RTIH brings you the retail technology week in numbers

Do you like numbers? Do you like retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Including Majid Al Futtaim, REWE Group, Trigo, Walmart, TAGR, and OLIO.

$1.15 million…Australia-based retail technology startup TAGR has raised $1.15 million.

Its scan and pay platform enables retailers to offer mobile checkout to their customers within a 48 hour period, with integration to their PoS system.

TAGR says that the seed round involved a number of investors, retail brands and high net worth individuals.

The capital injection will be used to build globally supported infrastructure and penetrate the US and North America markets come August/September.

Since its launch in early January, TAGR has bagged more than 10,000 users among a handful of stores.

1Majid Al Futtaim has opened the doors to its first brick and mortar CB2 store in Dubai, building on a temporary pop-up in Mall of the Emirates and offering a curated collection of contemporary furniture and décor.  

Located on level two of Mall of the Emirates, CB2 offers online ordering, same-day delivery and at home assembly.

200 million…In response to the cost of living crisis, UK-based free sharing app, OLIO, has announced plans to work with FareShare to save and redistribute 200 million meals over the next year, with support from UK businesses including Tesco, One Stop, and Planet Organic.

$1.5 million…Adwisely, formerly known as RetargetApp, an ad automation platform for e-commerce DTC brands, has announced a. $1.5 million seed round, led by TMT Investments with participation from Gaingels, Mana Ventures, Cabra VC, ICU Ventures, and a group of angel investors, including Wrike’s Andrew Filev.

€6 millionOmi, a French startup that specialises in SaaS software for modelling and rendering 3D photo and video for brands, has raised €6 million in seed funding.

200,000 and 11%…An increasingly diverse range of retailers are embracing self-checkout technology, from convenience with fuel firms to fashion chains, according to research from RBR.

2021 marked another record year of activity in this space, with 200,000 shipments globally. The global market grew by 11% last year, boosted by strong demand in Asia-Pacific.

£3 million…Workforce scheduling company, Rotageek, has closed a £3 million funding round led by Volution, Calculus Capital, and Gresham House Ventures.

The investment will enable it to scale, following the signing of retail clients including Caffè Nero, McColl’s, White Stuff, and Charlotte Tilbury.

2REWE Group has announced the upcoming opening of a second Trigo powered hybrid checkout-free supermarket.

Located in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany, this builds on a launch last year in Cologne.

Shoppers at the 400 square metre Schönhauser Allee location can walk in and shop for items including fresh baked goods, weighted fruits and vegetables and other grocery products, then exit the store and receive a receipt within minutes. 

A traditional checkout option will also be available.

45%…Retail employees are seeking better workplace technology solutions to manage their availability, holiday and pay, according to research by Fourth.

The company’s new whitepaper is built on two surveys.

One was of 502 retail workers in the UK, and the second was of 251 HR, digital transformation, IT, finance and operations decision makers at senior manager level or above in retail sector firms of 500-6,000 people.

When asked about the ways their company communicates essential information with them, only 45% of employees said that their business uses a HR platform. Others stated they receive information through written (37%) and/or verbal (34%) communication.

$10 millionKogniz has announced a $10 million investment led by Ulu Ventures to help bring the company's technology product suite that predicts, detects, and resolves key safety and operational problems to commercial, industrial, school, and governmental organisations.

67%Environmental charity Hubbub has launched ‘Reuse Systems Unpacked’, a report uncovering the challenges and opportunities for reusable food and drink packaging systems.

The research was funded by Bunzl and involved interviews with 40 organisations and individuals in the sphere of reusable food and drink packaging, from startups and small scale trials to big brands and events, as well as people in the fields of policy, academia and logistics, including Tesco, DEFRA, Just Eat and Abel & Cole.

Hubbub also commissioned polling across the UK to gather public opinion on the motivators and barriers to individuals engaging in reuse systems for food and drink packaging.

The survey of 3,000 people shows that 67% want to reduce the amount of single-use packaging they use when buying food and drink products.

51% of European retailers believe the primary role of the physical store will be an online-offline hybrid, with 64% citing challenges in differentiating themselves from their competition as the biggest barrier to delivering this experience, according to research from Scandit.

$4 millionPoS and omnichannel commerce solution startup XY Retail has closed a $4 million seed round led by Monta Vista Capital with participation from Stage 1 Ventures.

11.1% and 4.3%Walmart has taken a stake in Symbotic, amounting to 11.1% of the company’s total common stock and 4.3% of its voting power, according to a securities filing.   

The disclosure closely follows Walmart announcing that it will bring Symbotic’s automation technology to all 42 of its regional distribution centres over the next eight years, an expansion of a previous partnership.

79%…Consumers are spending less and are more selective with their purchases, while 79% say they were more forgiving about delivery experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

That’s according to new data from delivery experience platform Sorted.

37 billionQueue management platform firm Waitwhile has released a study that explores how frequently consumers are waiting in line, how they feel about this, and how brands can improve their customer experience.

In the United States alone, people spend roughly 37 billion hours each year waiting in line.

To better understand the consumer mindset around this, Waitwhile conducted an online survey of 1,202 adults in the US.