Here’s what happened in the retail technology space during May
RTIH takes a look back at an eventful month for the retail systems sector, including Retail Technology Show 2023, Amazon, Gopuff, Starbucks, Ikea, and Walmart.
Good month for…
Amazon opened its first physical clothing store, Amazon Style, in the Greater Los Angeles area.
The 30,000 square feet location is situated at The Americana at Brand shopping destination.
Customer engagement platform, MoEngage, raised $77 million in a Series E funding round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and B Capital.
Livestreaming commerce platform, Firework, secured $150 million in Series B financing, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Total funding to date is $235 million.
Retail Technology Show revealed plans to expand the 2023 event, adding 2,000 m² of exhibition space.
After attracting almost 7,000 senior retail professionals to the 2022 show and rebooking 82% of the exhibitors for 2023 on-site, Retail Technology Show will open up into Olympia’s National Hall (adjacent to the Grand Hall at Olympia that played host this year) in 2023.
Blackrock Capital Group and Mithril Capital Management Group announced a $110 million investment in robotic fulfilment and inventory optimisation software firm GreyOrange.
US-based rapid delivery firm, Gopuff, announced Bob Iger, former Disney CEO and Chairman, as an advisor and investor. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Bad month for…
Turkish rapid grocery delivery big hitter Getir was this month gearing up to cut 14% of its staff globally.
The company employs some 32,000 people in the nine markets where it operates, which works out to 4,480 people impacted by the downsizing.
Also this month…
25 years ago this month, Amazon went public.
Love them or hate them, you can’t deny the huge impact that Amazon have had on the retail and retail technology sectors.
Tesco teamed up with Uber Eats to help expand its Whoosh rapid grocery delivery service.
Made, an online retailer which designs and sells homewares and furniture, announced the acquisition of Trouva.
Shopify is to acquire Deliverr, an e-commerce fulfilment startup, for $2.1 billion in cash and stock.
Ingka Group, the largest Ikea retailer, is to invest more than €3 billion in new and existing stores by the end of next year.
Starbucks will launch its own NFT collections later this year.
During its fiscal Q2 2022 earnings call this month, the coffee giant said that NFTs can help Starbucks extend its concept of the “third place”, that is, a place between home and work where people can feel a sense of belonging over coffee.
The company as brought in Adam Brotman, the architect of its Mobile Order & Pay system and the Starbucks app, to help serve as a special advisor on the project.
Mexican fast food chain Chipotle is now accepting cryptocurrency payments through Flexa at its 2,950+ USA-based restaurants.
Chipotle will offer all the 98 cryptocurrencies Flexa currently supports, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and seven US dollar pegged stablecoins.
Grocery delivery big hitter Instacart submitted a confidential filing to go public.
Sevenoaks in Kent will host the UK’s first Amazon Fresh checkout-free store outside of London.
Carrefour UAE, which is owned and operated by Majid Al Futtaim, is to offer a sustainable alternative to plastic bags in response to new government policy banning the use of single-use plastic.
The retailer will provide plant-based bags made of starch at its checkout counters.
These will be available for 25 fils at Carrefour stores across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain from 1st June and in Dubai as of 1st July. They take less than six months to fully decompose.
Walmart is set to expand its DroneUp delivery network to 34 sites by the end the year, providing the potential to reach four million US households across six states – Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
The move provides the ability to deliver over one million packages by drone in a year.
Ocado Group announced the proposed acquisition of materials handling robotics startup Myrmex for approximately €10.2 million.
Fast fashion big hitter boohoo partnered with four female artists from the NFT community (Amy Kilner, Reem El, Aoife O’Dwyer and Shar.eth) to create an “affordable and inclusive avatar collection”.
Luke Bayliss joined autonomous retail specialist Trigo as Senior Operations Manager.
He was previously at Tesco where, over a 15 year period, he held such roles as Transformation Project Manager and Change Manager.
Tesco is an investor in Trigo.
Uber Eats launched two autonomous delivery pilots in Los Angeles with Serve Robotics and Motional.
Both of the pilots will initially deliver food from only a few merchants.
