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 the 2022 Disney Accelerator, Farfetch, Walmart, boohoo, Klarna, Prime Day, and Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.
300 million and $1.7 billion…Prime Day 2022 results are in. As usual, Amazon didn't give total sales figures, but it did report that Prime members purchased more than 300 million items worldwide, making 2022 the biggest Prime Day in Amazon’s history.
Shoppers saved over $1.7 billion, more than any of these previous events.
6…The Walt Disney Company has announced the six companies that will be joining the 2022 Disney Accelerator.
This year's class is focused on building the future of immersive experiences and specialises in technologies such as augmented reality, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and artificial intelligence characters.
The Disney Accelerator kicks off this week. Over the course of the programme, each participant company will receive guidance from Disney's senior leadership team, as well as a dedicated executive mentor.
It will conclude with a Demo Day during the autumn at The Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, CA.
12…Online luxury marketplace Farfetch is revamping its Dream Assembly initiative after a two-year hiatus to focus solely on Web3 in partnership with European VC firm Outlier Ventures.
Dream Assembly Base Camp will provide a cohort of Web3 startups in the luxury fashion and lifestyle sectors with mentorship, networking, and support.
The remote 12-week programme will be tailored to each startup and will focus on digital fashion, tokenized loyalty, immersive experiences, and the creator economy.
Participating companies will gain access to Farfetch and Outlier Ventures’ network of mentors from the fashion, technology and Web3 industries, as well as investors, to support their future fundraising efforts.
4,500 and 10,000…Walmart has inked a deal to buy 4,500 all-electric delivery vehicles, beginning with the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV), from Canoo.
The retailer also has an option to purchase up to 10,000 units as part of its goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
1 and 3…Kyle Field, home of the Texas A&M Aggies, is set to become the first collegiate venue in the world to open stores equipped with Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and the Amazon One palm recognition and payment service.
Three checkout-free stores are slated to open this autumn so fans can use them during the college football season.
They will be able to insert their credit card at the entry gate or hover their palm over an Amazon One device to enter.
Just Walk Out technology determines what items shoppers take from or return to the shelves, and when they leave, the credit card they inserted or linked to their Amazon One ID will be charged for the items they took, with no checkout required.
45,000 and 33,000…Co-op and Starship Technologies have partnered with North Northamptonshire Council to roll-out autonomous grocery delivery to residents across Wellingborough, Higham Ferrers and Rushden in Northamptonshire.
The service starts this week and the partnership will see up to 45,000 residents in 33,000 households able to access on-demand delivery from four Co-op stores located in Olympic Way and, Northern Way, Wellingborough; Grangeway, Rushden and High Street, Higham Ferrers.
$30 million…Circular fashion company Circ has secured over $30 million in Series B funding.
This was led by the Bill Gates founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures with additional investment from new partners, including Inditex, Milliken & Company, and Lansdowne Partners.
€2.5 million…Stockagile has raised €2.5 million in a funding round led by Nauta Capital, 4Founders Capital, Angels, and Zone2Boost.
The Barcelona-based firm offers a cloud-based platform that enables inventory and sales management across all sales channels – bricks and mortar, online and marketplaces.
It will use the cash to enhance the platform’s offering and customer sales, as well as launch a new sales and marketing strategy.
£1.5 million…Retail integration platform Patchworks has received £1.5 million in funding from Gresham House Ventures.
$4 million…Wonder Robotics, a startup that specialises in the autonomous flight and landing of commercial drones, has closed a $4 million fundraising round led by Elron Ventures, in conjunction with Besadno Investment Group.
The cash will be used to scale up operation and marketing efforts, while developing technology for additional applications.
800 million and $6.7 billion…Buy now pay later big hitter Klarna this week announced a $800 million financing round, valuing it at $6.7 billion.
This featured new investors including Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, in addition to existing backers such as Sequoia and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Sounds great until you take in to account that, in June 2021, the company was valued at $45.b billion after closing on a $639 million round of funding, making it the highest valued private FinTech in Europe at that time. Ouch!
Michael Moritz, Chair at Klarna and a partner at Sequoia, blamed “investors suddenly voting in the opposite manner to the way they voted for the past few years”.
He predicted that “after investors emerge from their bunkers, the stocks of Klarna and other first-rate companies will receive the attention they deserve”.
61% of consumers think fashion retailers can cut rapidly rising e-commerce product return rates by including more post-purchase photos and videos from other customers, to help shoppers see how clothes look on ‘real’ people, not just models. That’s according to research by Nosto.
£1.99…Are online returns a problem to solve or an opportunity to embrace?
That was the question posed this week by Julian Burnett, Founder at Quercus Advisors and former Chief Information Officer & Executive Director, Supply Chain & Business Transformation at House of Fraser and Chief Technology Officer - Head of IT Strategy, Architecture & Business Process, John Lewis.
Burnett broached the topic as pureplay boohoo announced it had become the latest retailer to charge shoppers who return items. Customers must now pay £1.99 to send back products, with the cost deducted from their refund.
boohoo blamed the move on the rising cost of shipping. The likes of Uniqlo, Next and Zara also now charge for online returns.
120…Retail tech unicorn, Fabric, a specialist in robotic micro-fulfilment technology, is laying off over 120 employees, more than a third of its workforce, as it shifts its business strategy.
32,000…Public electric vehicle charging app Bonnet has announced a partnership with parcel delivery company DPD.
The tie up will provide DPD’s EV drivers in the UK with access to 32,000 charge point locations through Bonnet’s app.
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