.