Top 10: last week’s most popular retail technology articles

These are the RTIH articles that caught your fancy last week, including retail technology influencers, Metaverse Fashion Week, autonomous grocery stores, and a most amusing April Fools’ Day prank.

Currys launches range of hoverboards for hassle free commuting

As an April Fools’ Day joke, UK omnichannel retailer Currys said it was now selling hoverboards that fly up to 4ft in height.

A press release noted: “Thanks to ground-breaking new HovAir technology, our new hoverboards are designed to get people from A to B without having to battle traffic on the daily commute.”

It added: “Coming in a range of multiple colours, the hoverboards are looking like being one of this summer’s hottest trends, and are already flying off the shelves.”

Arf.

Selfridges launches ‘first meta department store in history of Web3’

As part of Metaverse Fashion Week, Selfridges unveiled a virtual department store in Decentraland, joining more than 70 brands, artists and designers in creating “a new experience at the intersection of fashion and technology’.

Triple Whale raises $27.7m to develop e-commerce operating system for Shopify brands

Triple Whale, an analytics platform for Shopify brands, has raised $27.7 million in an extended Series A, the company’s first announced funding round since its foundation in May 2021.

This consists of a $24 million investment led by Elephant VC, alongside a previously undisclosed $2.7 million seed round led by NFX, and an additional $1 million raised with participation from individual investor Shaan Puri.

Last week’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Featuring Walmart Canada, Kroger, The Hut Group, EE, and Hobbycraft.

RTIH Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers List: 40-31

The latest edition of the RTIH Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers List has arrived! Here are the people who made a splash in 2021 and are set for a barnstorming 2022.

Large appliances dominate Amazon seller revenues, but local consumer patterns emerge

Research from online consumer goods company Thrasio has found that large appliances on Amazon are driving the highest average seller revenue across key Western European markets.

Sodexo launches AiFi powered Eat>NOW autonomous grocery stores

Sodexo will bring eat>NOW autonomous grocery stores, high tech vending machines, and virtual dining concepts delivered by robots to campuses across the US this spring.