Crypto firsts and Covid hangovers: 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, Walmart, Starship Technologies, Grubhub, BitPay, Situ Live, and Sam’s Club.
$149.2 billion…Amazon’s net sales rose 12% to $149.2 billion in the fourth quarter, which was better than expected. Growth was entirely driven by North America and Amazon Web Services (AWS), while International sales fell 5%.
Operating profit fell to $2.7 billion from $3.5 billion a year ago. The decrease includes a $2.7 billion charge relating to the group’s restructuring efforts, including severance costs. AWS was the only division to generate profit, which came in at $5.2 billion.
Amazon said it had a record breaking holiday season in the US.
Sophie Lund-Yates, Lead Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: “As usual, it’s AWS carrying the entire team with quarterly profits in excess of $5 billion still not enough to stoke growth overall.”
“Amazon’s formidable web business is largely the reason for the above average valuation, but the reality is there’s a large hurdle causing a drag on group performance.”
“The retail operation grew too fast after the pandemic boom and volumes weren’t there to meet the new infrastructure. That’s an ongoing problem, and all the cloud magic in the world can’t distract investors from that truth.”
100…UK basketball team, the London Lions, has partnered with BitPay.
This will enable fans to transact with the club using more than 100 different crypto wallets and exchanges including Coinbase, Exodus Wallet and Trust Wallet.
Merrick Theobald, Vice President of Marketing at BitPay, says: “The London Lions realise the potential for crypto to transform the UK professional sports industry, making payments faster, more secure, and less expensive on a global scale.”
“Our goal is to make accepting crypto a seamless process and increase adoption as we believe crypto is the future of payments.”
20…Starship Technologies, a provider of autonomous delivery services, and Grubhub, a food ordering and delivery marketplace, are expanding their delivery service to Baylor University and East Carolina University (ECU) in the USA.
Baylor’s 20,000 students can order delivery from more than seven eateries on campus.
Starship’s fleet of 20 robots will deliver to the majority of buildings on campus, typically within minutes, and work in conjunction with student meal plan Dining Dollars through the Grubhub app.
At ECU, another fleet of 20 robots are providing deliveries anywhere on the main campus, including College Hill.
The deliveries to ECU’s 27,000 students are made possible through Grubhub and Starship’s partnership with ECU’s food service provider, and the service can be used in conjunction with students’ meal plan that integrates with their Grubhub account.
9,600…Mirakl, an enterprise marketplace SaaS platform firm, has released its annual report, Consumer Preferences in the Digital First Economy.
This second edition surveyed 9,600 global consumers regarding their preferences and habits when shopping both in-person and online.
86% of Brits say inflation has made them look for better value when shopping. As a result, 64% expect to move more of their spending online in the next 12 months.
New economic pressures are causing brands’ most loyal customers to reconsider their alliances in favour of finding better prices. 43% of survey respondents globally stopped shopping with a specific retailer as a result of rising prices.
17% continue to shop with the brands they trust regardless of price, putting pressure on brands that rely on loyalty from high value customers to take agile approaches to product and pricing strategy in order to ensure growth.
£1 million…Private equity house, IW Capital, has invested £1 million in immersive shopping platform, Situ Live.
Situ Live combines physical venues and a digital platform allowing brands to showcase their products and providing consumers with the ability to interact and experience the products first hand.
The firm then collects traffic and purchases intent data for brands whilst facilitating the direct connection between consumers and brands.
$300 billion…Robotic delivery startup, Serve Robotics, is inviting people to invest in it.
The target raise amount is $5 million, with the minimum investment being $1,000.
The firm’s website states that robotic delivery is a $300 billion untapped global market and adds that more than half of all home deliveries can be done by robots.
1,000…Secret Sales and Asos have announced a new non-full price partnership, where visitors to the former’s platform will be able to shop from an initial selection of up to 1,000 products from the latter’s owned brands.
This will include Asos Design, Collusion, Reclaimed Vintage, Topshop, Topman, and Miss Selfridge.
It launches initially in the UK, with all of the selected discounted items no longer being available on Asos as products will be housed on Secret Sales.
Purchases will be fulfilled by Asos using its existing fulfilment infrastructure and capability, including packaging and shipping.
30…Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart and a membership warehouse club, has announced plans to open over 30 new locations across the US over the next several years.
The first one, which is planned in Florida, is slated to debut in 2024.
In addition, the company will launch five new supply chain fulfilment and distribution centres in 2023, including automation, with the first location planned in Georgia in Q3.
It says that the decision to invest in expanding its physical footprint was motivated by historic comparable sales growth, and a record rise in membership over the last two years.
$2.4 million…Taiwanese startup, Rosetta AI, which specialises in fashion and beauty e-commerce personalisation, has announced the closing of its pre-A plus round for $2.4 million from the 500 Global Flagship Fund, for a total of $4.6 million raised to date.
The company’s solutions are at work in over 2,500 retail stores across Asia and drive a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of $3.5 million. Annual recurring revenue s $3.4 million with a 200% growth rate.
$150…Beginning on 28th February, Amazon will start charging delivery fees on Fresh grocery orders that are under $150.
This service is only available to Amazon Prime members who pay $139 a year to participate.
In a notice to customers, the e-commerce giant said it was adding fees to some orders so that it could keep prices low.
It’s a move that has been applauded by Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive.
823…Fujitsu has deployed its AI demand forecast service at 823 Marugame Udon noodle shops in Japan, operated by TORIDOLL Holdings.
The latter says it will now be able to accurately forecast customer numbers and sales by day and time for each shop, based on weather data and PoS data.
Fujitsu will help to optimise complex manual processes, including the ordering of products and food quantity planning, with the aim of delivering greater overall efficiency, helping to reduce food loss, and realise efficient energy management through the optimisation of staff allocation and air conditioning in shops.
Fujitsu will present this project at its booth at the Retailtech Japan 2023 event, which will be held Tuesday, 28th February to Friday, 3rd March.
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