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 Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Target, Tesco, Amazon, and Instacart.
27 million and 1,450…Tata Consultancy Services has helped Marks and Spencer (M&S) digitally transform its HR function.
TCS has been a strategic partner to M&S for over a decade.
For the HR transformation journey, its team built a cloud-based solution using the Oracle HCM suite.
As part of the programme, TCS migrated 27 million records of M&S employees working across 1,450 locations in the UK, and enabled “seamless, secure data connects across the landscape”.
The solution provides the workforce with anytime, anywhere, intuitive self-service capabilities. This allows HR operations teams to focus on other value adding activities.
35…Phil Jordan has announced plans to step down as Sainsbury's Group CIO and retire in March 2023.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: “Proud of my 35+ years in tech and grateful to have worked with brilliant people and for great businesses! #sainsburys #telefonica #vodafone #axa #boc #clarks.”
“Delighted that I will continue to contribute as a NED and Board Chair alongside enjoying all those things I have wanted to do but haven't had time.”
£5 million…Sainsbury’s has announced the launch of the Sainsbury's Innovation Investments which will invest a minimum of £5 million over the next four years into startup businesses commercialising technologies that look to reduce operational carbon emissions and water usage.
Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) will scout and invest into early stage companies, not limited to the Sainsbury’s supply chain, across a range of sectors.
The first investment is expected to be announced before the end of 2022.
$2.6 million…The Fashion Kingdom (TFK), an Egypt-based curated fashion, beauty and home accessories e-commerce marketplace, has completed a $2.6 million seed funding round.
68%…Non-traditional sign up products and services are likely to fuel the next wave of subscriptions, according to new research from Barclaycard Payments.
The company found that 68% of businesses currently offering subscriptions will expand their portfolios before the end of 2022.
This is being driven by companies in groups often less associated with this space. DIY & home improvement (76%), homeware & furniture (73%), department stores (73%) and technology businesses (69%) plan to launch new subscription offerings, all above the industry average of 61%.
12.1% of people in the UK have been the victims of payments fraud in the last four years, according to new research by ACI Worldwide.
Its report shows that online fraud and digital wallet hacks now account for 19.8% of UK fraud cases, while the number of those falling victim to confidence tricks has increased to 12.8% of all fraud cases.
New kinds of fraud, including digital account hacking, social engineering and identity theft have reached pandemic levels in the UK.
100 and 70…More than 100 Aldi stores and over 70 Sainsbury’s stores are now accepting the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card as a method of payment.
They join the likes of Marks & Spencer, Spar, Scotmid, One O One Group and Boots - as well as la number of independent retailers in communities across the country - in supporting the programme.
Customers can spend their regional card at Aldi and Sainsbury’s stores in the areas for which it is branded. It gets swiped at the till like a debit or credit card, with the balance automatically updated.
$1.8 million…Frolick, a US-based meal delivery company offering hot, chef prepared meals starting at under $10 with no fees or order minimums, has raised a pre-seed round of $1.8 million.
It will use the cash to help fund hiring, marketing and geographic expansion.
£4.99…Transport for London (TfL) and Hodder & Stoughton have launched the TfL Book Club.
This will enable customers to access a new eBook each month to read, including during their journey on TfL’s network, as part of a monthly subscription (£4.99).
2…Tesco is working on a second checkout-free GetGo store.
Self-service terminals will sit alongside an autonomous retail option when the location opens in central London in the near future.
The store in Chiswell Street (near to the Barbican) is fitted out with Trigo’s cashierless technology, which is a combination of check-in gates, ceiling cameras and shelf scales, as spotted by Toby Pickard, IGD Head of Innovations and Futures.
A Tesco spokesperson confirmed the launch to RTIH, but did not share an opening date.
Tesco’s first checkout-free store opened in High Holborn last year, following a trial at the grocery giant’s colleague store in Welwyn Garden City.
£8.99 and £95…Amazon is hiking the price of its Prime service for UK customers.
From September, monthly subscriptions will go up £1 to £8.99 and annual membership will increase from £79 to £95.
The price rise, Amazon’s first in the UK since 2014, is partly due to inflation, which is at a 40-year high.
10…Grocery technology unicorn, Instacart, has announced that Electronic Benefits Transfer and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (EBT SNAP) can now be used to buy groceries online in 10 US additional states – Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming – through its app and retailers’ Instacart Platform powered e-commerce offerings.
Albertsons Companies and Sprouts Farmers Market are among the first to accept EBT SNAP online in these states.
$200,000…Chipotle is launching a new interactive game called Buy The Dip that engages people in a stock market simulation to ‘buy the dip’ at its lowest point and gives away a total of $200,000 in free crypto.
You have to be part of the company’s loyalty programme to play.
Winners will get free cryptocurrency in the form of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Avalanche, Solana, and Dogecoin.
Promo codes will also be on offer for 1-cent guac and 1-cent Queso Blanco through to 31st July (National Avocado Day).
3 and 6…Target will add three new sortation centres in the next year - two in greater Chicago and one in the Denver metro - as it looks to “power even speedier delivery for our guests, while helping our teams work more efficiently and reducing our shipping costs”.
The new additions will line up alongside Target’s six existing sortation centres across the US.
73…EdTech startup, Multiverse, has partnered with Asos to extend the online retailer’s Data Academy and further develop data skills across its business.
Funded through the apprenticeship levy, 73 Asos employees have thus far been enrolled in the Academy.
1…The Tech At Boots team has showcased MongoDB in the first ever Innovation Station broadcast.
This is part of the Boots INNOVATE workspace, which launched last week in partnership with TCS at the retailer’s site in Nottingham.
