Boots ramps up its on-demand delivery service: presenting the retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Including Psycho Bunny, Snapchat, SkinCupid, YEEP!, OnBuy, Voyado, WorkWhile, foodora, Starship Technologies, Asda, and ReBound.
20 and 130...Canada headquartered men’s apparel brand, Psycho Bunny, has announced the opening of a store at the Queens Center Mall in Queens, New York. This marks a homecoming for the company, as it was founded in NYC 20 years ago.
Psycho Bunny now has over 130 stores worldwide.
“Opening a store in Queens during our 20th anniversary year is incredibly special,” says Kenny Minzberg, Chief Development Officer at Psycho Bunny. “New York is part of our DNA, and this location allows us to celebrate where we’ve been while continuing to build where we’re going. Queens is a dynamic borough that aligns with our brand’s spirit of individuality.”
1...Co-op’s recently launched app, Peckish, is making its festival debut at the Sky Presents Isle of Wight Festival this weekend.
The retailer has been serving festival goers at Isle of Wight since 2019 and this year operates two stores at the event. A Grab and Go store is located in Electric Ladyland with everything needed to help revellers ‘survive and thrive’ at the event - from cold drinks, meal deals and ice, to sunscreen and wipes.
This year, it also has a Click and Collect site at the Mellow Yellow Campsite for orders placed via the Peckish app.
That feeling when you realise you’re one day away from #IOW2025 🥳 #SkyxlOW pic.twitter.com/jHGMtEqgGw
— Isle of Wight Festival (@IsleOfWightFest) June 18, 2025
10,000...Boots has extended its on-demand delivery hours to midnight in select London stores, with the aim of making it easier for customers to get health and beauty essentials when they need them most.
Nearly 10,000 products are available in as little as 20 minutes via Uber Eats and Deliveroo.
Paula Bobbett, Chief Digital Officer at Boots, says: “We know our customers’ lives don’t stop at 6pm, and neither should their access to essentials – whether that’s medicine for a poorly child, a forgotten gift, or an evening skincare top-up. By extending our instant delivery hours through Uber Eats and Deliveroo, we’re giving customers more flexibility and convenience when they need it most.”
Boots first partnered with Deliveroo in 2021 and connected with Uber Eats in 2023.
£4 million...UK-based online marketplace, OnBuy, claims that an AI technology deployment has unlocked an estimated £4 million of GMV for sellers on its platform since it was launched at the end of April, saving the business decades of manual effort and millions in operational investment.
The auto categorisation solution leverages an AI model and vector database technology to correctly categorise sellers’ products across over 6,600 categories. The aim here is to reduce the chances of products being incorrectly categorised.
To date, OnBuy has auto categorised over 20 million products – a task that would have taken a team of five people over 20 years to carry out manually at an estimated cost of over £4 million, the company claims. It adds that categorisation accuracy is now over 93% on average.
50,000 products that were first listed before the start of 2025 have been made discoverable.
$162.7 billion...Retailers are hemorrhaging $162.7 billion in lost margin each year due to in-store inefficiencies - a 27% increase from 2024 - and pressure is rising, according to a new study from Coresight Research and Simbe.
This highlights an urgent need to digitise stores using AI and automation, with the findings demonstrating how top retailers are closing the execution gap and why others risk falling permanently behind.
“Industry leaders are no longer asking if stores will become intelligent, but when,” says Brad Bogolea, CEO and Co-founder of Simbe. “Retailers need a real-time view of what products are on shelves, where they are, and whether they’re priced correctly. We built Simbe to help retail teams answer those questions - automatically, at scale, and without guesswork.”
£330 million...UK parcel delivery company DPD has announced a new investment of £330 million to build seven 60,000 sq ft distribution centres in the next two years.
This will see the firm deliver the 50th new build distribution centre as part of a programme to strengthen its nationwide network of over 80 regional parcel centres.
Work will begin on new DCs in Crawley and Darlington this year, Cambridge, Bradford, Guildford, Milton Keynes and Sittingbourne in 2026 with all seven facilities operational by early 2027.
The new fully automated sortation facilities will each be capable of processing up to 80,000 parcels a day, with capacity to accommodate over 100 new delivery driver routes to ensure the operation can handle the demand for DPD's services in each area with space to carry on growing for a number of years.
This saw Starship’s fleet of fully electric delivery robots delivering foodora orders, starting in Stockholm.
The robots pick up orders from foodora Market stores located on Högbergsgatan in Södermalm and Bangatan in Solna, with a range of up to 3km. Customers in these areas can order in the company’s app and have their items delivered within minutes.
And now the service in Stockholm has expanded. A further 13,000 households can now get robot delivery via foodora Market Solna, with more people in the area set to be added soon.
It was an honour to be invited to 10 Downing Street yesterday for @LDNTechWeek, where one little Starship robot met the Prime Minister, @Keir_Starmer, his Cabinet, and even Larry the cat! pic.twitter.com/58BEvGkFtk
— Starship Technologies (@StarshipRobots) June 11, 2025
SEK 3.5 billion...Voyado has secured backing from investment firm Viking, in a deal that puts its valuation at SEK 3.5 billion (approximately £260 million). This makes Viking its new majority shareholder.
Completion of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
“We’ve never tried to be everything to everyone - we build solutions for a sector we know inside out. That focus on retail is exactly what made Viking see the potential in us,” says Johan Bäckarlin, Co-Founder at Voyado.
Having gained traction in the Nordics, over the past 18 months Voyado has inked partnerships with several UK retailers across fashion and lifestyle, including Cutler and Gross, Pour Moi, Ellis Brigham, and Silver Cross. It says that it aims to scale further in the UK by providing retailers with AI driven solutions for loyalty, personalisation, and product discovery, all tailored specifically for the retail sector.
$23 million...WorkWhile, an AI powered platform that matches businesses with hourly workers, has raised $23 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Rethink Impact, with participation from previous investors Khosla Ventures and Reach Capital. Citi Impact Fund, GingerBread Capital, and Illumen Capital also joined.
The company has also announced that board member Simon Khalaf, former CEO of FinTech and payment solutions company Marqeta, is coming onboard as Chief Operating Officer. He is joined by several other key hires, including Cyrus Akrami (CRO), Madhu Jagannathan (CFO), and Davis Waddell (Global Strategic Partnerships).
"A full 80.5 million Americans are hourly workers, which makes up 55% of all workers, yet both businesses and workers lack a modern mechanism to connect and adapt. We're devoting all of our resources, energy, and vision to change this," says WorkWhile Co-Founder and CEO Jarah Euston. "Using AI, we're not only transforming how businesses identify and secure talent, but also how workers find opportunities that fit their lives."
3,000...SkinCupid is gearing up to open its first flagship store, near London Oxford Street, as K‑beauty demand surges.
The 3,000 sq ft flagship, located just 100 metres from Tottenham Court Road underground station, marks a milestone for the UK’s fast growing Korean skincare retailer and taps into a booming £5 billion market.
SkinCupid, the UK-based Korean skincare platform, is preparing to open its first ever physical store. This will be located at Ilona Rose House, a new mixed use development on Charing Cross Road.
Announced via a TikTok video posted by the official SkinCupid account, the company revealed: “We signed the lease to our first ever flagship store in central London. It'll be 3,000 square feet, just 100 metres down from Tottenham Court Road station, and we've designed the whole space to feel like a home to all of you.”
1...Brooke Management Group, Robot.com (formerly Kiwibot), and Harbor Links Golf Course have announced the launch of the first autonomous food and beverage delivery robots on a US golf course. These have been operational at Harbor Links Golf Course in Port Washington, USA since a debut on 24th April.
The service features self-driving robots delivering fresh food and drinks to golfers throughout the course and driving range without interruptions.
"This is truly one of the most interesting initiatives that I have ever been involved with," says Kelley Brooke, President at Brooke Management Group. "To be the first to bring robot delivery to a golf course is thrilling, and the fact that we're launching it at Harbor Links makes it even more special. Together, we've created something that's going to change the way food and beverage service is experienced on the course forever."
£1.3 million...Asda is set to more than double its electric grocery home shopping fleet, taking it to 194 vehicles as the UK grocery giant invests in reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its business.
Rolling out this month, Asda will stump up £1.3 million for launching an additional 112 home delivery vans and charging points for its vans at stores across the UK.
By September, 21 stores across the UK will operate a fully electric home delivery van fleet. Across these 21 stores, the electric vehicles are expected to make over one million deliveries in the year to go.
With a range of up to 130 miles, they will help to save up to 1,700kg of CO2 emissions per year.
Home shopping driver Ronan from Asda Enniskillen was out on his rounds when he spotted a regular customer’s dog, Ruá, running loose along a quiet country road a long way from home.
— Asda (@asda) October 18, 2024
He stopped and, with gentle coaxing, he managed to get red setter Ruá into his van and then made a… pic.twitter.com/gzaixQkAYN
18%...New ReBound research highlights a growing demand for greener reverse logistics, with 18% of shoppers saying they are willing to pay extra to make their product returns more sustainable.
A survey of more than 5,000 consumers found that, while sustainability is a priority for many, the cost remains a key factor. Half of all respondents stated they are not yet ready to pay extra for more environmentally friendly returns.
The willingness to spend more to support sustainability is especially pronounced among younger consumers. 32% of those aged 16-24 reported being happy to pay a premium for greener returns. In contrast, 9% of those aged 55 and above felt the same.
Alexandra Romantseva, Global Marketing Manager at ReBound, says: “This data underscores the growing expectation among consumers, especially younger ones, that retailers offer more sustainable return options. Retailers don’t have to choose between affordability and sustainability.”
1,000...Parcel locker network, YEEP!, has hit its 1,000th live location with a new installation at a Motor Fuel Group (MFG) forecourt in Haverhill, UK.
This launched at the end of May at one of MFG’s high footfall sites.
“Crossing the 1,000 locker mark is a big moment for us, but what matters most is where we’re placing them,” says Noël Shapton, CEO at YEEP!.
“This locker isn’t just a number. It’s another step toward making delivery and returns genuinely easy for people, right where they already are - in this case, fuelling up, grabbing a coffee, or on their daily commute.”
95%...New YouGov research shows that 95% of Gen Z wouldn’t describe themselves as ‘impulsive’ when it comes to shopping, with ‘budget conscious’ (25%) and ‘thoughtful and considered’ (20%) coming out top - contradicting the view that they are a generation of shoppers driving fast fashion and frictionless consumption.
The research, commissioned by Snapchat UK and Portas Agency, explored the shopping habits of 2,000 Gen Z.. It found that they go through a period of discovery that blends real and online retail experiences - however, when they’re ready, 76% want to buy ‘exactly what they want, when they want, as soon as possible’.
70% find shopping more appealing when they can save or capture items they like to review and purchase later
57% said when shopping online, they leave things in their basket for days/weeks
53% people said it takes them over two days to decide to buy something
58% are inspired to buy something when they’ve had time to think about it and it feels right
35% find shopping more appealing when they are able to virtually try-on products
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