Beating Brexit blues and Black Friday reimagined : RTIH presents the retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Including Kingfisher, Fortnum & Mason, eBay UK, Studenac, MINISO, Sensei, Ikea, and Ocado Group.
British Retail Consortium, UKHospitality, Association of Convenience Stores, British Independent Retail Association and ukactive are warning that businesses, jobs and the future of high streets are at risk without the measures.
They point out that the aforementioned sectors combine to pay more than £10 billion in business rates a year.
The inflation linked increase to the business rates multiplier will cost retail businesses £480 million and hospitality businesses £234 million. An end to current relief will cost hospitality £630 million and retail £750 million.
5…Visitors to Trafford’s White City Retail Park are now able to charge their electric vehicles while they shop thanks to the installation of five new ultra-rapid chargers.
All Be.EV members will also have exclusive access to this, free of charge, at this location for a week, from Tuesday 14th until Tuesday 21st November.
The project marks the start of a partnership between The Derwent Group, who operate the retail park on behalf of The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation, and EV charging network Be.EV.
€5 million…Last.app, a business operating system for restaurants, has secured a €5 million funding round led by Nauta Capital with participation from existing investors, All Iron and Bynd.
Last.app’s model as a restaurant’s operating system is designed to integrate with any type of software and hardware and offers a range of native modules, such as PoS system, online reservations, delivery hub, e-commerce, order and pay, and more than 200 integrations to various existing services.
The Spanish startup was founded in 2019 by Iván and Eric Nikolic who had first hand experience of the pains felt by the restaurant industry during their time at Glovo and used their knowledge to launch a product in 2021.
3…Luxury food and drink retailer Fortnum & Mason has, for the first time in more than three years, resumed its exports to the European Union.
It stopped its delivery service to the EU in March 2021 due to Brexit associated customs challenges.
$17.8 million…etaily has announced a $17.8 million Series A funding round as it scales its end-to-end e-commerce entry platform for brands to engage audiences across South East Asia.
This was led by Chinese and Taiwanese PE firm SKS Capital and co-led by Singapore’s Pavilion Capital.
Other investors were Japanese SBI ICCP Fund and Kaya Founders. The round also saw participation from the Magsaysay Family, Chan family, Foxmont Capital and JGDEV, the corporate venture capital arm of JG Summit Holdings.
etaily’s cap-table also includes other high profile SEA retailers and conglomerates such as the Ayala Corporation, the Cheng family behind the department store chain Landmark, as well as angel investors including Paulo Campos, former Co-Founder and CEO of Zalora and Anthony Oundijan, Managing Director and Senior Partner of Boston Consulting Group.
A series of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to UK police forces show parcel theft has risen 57% in the last year.
The average reported value of a stolen parcel is £66.50. Given 11% of UK households reported a parcel theft in the last year, the data uncovers a hidden economy of £206 million in stolen goods.
1…Kingfisher has launched what is pitched as the first AI powered assistant in the home improvement sector, harnessing the capability of generative AI to support customers with their DIY projects.
Launching initially at Castorama France, this answers customers’ DIY queries and provides step-by-step advice on a range of home improvement projects, as well as tailored product recommendations.
Customers can ask the assistant questions in natural language while shopping online – for example “how do I install a worktop in my kitchen” or “which saw should I choose to cut my worktop?”.
It will answer in a friendly and conversational way with relevant advice.
As well as conversing with customers via text chat, the assistant will soon be able analyse photos to perform visual searches and answer visual queries.
50%…This festive season, eBay UK is urging shoppers to consider pre-loved or refurbished goods, as new research from the online marketplace giant (involving 2,007 Brits) reveals that the cost of living crisis has left 50% of the nation holding off on deals throughout the year in order to make the most of deeper discounts this Black Friday.
Compared with other generations, the retail sale period is looking to be most popular amongst Gen Zs (16-26 year olds) where 68% predict they will make discounted purchases with almost two-thirds (62%) of them specifically considering making non-new purchases, suggesting a reimagined Black Friday is on the horizon.
£145 million…Ikea’s parent company, Ingka Centres, has bought its second UK shopping mall, in Brighton, for an estimated £145 million as part of efforts to bring its furniture stores into city centres.
It plans to convert an empty Debenhams site in the south coast city’s Churchill Square centre, about a third of which sits empty, into a new Ikea store which is expected to open within two years.
Peter Jelkeby, Country Retail Manager and Chief Sustainability Officer at Ikea UK & Ireland, says: “We’re delighted to continue expanding and investing throughout the UK to make it easier and more sustainable for people to shop at Ikea.”
“Sussex has long been an area of interest to us, and we really look forward to bringing Ikea closer to where our customers live, work and socialise and becoming a part of this vibrant community.”
1,200…Office-based employees of Studenac, Croatia’s largest retailer by store count, have been stocking shelves, operating cash registers and assisting customers in its network of more than 1,200 physical locations as part of a workforce engagement initiative.
The From the Office to the Store programme ran from June to September and gave board members and other managerial employees from headquarters a first hand view of the daily routines of their frontline staff.
2,700…MINISO has ventured on to London’s most famous shopping street. Located on 100 Oxford Street, its new store opened its doors to the public on Friday.
Spanning 2,700 square feet, MINISO's Oxford Street flagship store stands as the brand's largest retail space in the UK to date. It marks its 23rd store in the UK and third stand-alone high street location.
The grand opening was commemorated with a ribbon cutting ceremony featuring Sabrina Bahsoon, aka Tube Girl on TikTok.
1…Portuguese startup Sensei has announced its entry into Italy with the opening of the country’s first autonomous supermarket.
Located in Verona, the Tuday Prendi & Vai location was inaugurated on Wednesday 8th November, offering a shopping experience with no queues, or self-scanning or checkout processes.
Sensei, whose autonomous stores can also be found in Europe and South America, has partnered with the DAO cooperative, which has been operating in the retail sector for over 60 years and is present in the provinces of Trento, Bolzano, Vicenza, and Verona, where it manages the Conad brand.
Tuday Prendi & Go (in English, Grab & Go) in Verona allows customers to enter without any barriers, pick up the products they want, and leave without the need to go to a checkout counter and/or wait in line to pay.
It also marks the debut of technological developments made by Sensei to enhance the user experience.
In addition to eliminating barriers to entry into the store, it offers people the opportunity to review their shopping cart, updated in real-time, before leaving the store. At the payment terminal, after accessing their cart, customers can choose from different payment methods and pay by card or using the Tuday - Prendi & Vai app.
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