Accelerating positive impact in the world. 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 RELEX Solutions, Forever 21, Zippin, QUIZ, and the 2022 RTIH Innovation Awards.
4…Now into their fourth year, the awards celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
We received a record number of submissions this year across 14 categories (you can find a full rundown of the 2022 shortlists here).
Our winners and highly commended companies were announced during a sold out event that took place in central London this week and was attended by retailers, tech suppliers, members of our judging panel, and sponsors.
So, without further ado, here is the 2022 RTIH Innovation Awards hall of fame.
Congratulations to our latest entrants!
€1 million…Pixyle AI has announced a €1 million seed funding round from South Central Ventures to aid its mission to connect retailers’ online audiences with the products they are really looking to buy.
Svetlana Kordumova, Founder and CEO at Pixyle AI, comments: “In search, understanding customers’ shopping intent is vital. We are laser focused on this using neural networks that train Pixyle’s AI algorithms to see and interpret images exactly how humans would.”
“For example, in e-commerce when site visitors are looking for a specific product to buy and type “short summer dress with flower print in purple and pink” in order for these kinds of dresses to be shown to the customers, in the catalogue they need to be tagged with length “short”, occasion “summer”, with “floral” pattern, and “purple” and “pink” colours.”
“It starts with building the right taxonomy. Having the right metadata associated with product images helps retailers capture everyday popular search queries as well as long-tail searches.”
“We’re trying to make online shopping as frictionless as possible, and hopefully a bit more fun and enjoyable by letting people easily find what they are really looking for.”
1…The newest club in US Major League Soccer (MLS), St. Louis CITY SC, recently opened CITYPARK, a 22,500 seat stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. This is the first MLS stadium to offer checkout-free shopping.
Those who attended the recent friendly match between St. Louis CITY2 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, experienced CITYPARK’s three Zippin powered stores, which are checkout-free and feature local food favourites, grab and go drinks and snacks.
CITYPARK says that it saw shopping times as fast as 10 seconds.
2 million…QUIZ expects to deliver over two million packages by the end of next year. Higher volumes of shipments inevitably lead to higher volumes of returns and, if not managed efficiently, this can become expensive and time consuming to manage.
To help it achieve its target, the company has extended its partnership with nShift.
50%…The British retail sector is bracing itself for a difficult year ahead, according to new research from Open Banking platform, Tink.
In a recent survey of 506 UK online retailers, half said they are worried about how their business will survive the next 12 months, with four in ten afraid of going bankrupt.
As consumers rein in spending, two thirds of retailers are expecting to see, or are already seeing, more abandoned baskets – particularly at the point of payment (64%).
Lower average order values (75%) and fewer repeat customers (67%) are also either expected or already being observed.
To adapt and survive, four in ten retailers have already or are considering cutting costs across the board – from reducing staff (49%) and training (55%) to advertising (52%), technology and online/website investments (48%).
Services that customers have come to expect for free are also under threat – with over half of merchants having already stopped or are considering stopping free delivery (53%) and free returns (54%).
€10 million and €100 million…Michael Falck, Mikko Kärkkäinen, and Johanna Småros, the three co-founders of RELEX Solutions, together with one of the Finnish retail tech firm’s first employees, Marko Nikula, have announced a new charity foundation, RELEX Foundation for a Better Future.
This has received a cash injection of €10 million and almost €100 million worth of RELEX Solutions’ stocks from the founders.
“It’s important for us to reinvest our success into causes that accelerate positive impact in the world,” says RELEX Foundation's Chairman of the Board, Marko Nikula.
“RELEX Foundation is on a mission to help build societies where people want to live their lives. We support and advance initiatives that preserve the environment, mitigate climate change, and drive more equal societies.”
12…UK same day distribution company, CitySprint, has partnered with Crisis, a homelessness charity, for the 12th year running.
Every year Crisis at Christmas opens its doors to people across the UK experiencing homelessness at Christmas to offer warmth, healthcare, food, and company.
Throughout their 12-year partnership, CitySprint has provided Crisis with over 100 vans.
This Christmas, in addition to the four vehicles they provide year round, CitySprint will also supply eight vans across the UK to help people move into safe accommodation, as well as to support retail shops and Crisis at Christmas Hotels and Day centres to deliver food and supplies for guests over Christmas.
As well as their ongoing logistics support, CitySprint donates £12,000 per year to Crisis on behalf of their customers in place of a Christmas gift.
This helps to ensure that people experiencing homelessness can be hosted at Crisis at Christmas centres across the country that offer food, medical, emotional and wellbeing support.
$15 million…Resale technology startup Archive has announced a $15 million Series A fundraise led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Bain Capital Ventures and several minority investors.
This brings the firm’s total funding to over $24 million. In addition to the raise, Alex Taussig, Partner at Lightspeed, will join the company’s board of directors.
This fresh instalment of capital will support hiring across engineering and brand success teams to help Archive continue to scale its technology and integrations, and accelerate upcoming launches across North America and Europe.
15% and 82%…The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has published its latest annual Payments Survey.
This reveals that in 2021, as stores closed for lockdowns and the public was advised to use contactless payments, cash usage fell to just 15% of all transactions (down from 30% in 2020), while 82% were made on credit or debit cards (up from 67% in 2020).
1,200…Scandinavian retailer Varner has chosen the Sitoo PoS and Unified Commerce Platform with the software set to be rolled out in 1,200 stores.
Varner, which consists of fashion brands Cubus, Dressmann, Dressmann XL, Bik Bok, Carlings, Volt, Junkyard, and Levi’s Store, employs nearly 8,500 people across Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark.
It says that it needed to find a new PoS solution capable of meeting constantly evolving customer expectations at speed, support them in providing excellent customer experiences, and that would easily integrate with its existing systems.
£100,000…A.F. Blakemore & Son is set to launch a SPAR Christmas campaign giving away up to £100,000 worth of prizes.
1…Forever 21 has launched the F21 Metaverse Collection, the retailer’s first metaverse inspired fashion collection, to mark its first year on Roblox.
This is available in stores and online and features hoodies and T-shirts, designed with elements from the brand’s virtual offerings and includes the real-life version of the Forever Beanie, the number one selling item in Forever 21 Shop City on Roblox.
During the month of December, this will offer a limited edition virtual accessories collection, launching one item each day that will be available for less than 24 hours.
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