Temu and Shein on fire as Amazon stumbles: 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 Domino’s Pizza, Uber Eats, Zippin, Verity, Simbe Robotics, Qualcomm Ventures, Ocado Group, and AEON.
4…Domino’s Pizza has entered into a new agreement with Uber.
This allows US customers to order its products through the Uber Eats and Postmates apps with delivery taken care of by the retailer and its franchisees.
The initial roll-out of the agreement will begin this autumn in four pilot markets, with ordering on the Uber Eats and Postmates apps anticipated to be enabled across the country by the end of 2023.
Uber Eats will be the exclusive Stateside third-party platform for Domino’s until at least 2024.
6 and 10…Zippin has announced the opening of six new checkout-free stores at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders.
These stores, launched in collaboration with Levy, the hospitality partner at Allegiant Stadium, represent an expansion to the existing four Zippin Lanes that were deployed last season.
The Allegiant Stadium has now become the first location in the world with ten checkout-free stores.
“Our partnership with Zippin quickly provided tremendous value for the Las Vegas Raiders," says Team President, Sandra Douglass Morgan.
"We had such success with our first four Zippin Lanes that we decided to expand our investment after just a few home games.”
“We're committed to being at the forefront of technology that delivers exceptional game day experiences and proud to be a pioneer with checkout-free technology as adoption continues to gain speed throughout the sports industry."
47%…UK consumers are beginning to lose faith in the reliability and convenience of home parcel deliveries, according to research from Quadient.
47% are worried that the way parcels are sent and received is not sustainable, and services will get worse and more expensive – citing experiences with missed or stolen deliveries; less safe neighbourhoods; the need to reduce emissions; and feeling pushed into unsatisfactory Click and Collect alternatives.
Consumers are open to alternatives to parcel delivery that can address these issues.
For instance, they are willing to use “trip chaining” – i.e. combining a journey to a shop, library or other local amenity with picking up parcels. Given the option, they would replace on average 47 parcel deliveries or pick-ups a year by trip chaining.
1 million…The rapid emergence of international e-commerce rivals has led to a significant drop in users on Amazon’s mobile app over the past seven months.
GWS research, involving 5,200 Brits, reveals that, since the start of the year, Amazon has lost over one million daily mobile app users in the UK. In January 2023 around 9.3 million daily shoppers used its app, a figure that has since declined to 8.3 million.
Temu, which launched in April 2023, saw its daily mobile user numbers grow sharply in one month’s time to around 3.5 million. However, since May 2023, its growth has plateaued with similar numbers of users on the app today.
Shein has also seen impressive growth in 2023, doubling its daily users from one to two million over the past six months.
-1.2%…June brought a decline in UK e-commerce revenue of -1.2% YoY, the 26th month in a row that growth has been negative or flat, according to IMRG’s Online Retail Index.
$11 million…Verity, an autonomous indoor drone company, has completed an additional $11 million investment in its Series B funding round.
This saw Qualcomm Ventures join a group of backers including A.P. Moller Holding, Exor Ventures, the venture capital arm of Exor (Ferrari, Juventus FC, The Economist), as well as existing investors including Fontinalis Partners, Airbus Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, ROBO Global Ventures and Verve Ventures.
€2 million…Coalescent Mobile Robotics, a Denmark-based provider of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for the retail industry, has closed a seed funding round with Superangel and EIFO as lead investors.
The cash, the exact amount of which was not revealed, will be used to develop the next generation of AMRs and expand into European markets.
$30 million…RADAR, a platform that combines RFID and computer vision technology to track and locate in-store inventory, has secured $30 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to date to $63 million.
The round was led by returning backer Align Ventures, with participation from RX Ventures, which is the corporate venture capital fund of South American retailer Lojas Renner, and several other retail investors.
RADAR plans to use the cash to expand its customer roster, accelerate its product development efforts, and hire engineering, product and sales talent.
1…Ocado Group and AEON have announced the official go live of their first customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in Japan.
This is now taking orders from customers across the Kanto region.
In April, AEON NEXT revealed its online grocery delivery brand, Green Beans. The service will offer a 50,000 SKU product range at scale as well as a smart cart function and one-hour delivery slots to customers.
A second CFC will be based in Hachioji, Tokyo. Further CFCs will follow, and the capacity will be served using a configuration of different sized facilities from the Ocado ecosystem.
The launch of the Honda CFC represents the first official launch of an Ocado CFC in Asia.
$28 million…Simbe, which leverages AI and robotics to provide retailers with real-time insights into inventory and operations, has announced a Series B equity financing round of $28 million, led by Eclipse.
“We're honoured to be supported by an investor like Eclipse, with a team that recognises technology's incredible potential to significantly enhance retail operations, as well as greatly improve the customer experience,” says Brad Bogolea, CEO and Co-founder, Simbe.
“Elevating the retail experience for everyone — retailers, their associates, and customers — through AI and robotics is the foundation of Simbe’s mission, and this funding will enable us to share this vision and reimagined experience with more retail partners around the world.”
$16 trillion…The total value of digital wallets transactions will rise from $9 trillion in 2023 to surpass $16 trillion in 2028, a growth of 77%, according to Juniper Research.
This will be driven by growth across both developed and developing markets, as the increased adoption of advanced services such as BNPL (buy now pay later), microloans, and personal financial management drives end user engagement.
€3.3 million…Algori, a data insights startup for the consumer goods vertical, has secured €3.3 million in funding.
The seed investment was co-led by Shilling Capital and Change Ventures, and joined by Flashpoint VC.
The round also featured several angel investors, including former Numerator board member and Infoscout CEO Jared Schrieber, who led Numerator to a $1.5 billion exit to Kantar.
It takes Algori’s total funding to €4.3 million.
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