Omnichannel strategies and seamless shopping experiences: 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 Forrester, Taylor Swift, Superdrug, Roblox, InPost, Selfridges, EE, Aptos, MishiPay, and Amazon.
$4.4 trillion and $21.9 trillion…Total global online retail sales will grow from $4.4 trillion in 2023 to $6.8 trillion by 2028 at an 8.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), according to Forrester.
At the same time, however, 76% (or $21.9 trillion) of global retail sales will still occur offline in 2028. As a result, retailers must continue to invest in omnichannel strategies that provide a seamless shopping experience, both online and offline, Forrester says.
“The growth of online marketplaces, social commerce, livestream selling, and direct-to-consumer commerce will accelerate global online retail sales growth over the next five years,” says Jitender Miglani, Principal Forecast Analyst at Forrester.
“However, e-commerce maturity and growth opportunities vary vastly by region. Retailers and brands must therefore have a thorough understanding of the key drivers of retail and e-commerce growth in their priority markets and tailor their strategies appropriately, to succeed.”
3,177…In the run-up to the General Election, GlobalData Retail has surveyed shoppers’ voting intentions by their primary supermarket.
3,177 UK consumers took part in the research.
Labour voters are in the majority across all major supermarkets, except Waitrose, with Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Lidl and Aldi shoppers swinging from Conservative to Labour since 2019.
While Conservatives still lead among Waitrose shoppers, the margin has narrowed significantly.
Reform UK has pushed the Liberal Democrats into fourth position in all supermarkets except Sainsbury’s.
Labour is over 20ppts ahead at grocers with a value focus (Asda, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl)
£138.8 million…Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is forecast to give the UK retail sector a £138.8 million boost, as fans splurge on merchandise, outfits, accessories and the all important craft supplies.
Research from UK discount site, VoucherCodes, reveals that in the run up to the concerts fans will part with a total of £82.3 million in retail stores. An additional £56.5 million will be spent at merchandise retailers on the day of the concerts.
With Swifties desperately hunting for the perfect Eras Tour outfits, £31.5 million is expected to be spent on clothing alone for the tour, with another £15 million on accessories, £12.3 million on footwear and £5.4 million on makeup.
Craft suppliers are expected to do particularly well from the tour, with £3.5 million spent by committed fans looking to add some sparkle to their concert outfits.
On top of this, £2.2 million will be splashed out on friendship bracelet supplies, with Eras Tour attendees participating in the latest Taylor craze to make and exchange bracelets during the shows.
This means that on average each person attending The Eras Tour is forecast to stump up £145.07 at retail stores with £82.30 of this being spent on the day on that much needed merchandise.
£85..Algolia has published research showing how influential fashion, beauty and homeware social media trends are for UK consumers when searching for products online, especially amongst Generation Z and Millennials.
Involving a survey of 2,001 Brits, this reveals that online retailers are losing an average of £85 per customer due to poor online search function, leaving consumers frustrated and almost a third abandoning purchases before checkout.
This number rises to £113 among Gen Z shoppers and £87 among Millennials.
"Y2K", "streetwear", and "clean girl aesthetic" are currently the most searched for trends on social media platforms. This popularity is reflected in search volume, with Algolia’s research showing all three having a combined total of 19.5 million searches across their platform in February, March and April 2024.
But, there's a disconnect between online discovery and in-store purchases. 58% of consumers can't find Y2K products, 56% can't find streetwear, and 65% can't find "clean girl aesthetic" items directly through retailer websites.
Compared to other generations, Gen Z (58%) and Millennials (58%) are the most likely to use social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to discover and follow trends. However, a significant portion struggle to convert this interest into purchases.
1…Superdrug says it has become the first health and beauty retailer to launch in Roblox, with its new Superdrug Obby obstacle game going live this week to celebrate its 60th birthday.
This is available to play for a limited time and will be made up of three games themed around some of Superdrug’s own brand ranges, ProCare, Fruity and Solait.
Exclusive obbies will see players battle spinning electric toothbrushes, bounce across ProCare toothpaste tubes and fly across floss highwire, before moving onto the Fruity game.
The latter will challenge players with fruity shaped obstacles before they go onto vote for their favourite Fruity flavour. The final game is a Solait summer and travel themed obstacle game which quizzes players on their suncare knowledge.
On completing all three games, users will enter a virtual Superdrug store, where the 60th birthday celebrations will begin.
Players can explore the concept store, listen to the in-store DJ and get the chance to win Superdrug branded UGCs to dress their avatar.
Those who complete all games will receive a code to redeem a free Fruity shower gel of their choice in any Superdrug store nationwide.
400, 6 and 15…EE is introducing a new cloud-based PoS solution from Aptos in its retail stores. The aim is to enhance customer engagement capabilities and reduce the IT infrastructure footprint in each store.
Following a six week pilot across 15 locations, the software is being rolled out to EE’s more than 400 stores across the UK.
As part of the IT refresh across its retail estate, EE has upgraded to a newer version of Aptos’ PoS solution, delivered via SaaS, which will run on mobile devices that its employees can use throughout the store.
They will be able to complete all sales, service and operational processes from a single device, instead of multiple devices for different tasks.
EE has also removed fixed tills from each of its stores, allowing staff to have more personal conversations with shoppers, while also helping to reduce any potential congestion and queues.
This is a partnership with EIT Climate-KIC, a Europeans climate innovation agency, and innovation strategy consultants Founders Intelligence, part of Accenture.
The 15 startups from across Europe will benefit from a four-week programme featuring expert led workshops, specialised mentorship, a tailored curriculum and access to a network of entrepreneurs in the sustainability sector.
This year, for the first time, they also have the opportunity to pitch their technology for a trial in Amazon’s European operations, opening doors to future partnerships and Europe wide implementation, earning them up to £2 million each.
The companies span a range of geographies and demographics, headquartered across 10 countries and together employing more than 600 people.
From tackling issues arising from fast fashion, to reusable packaging and AI, they are focused on scaling their business in one of three categories: circular economy, energy in buildings, and packaging.
$15 million…Grubtech, a SaaS integration and unified commerce platform for F&B and quick commerce enterprises, has raised $15 million as part of its Series B and a Series A extension round.
The Series B round was led by the VC arm of Jahez Group, an online food and quick commerce marketplace listed in Saudi Arabia, with the participation of existing investors Addition and Oryx Fund, the MENA dedicated fund of Hambro Perks.
Grubtech was founded in 2019 with its flagship solution, gOnline, integrating online and in-store ordering channels into downstream systems like PoS, ERP, inventory, third party logistic and loyalty solutions.
It also has solutions to streamline in-store operations, fulfilment, and AI driven data analysis.
£6 million…Swiipr, a travel PayTech company, has secured £6 million in Series A funding, led by Octopus Ventures. This builds on seed funding of approximately £1 million.
Launched in 2020, Swiipr is being used by 26 airlines across 70 countries.
Over 500 million global passengers are estimated to be affected by flight disruption each year, costing airlines billions of dollars in payouts as well as significant customer dissatisfaction, reputational damage and regulatory fines.
Paper vouchers in particular are time-consuming to process and issue, fraud prone, notoriously retailer and passenger unfriendly, and environmentally unsustainable.
Bank transfers can take months to process, physical cash is insecure and expensive to handl at airports, and loyalty points and future travel vouchers are often unpopular.
Swiipr says that its integrated digital platform, including virtual and physical pre-paid compensation cards and a mobile app, give airlines the tools they need to solve these pain points for both themselves and passengers, whilst being fully compliant with the latest passenger rights regulations.
7,000…InPost, an out-of-home delivery and parcel locker specialist, reports a major milestone of 7,000 lockers in the UK.
Neil Kuschel, UK CEO at InPost, comments: “We’ve seen significant demand for InPost lockers and thanks to this latest 7,000 milestone, we’ve now achieved a substantial 40% increase in locations since March last year.”
“The locker market remains extremely strong, and we want to help our retail customers capitalise on this demand.”
“Our aim is that InPost is ubiquitous and that every store has an InPost locker, and every UK consumer uses our lockers as part of their daily lives. So, this milestone is a big deal for us as it means we’re one step closer to making that happen.”
12…Selfridges has wrapped a 12-month renovation programme involving the Beauty Hall part of its Oxford Street, London store.
In a LinkedIn post, David LEGRAND, Lifestyle Director at Selfridges, said: “It is with immense pride and satisfaction that I officially announce the completion of the beating heart of our London store: the culmination of a 12-month Beauty Hall renovation programme.”
“Our new architecture is game-changing, prioritising sight lines for clear views, better navigation, and enhanced accessibility. We’ve also installed a state-of-the-art LED lighting system designed for optimal shade matching and colour consultations.”
Each brand has crafted new, sustainably made counters, featuring dedicated spaces for large format digital totems.
The Beauty Spot, meanwhile, is Selfridges’ newest destination for the world’s most creative and experimental retail concepts. This is launching with an exclusive residency from REFY.
£3 million…MishiPay is raising a round on Seedrs. And one hour after investment opened last week, the company was 100% funded and hit its £3 million target from just 18 backers.
At the time of writing, it had reached £3,316,395 from 28 backers.
MishiPay’s self-checkout solutions are being used by 30 brands across 400+ stores worldwide, including Flying Tiger Copenhagen, MUJI Europe, Hudson, and Dubai Duty Free.
Continue reading…