The six biggest retail technology news stories of the week
It’s Friday, the weekend is almost upon us, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here's your briefing on the most important stories from the past five days, including Amazon Prime, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Marks and Spencer.
1. Brits face significant Amazon Prime subscription price rise
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.
Retail analyst Natalie Berg said in a LinkedIn post: “it's an incredibly bold move to increase fees smack in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. But to many shoppers, Prime is indispensable.”
2. Instacart Co-founder Apoorva Mehta set to exit stage left
Instacart Co-founder Apoorva Mehta will step down as Executive Chairman and transition off the board of directors once the grocery delivery unicorn goes public.
“Since I transitioned from CEO to Executive Chairman a year ago, I realised that I want to pursue a new mission and I want to do it with the same singular focus that I had while building Instacart,” Mehta said on Twitter.
“Stepping off the board will allow me to do just that.”
He added: “Instacart has an enormous opportunity ahead and I have confidence in the team’s ability to achieve its full potential. Onwards!”
3. Sainsbury's Group CIO Phil Jordan discusses retirement plans
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.”
Jordan joined Sainsbury’s in 2017 from Telefonica where he was Global CIO and previously European CIO.
Prior to that, he spent a number of years in senior roles at Vodafone, including as CIO UK & Ireland.
4. Target boosts stores as hubs strategy with new sortation centres
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.
5. Marks and Spencer enlists Tata Consultancy Services for HR solution project
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.
6. Tesco GetGo store coming to Chiswell Street, London, powered by Trigo tech
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.
This one is also powered by Trigo tech. (NB: Tesco announced an equity investment in the Israeli startup in 2019).
During a preliminary results media call in April, Ken Murphy, Tesco Group CEO, said: “What we're learning is that the technology works really, really well.”
“Our partnership with Trigo's been really successful. […] We're now working on a hybrid model that allows customers to do either grab and go and completely frictionless or check-out on exit. We'll see how that works as well.”
