Cash makes a cost-of-living crisis come back: 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 Amazon, Olio, Ocado Group, Lotte Shopping, Adyen, InPost UK, Newcastle United, Ikea, and Fanatics.
2…Amazon has announced the expansion of its Just Walk Out technology at the University of Pittsburgh.
The launch of Pitt on the Go at the Petersen Events Center, in collaboration with Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services, marks the second deployment of the solution on the University of Pittsburgh campus.
“The University of Pittsburgh is fortunate to have a robust collaboration in place with Amazon,” says Pitt Athletic Director Heather Lyke.
“The addition of Just Walk Out technology to our fan experience at the Petersen Events Center is yet another way that the two parties continue to work together to drive innovation in collegiate athletics.”
1 and 6…Ocado Group has broken ground at its first Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) with South Korea’s Lotte Shopping.
Situated in Busan, this is one of six CFCs planned across the country.
Ocado Group said on X: “With 30% of the CFC's operations to be powered by on-site solar panels and a 100% electric delivery fleet, the Busan CFC will also make big strides towards generating more carbon-efficient operations in online grocery.”
It added: “When it goes live in 2025, Lotte's first CFC will make amazing new online grocery experiences available to c.2.3 million households across Busan and beyond. Next stop, Seoul!”
£439.5 billion…UK retail sales rose 4.3% to £439.5 billion in 2022, although this was largely due to rising prices resulting from increased costs throughout the supply chain, according to research by the BRC. The number of transactions rose from 17.2 billion in 2021 (47.2 million per day) to 19.6 billion in 2022 (53.7 million per day).
Average transaction value fell from £24.49 to £22.43, as consumers shopped around more and made more regular, but smaller, purchases. This reverses a trend seen during the pandemic, towards less frequent, bigger, shopping trips – as people tried to avoid going out as often.
Cash usage grew for the first time in a decade, rising to 19% of all transactions (from 15% in 2021).
This reflects a choice by many households to use cash to budget more carefully during the onset of the cost-of-living-crisis, as well as a natural return to cash usage following the move to contactless during Covid.
90,000…Health and wellness retailer Holland & Barrett has partnered with Olio, a food sharing app.
This supports Holland and Barrett to quickly and safely redistribute spare, good to eat food, including surplus from its new range of “food that loves you back” to people living nearby, lending a helping hand to local families who might be struggling and facing bare cupboards.
Olio makes this possible by pairing each Holland and Barrett store with one of its 90,000 food safety trained volunteers, many of whom will live just around the corner from the retailer’s stores.
Those volunteers visit stores at the end of each day and collect any spare food that’s nearing its use by date (but still perfectly edible). They take that food home, snap a picture of it and add it to Olio’s app, so that people nearby can request and collect it.
Also collected from Holland and Barrett through the scheme are ambient food products, including nuts and fruit, drinks and sports bars and powders.
As well as supporting local communities, saving food from the bin each day through Olio will positively impact the environmental footprint of Holland and Barrett’s stores. For each 1kg of food that ends up in landfill, 4.3128kg of CO2 is released into the atmosphere.
75%…Extreme Networks and Retail Systems Research (RSR) have released a new report titled ‘The World is Connected, The Store Must Be Too’.
This shows that retailers are most challenged by: creating innovative in-store experiences that meet consumer expectations; the increasing demands on network bandwidth and emerging cybersecurity threats.
However, despite 75% of respondents saying demands on network bandwidth were a major concern, the study found that the most successful retailers have leaned into Wi-Fi solutions to improve both in-store experiences and overall store operations.
32%…Manhattan Associates has announced the findings of a new study on Britain’s sustainable shopping habits in the lead up to Christmas.
The company surveyed over 2,000 people for this.
At a time when consumer spending is typically high, the fallout from the cost-of-living crisis has revealed that low costs are trumping both sustainability considerations and convenient deliveries and returns, indicating that cost will be paramount for more shoppers this holiday season.
32% of Brits aren’t actively looking for sustainable products or brands when shopping online.
This behaviour makes it clear that shoppers are now prioritising their pockets (even more so than shopping with brands who provide convenient deliveries and returns), proving that economic factors play a significant role when it comes to sentiments around sustainability:
£35 million…Ikea is investing over £35 million in the financial wellbeing of its co-workers across the UK through a combination of pay increases that it says reflect the true cost-of-living, as well as year end bonuses based on the retailer’s FY23 performance.
1…InPost has become an official partner of Premier League football team Newcastle United.
InPost UK has 6,000 out of home delivery options across the country.
This number is set to increase as Newcastle United supporters will soon be able to use bespoke parcel lockers at St James’ Park – the first in the country at a Premier League stadium.
Doffing a cap at the the black and white of Newcastle United, the specially designed parcel lockers will be located outside the iconic Gallowgate End, offering customers a city centre location, with InPost also having a number of collection points around Newcastle and wider Tyneside area.
£35 million…Ikea is investing over £35 million in the financial wellbeing of its co-workers across the UK through a combination of pay increases that it says reflect the true cost-of-living, as well as year end bonuses based on the retailer’s FY23 performance.
2…The Philadelphia Eagles are set to open two cashierless concession stores at Lincoln Financial Field this month.
After a soft launch on Sunday, the On the Fly Express Shops. located at the venue’s main concourse and Pepsi Plaza, will be in operation for all Eagles games moving forward.
This is the result of a collaboration with Verizon (which provides the 5G network underpinning the frictionless experience), and computer vision technology specialist AiFi.
Shoppers enter via an NFC reader at a turnstile and select their desired items, then exit, with payment automatically processed on the way out.
They can also register for a receipt to their email or a mobile app through a QR code.
Computer vision enabled cameras track items as they are picked up, put down, and taken out of the location, which triggers payment.
1,900…Finnish retailer, S Group, has entered into a long-term partnership with Adyen.
S Group offers everyday services at grocery stores, hotels and restaurants, department stores, service station stores, hardware stores and its own bank, with more than 500 million transactions annually.
The partnership will help it connect online and offline channels, providing customers with omnichannel experiences and loyalty programme capacity across its brand portfolio.
Adyen's platform will simplify setups at 1,900+ locations and online channels, enabling S Group to gain insights into consumer payment behaviour across all touchpoints.
5…Everton F.C. is celebrating five years of its equity and inclusion campaign, All Together Now, by launching an exclusive new clothing range, Respect, Celebrate, Empower.
Supporters can shop the range, which has been produced in collaboration with retail partner Fanatics, online and in-store at Everton One and Everton Two. The offering includes hoodies, T-shirts, sweatshirts and joggers in various colours.
100% of the net profits from the range will be donated to the football club’s official charity Everton in the Community.
The Respect, Celebrate, Empower slogan is being introduced as part of the five-year celebrations to serve as a reminder of what All Together Now stands for - and the impact it has made across the club, Everton in the community and beyond.
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