Physical firsts and rapid records: RTIH rustles up the retail technology week in numbers

Do you like numbers? Do you like retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Including MRI Software, Motorola Solutions, Poundland, Currys, Adore Beauty, Temu, Zelt, Archive, Just Eat, Red Ant, and Amazon.

1.4%...Footfall defied seasonal expectations, rising by +1.4% year on year in all UK retail destinations, according to MRI Software research overing the five-week period from 29th December to 1st February.

Despite heavy snowfall and two named storms, shopping centres led the charge with a +1.8% increase in footfall followed by retail parks (+1.4%) and high streets (+1.1%). The last time it rose annually in January was in 2016 (+1.2%), outside of the Covid pandemic period, and may well signal the year kicking off with a strong return to office as businesses encourage employees back.

Month on month, the usual post-holiday decline saw footfall fall by almost a fifth in all UK retail destinations. This was driven by a sharp decline in the second week of the month when schools and offices reopened, however it was likely amplified as heavy snow and travel disruptions affected much of the UK. High streets experienced the steepest drop in footfall from December to January falling by -22.4%, this was followed by a -21.7% decline in shopping centre activity, and by -16.5% in retail parks.

The return to office was evident throughout January despite adverse weather with weekday footfall rising by +1.6% compared to last year whereas weekend footfall fell by -3.5%.

$187.8 billion...Q4 revenue at Amazon came in at $187.8 billion vs $187.3 billion expected. Q4 AWS revenue, meanwhile, was $28.8 billion vs $28.8 billion expected.

Matt Britzman, Senior Equity Researcher, Hargreaves Lansdown, says: “Amazon delivered a knockout quarter, but a touch of softness in first quarter guidance has sent shares into a bit of a post-earnings wobble. It hasn’t missed earnings expectations since all the way back in 2022 and today was no different with a big beat on the bottom line."

Some of the softness in first quarter guidance looks to be a result of the stronger US dollar and the lapping of a leap year, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see shares rebound once markets digest the moving parts, he notes.

He adds: "Amazon showed its king of the cloud game as the only one of the three major cloud providers to deliver against expectations. AWS growth was key, and at 19% was in line with expectations, it’s important not just because it’s the foundation backing up the mammoth investment plans, but also because Microsoft and Alphabet are hot on their heels, trying to steal their cloud crown."

"Capex guidance will be key from the earnings call, and the final piece of the 2025 AI puzzle. Amazon's going all in on AI, from a souped up Alexa to AWS enhancements and custom AI chips, hoping to spark the next growth spurt. A strong investment forecast for 2025 would be a boon for the whole AI trade, especially since Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft are doubling down on AI investment."

Performance in the retail business (yes, Amazon does still operate as a retailer, you know) has been steadily improving ever since the launch of a major cost cutting effort, and the benefits are feeding down to the bottom line. Margins for the all important North American segment improved once again, with record breaking Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday sales proving that US consumers are still ready to splash the cash when the deals are right.

11%...Motorola Solutions has announced deployment of its VT100 body cameras to employees across Poundland stores in the UK. Since a pilot, the retailer has reported a decrease in incidents, including an 11% drop in violence against store employees and a marked reduction in shoplifting and theft.

“A safer environment for frontline workers and shoppers alike underpins everything retailers do,” says Neil Thomas, Corporate Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Motorola Solutions. “The VT100 empowers in-store staff with the information they need to decisively protect their employees, customers, and stores.”

Poundland’s Security and Loss Prevention team also an objective record of events to help conduct investigations. Poundland is using Motorola Solutions’ VideoManager digital evidence management solution to prepare, store and process video data, including the ability to tag and match body camera videos with CCTV footage and other incident data.

$30 million and $54 million...Archive, a technology company that powers resale businesses for the likes of The North Face, Oscar de la Renta, New Balance and Dr. Martens, has secured $30 million in a Series B round, led by Energize Capital, bringing its total funding to date to $54 million.

Other participants included returning investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, G9 Ventures and Capital F, as well as new backers Woodline Partners LP and Frontline Growth. The company also announced that Eileen Waris, Principal at Energize Capital, will join the Archive board of directors.

It will use the new funding to further develop its resale intelligence software, accelerate its global expansion, and invest in new product innovation and services.

9 billion and 1 bilion...Amazon says it achieved its fastest ever delivery speeds for Prime members globally in 2024, with over nine billion items arriving the same or next day around the world - and more than one billion items the same or next day in the UK. 

Some of the nation’s favourite speedy items over the last year were pharmacy essentials, including magnesium and baby wipes, and beauty products like mascara, hair treatments, and skincare. 

Amazon is investing in its logistics and delivery capabilities, with same-day delivery available for millions of products in over 80 towns and cities across the UK. It is also delivering more everyday essentials - the household and pantry items across health, beauty, baby, pet food, and more. Cadbury’s Crème Eggs, WaterWipes baby wipes, and HP ink cartridges were among the most popular items ordered in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Swansea, and Cardiff.

Top 2024 UK stats include: the fastest order delivered in the UK in the last three months was to a customer in Manchester, who bought children’s book ‘The Story Orchestra: Carnival of the Animals’ at noon and received it by 1:26pm

£2 million...Shopblocks, a UK-based specialist in digital commerce, has raised £2 million from NPIF II – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II), Mercia’s EIS funds, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and private investors.

This comes as Shopblocks rebrands to Symphony Commerce and launches a range of new features and functionality as it hones in on the global business to business (B2B) enterprise market.

Symphony’s platform allows wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers to create tailored e-commerce sites, customer portals and product catalogues. It aims to fill a gap in the market for a platform that can handle the scale and intricacies of B2B operations, such as managing complex customer pricing strategies, tailored discounts and personalised experiences across extensive customer bases. It integrates with leading ERP, finance and marketing software.

200,000...Currys recently hit 200,000 followers on TikTok, leading Niall McGarry, Founder at Fabric Social, to flag up "the work between our two teams that has been widely regarded as the biggest social media success story of recent times".

In a LinkedIn post, he said: "This is a true best in class example of a heritage business embracing the opportunity that consistently presents itself in the chaoticly disruptive era we now live through.  A platform specific approach, adopting trends in their infancy, an inate understanding of the venacular of now, and nourishing not managing when it comes to community, have all been instrumental."

McGarry praised an initiative that has resulted in 100 million + organic views, millions of likes, comments and shares, and countless endorsement opinion pieces on LinkedIn, international TV and radio coverage, which have all, in part, contributed to the overall health of the Currys business.

45...Just Eat Takeaway.com has announced an extension of its partnership with Interflora/Fleurop to Switzerland.

Just Eat customers in Switzerland can now order flowers and plants from 39 Fleurop stores in 10 cities, including Basel, Bern and Zurich. The tie up will be expanded to other Swiss cities in the coming months.

Lukas Streich, Country Manager at Just Eat Switzerland, says: “Our goal is clear - we want to offer everything a city offers on Just Eat, and deliver it within 45 minutes. We are continually expanding our business in order to make everyday life easier for our customers.”

1...Australian online retailer Adore Beauty has opened its first ever physical store, in Westfield Southland shopping centre.

It announced a shake-up of its business model last year with plans for a “high growth omnichannel strategy” that will target 30% revenue growth and a doubling of EBIT margin over the next three years. This includes opening more than 25 physical stores across Australia.

In a LinkedIn post, Dan Ferguson, CMO at Adore Beauty, said: "Felt goosebumps today (Saturday, 1st February) witnessing our online brand come to life offline in spectacular style. Our very first store at Westfield Southland is a truly exciting and fresh beauty retail experience lit up by a carefully curated selection of our amazing brands. It’s just the beginning of a national store roll-out and couldn’t have asked for a better start."

$6 million...Zelt reports a $6 million funding round led by Nauta, with participation from Venrex and Episode 1.

The company enables organisations to manage their whole workforce across the employee lifecycle in a single system, enabling them to simplify and automate people processes across HR, finance and IT functions. The cash will be used to expand its product set to include more areas of operations, expand to new geographies and add new and improved features to support customers.

44..Ten years ago, Red Ant commissioned a piece of research into how store associates felt about their roles, conducted by OnePoll. A decade on, it asked them to put the same questions to store associates in the UK and the US to assess how their sentiment has changed.

The key results brought a number of differences into focus, including:

Store associate knowledge – there has been a 44 percentage point increase in confidence in product knowledge (53% in 2015 compared with 97% in 2025).

Customer expectations - customers now expect even more from store associates: 77% expect them to find stock, compared with 66% in 2015; 65% expect them to provide more product information, compared with 45% in 2015; 63% expect them to make recommendations, compared with 47% in 2015.

Technology and training – there were two constants spanning the ten-year interval: Belief that technology has a positive effect on their role (74% in 2015, compared with 73% in 2025); Lack of training – store associates are still not getting full, comprehensive training (58% got less than half a day’s training in 2015 compared with 63% in 2025)

1...Temu was the most downloaded shopping app worldwide in 2024, as consumers sought options to address inflation, high interest rates, and economic uncertainty.

The platform’s success also reflects a growing consumer preference for one stop shopping experiences offering a wide range of products across sectors at competitive prices, according to Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2025 report.

“Consumers increasingly look for platforms where they can shop across sectors,” said the report, which analysed iOS App Store and Google Play data from 1st January 2014, through 31st December 2024. Temu’s “supply chain advantage allows it to offer free shipping and bargain pricing, resonating globally as consumers grapple with inflation, rising interest rates, and an uncertain geopolitical environment.”

According to the report, Temu ranked as the fourth fastest app launched in the past three years to reach 50 million monthly active users (MAUs) globally, achieving the milestone within eight months of its September 2022 debut.

Its pricing strategy is underpinned by a direct from factory model, connecting shoppers directly with manufacturers. By cutting out intermediaries, the platform maintains competitive pricing and operational efficiency. Since its US launch in September 2022, Temu has expanded to 90 markets, including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

According to SensorTower, it led retail app download charts in 15 major markets in 2024, including the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, the UAE, and the UK.