Mother’s Day boosts and live commerce milestones: 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 Drop The Walls, CommentSold, Zippin, Nosto, SikSilk, InPost UK, Sports Direct, Tesco, and Whizz.
$25 million…Drop The Walls, a women's fashion retailer, reports that it has achieved over $25 million in lifetime live selling GMV on the CommentSold platform.
The company was founded by Jeaneane Pennell in 2016 with a mission to “help women feel confident and embrace their individuality through trending and elevated basics”.
By adopting live selling, Drop The Walls says it was able to provide personalised and engaging shopping experiences, resulting in a loyal customer community.
With CommentSold’s turnkey live commerce platform, Drop The Walls optimised its end-to-end operations in order to streamline the order process.
By greatly reducing their workload, CommentSold’s automated features allowed Pennell and her team to focus on building deeper connections with their customers.
25% and 36%…Urban streetwear brand, SikSilk, says that it has seen a 25% increase in e-commerce purchases from on-site search and a 36% fall in site exits from its search pages since implementing new AI technology from Nosto.
It is now able to merchandise the products that appear in search results in line with inventory levels, while also increasing relevancy and preventing ‘dead end’ searches (in which no products or an incomplete list of products are shown).
5,000…InPost has announced a partnership with Sports Direct, enabling the latter’s customers to return parcels at one of its 5,000 lockers across the UK, without having to print a label.
They scan a QR code received to their phone at their nearest locker and leave their items in one of the compartments.
A spokesperson for Sports Direct says: “We are constantly looking for ways to improve our consumer journey and to create a seamless beginning to end product lifecycle. Our partnership with InPost will help generate a smooth process for our consumers when returning online purchases by using QR code technology.”
$3.4 million…Whizz, an e-bike subscription platform for last mile delivery drivers, has raised $3.4 million from Joint Journey, TMT Investments and a group of angel investors in a seed round of funding.
This brings its total fundraising to date to $4.5 million.
The cash will be used to fuel the company’s growth; upgrade the Whizz Automation Platform, its ERP system for business process automation; and set up new locations in New York equipped with lounge zones, bike maintenance and repair stations, and overnight storage facilities.
$8 million…Wallet Relationship Management (WRM) platform specialist absolute labs has announced the close of a $8 million seed fundraising round including Aglaé Ventures, Alpha Praetorian Capital, The Luxury Fund, Near Foundation, MoonPay, Plassa Capital, Punja Global Ventures, Samsung Next, Sparkle Ventures (Animoca Brands), and W3i.
The Web3 CRM offering, which is used by the likes of LVMH, MoonPay, The Sandbox, and Mocaverse (Animoca Brands), is enabling brands to leverage wallet data on public blockchains to gain deep data insights, build actionable segments, and automate cross-channel campaigns including NFT air drops, and nurture social community engagement.
2…IKI, the second biggest supermarket chain in Lithuania, has opened its second cashierless convenience store in Vilnius, following a pilot using technology from Pixevia.
The IKI Express 24/7 store is located on the landmark White Bridge in Vilnius that connects the old town to the main business district.
Part of REWE Group, IKI plans to have up to four autonomous stores in operation across Lithuania by the end of 2023.
With Pixevia’s technology, customers tap a payment card, phone or watch wallet, or a retailer’s mobile app at the store doors to enter.
They can pick items up and put them back with no need for any scanning. Inputs from shelf sensors and camera video streams are inputted into Pixevia’s AI platform, which determines exactly what each customer has selected.
It presents the entire list of items to customers in real-time, allowing them to pay with another tap of a card before leaving. The shopper gets a receipt before they depart.
Pixevia’s platform also alerts employees automatically about any goods that need replenishing on the shelves, and predicts the need to reorder stock.
5.1%…The wettest March in over 40 years dampened UK sales growth for fashion, gardening and DIY products, but stores were at least given a Mother’s Day boost, as last minute shoppers dashed to their local high streets and shopping centres to purchase jewellery, fragrances and flowers.
According to research from BRC and KPMG, UK total retail sales increased by 5.1% in March, against an increase of 3.1% in March 2022.
This is above the three-month average growth of 4.8% and the 12-month average growth of 2.6%.
Continue reading…