M&S rebuilds its digital muscle with Click and Collect return: the retail technology week in numbers

Do you like numbers? Do you like retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Including EE, American Eagle, Sydney Sweeney, American Express, Marks and Spencer, Faire, Specsavers, Liverpool FC, adidas, Xpand, and Alibaba.

2 and 3...EE has opened a new Experience store in Dudley’s Merry Hill shopping centre, the second of its experiential stores to go live in the West Midlands in the past year.

This is EE’s third such launch of 2025, following openings in Nottingham in May and Sheffield earlier this month, and forms part of the company's £3 million investment into bricks and mortar retail this year.

It features Experience Zones themed around four key areas - Game, Work, Learn, and Home - along with a Tech Home area showcasing the future of connected living. 

5...There are now just five weeks left to enter the seventh edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards, sponsored by Vista Technology Support, 3D Cloud, EdTech Innovation Hub, and Retail Technology Show.

Deadline for submissions is Friday, 19th September. FAQs, entry forms, categories etc can be found here.

The awards celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world. Check out our 2024 winners here.

Our latest winners will be revealed at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 16th October.

Key dates

Friday, 19th September: Award entry deadline 

Tuesday, 23rd September: 2025 finalists revealed

Wednesday, 24th September - Wednesday, 8th October: Judging days

Thursday, 16th October: Winners announced at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 16th October.

58%...Gen Z and Millennials are saving up and spending smart to afford their summer experiences, according to new research from American Express involving 2,000 Brits. This finds that 58% of Gen Z and Millennials in the UK are prioritising spending on experiences over physical products this summer, by embracing points and perks.

Social media is driving demand for experiences among younger consumers, with 43% agreeing that social content inspires their choice of summer experiences, such as music festivals, trips to the theatre and meals out.

While 47% want to visit a destination or attend an event immediately after seeing friends or influencers post content on social media, Gen Z and Millennials focus on quality over quantity. Three in five prefer to do a few things well rather than pack in lots of cheaper experiences (60%). Millennials and Gen Z are also spending responsibly, with 73% planning ahead to afford the experiences they want.

61% of Millennials tend to spend more on experiences if they can offset the cost using rewards and discounts, this increases to 67% among Gen Z consumers. This group is particularly eager for added benefits, with 48% believing that discounts via loyalty schemes deliver the best value, followed by being able to redeem points and rewards against the cost of tickets (36%). 

-8.96%...New data from pass_by shows that a downturn in American Eagle store visits has accelerated for the second straight week following the Sydney Sweeney ad controversy.

A jeans campaign featuring the actress has caused uproar since it made its debut a few weeks ago, as has Sweeney being outed as a Repubican supporter, with the likes of US President Donald Trump having their say.

Most recently, Dr. Phil McCraw has weighed in with his take. The TV personality appeared on last week’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, which saw the titular host say: "Sydney Sweeney came out as - not came out - she was exposed as a Republican. And she has the big jeans ad that was controversial. And they reported this like it was a scandal, [that] she's a Republican. I just got to say this is not where I want America to go. It is not a slur that someone is a Republican."

"For people to go crazy over that ad [that says] 'she's got good genes,' and for them to say that's the equivalent of the Holocaust, is an absolute insult," McCraw added. "Six million people were killed. Six million Jews were massacred and murdered, and they equate that to a blue jeans ad for a Hollywood actress? What an insult."

For the week of 3rd-9th August, American Eagle in-store visits were down -8.96% year-over-year. This follows a -3.90% drop in the week of 27th July - 2nd August, marking a significant reversal from the brand’s months of steady YoY growth earlier this summer.

While wider economic conditions can affect retail performance, this is the largest two-week drop American Eagle has seen in over a year, and it coincides directly with the cultural conversation surrounding the campaign.

“The size and speed of the decline points to more than just seasonal or economic trends,” says James Ewen, VP of Marketing at pass_by. “When a brand sees momentum stall so sharply, it often reflects a reputational or cultural factor cutting through to consumers.”

$3 million...Riva Money, a payments firm using blockchain technology with the aim of streamlining the movement of money, has raised a $3 million pre-seed round from Project A as well as angels from Revolut, Monzo and J.P. Morgan.

It will use the cash to expand its operations and roll-out globally, including Europe, Asia and North America, as well as expand its engineering team.

The startup was founded by Niklas Hoejman and Mahendra Katoch, two FinTech professionals with expertise in cross-border payments, who worked at Revolut and Wise, as well as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

Even while working for payment innovators, they saw how legacy systems still caused delays, inflated costs, and offered limited transparency, often making the client experience frustrating and opaque. As expats and regular users of international payment services, they also felt these limitations personally.

2.5%...UK total retail sales increased by 2.5% year on year in July, against a growth of 0.5% in July 2024. This was above the 12-month average growth of 1.9%, according to BRC and KPMG research.

With sales growth at these levels, it is barely touching the sides of covering the £7 billion new costs imposed on retailers at the last budget, the British Retail Consortium argues.

It says that, if the upcoming autumn budget sees more taxes levied on retailers’ shoulders many will be forced to make difficult choices about the future of stores and jobs, and ongoing pressure would push prices higher. Ultimately, this means more families struggling, particularly those on lower incomes, reduced consumer spending and a drag on economic growth.

Food sales did well in early July thanks to warm weather and a packed sporting schedule, though this momentum failed to hold for the rest of the month. Rising food inflation meant increased spending was more a result of higher prices than improved demand.

Fashion sold well early in the month, but deteriorated as weather worsened, while homeware and indoor furniture grew steadily, recovering from the previous year’s decline. Gaming and toys fared particularly well, as nostalgic adults purchased products like Lego.

£300 million...M&S has resumed Click and Collect services four months after being hit by a major cyber attack.

Susannah Streeter, Head of Money and Markets, Hargreaves Lansdown, says: ’It’s been a long slow journey to regain operational fitness, but Marks and Spencer has finally rebuilt its digital muscle. It’s clearly welcome news that Click and Collect services are back up and running after months of disruption."

"The recovery is a little behind the timeline set out back at the company’s AGM in July. However, the IT reboot and overhaul was also a chance to accelerate its digital transformation agenda, which is why it may have taken a little longer than initial forecasts."

"Shares rose by around 2% in early trading on Monday, an indication of slightly warmer sentiment towards the company. But they remain 13% lower year to date. Investors will want to find out the full financial impact of the disruption, with previous estimates that it could cost as much as £300 million in lost sales and operational disruption. It is likely that this will be mitigated by insurance claims and cost efficiencies made elsewhere." 

"There will be high hopes that M&S can put this highly problematic chapter behind it, and the early signs are that there is pent up demand. Its strong set of annual results showed the retailer was in a resilient position before the cyber attackers infiltrated systems."

"Sales growth in the fashion and home and beauty division reflected improved customer perceptions of value, quality, and style. Demand for M&S food remains robust, with increased volumes driving growth. So, with the underlying performance remaining solid, and the harmful cyber attack in the rear view mirror, it bodes well for M&S ahead.’’

14...Faire, an online wholesale platform which launched in the UK in 2021, is expanding into New Zealand and 14 additional countries across Europe, making its network of curated brands and business tools available to independent retailers across nearly 35 countries worldwide.

“Independent retailers are the heart of local economies around the world, and our mission has always been to help them thrive,” says Max Rhodes, Co-founder and CEO at Faire.

“This expansion doubles our reach across Europe and extends our community of retailers and brands into New Zealand - giving thousands more shop owners access to the products, tools, and support they need to grow. We’re proud to continue building a global network where local retail can flourish without borders.” 

The European expansion includes launches in Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.

10 and 80%...Liverpool FC reports a record breaking start to its new ten-year partnership with adidas.

The launch of the adidas designed home and away kits has been the most successful in the club’s history. The home kit outstripped sales of last year’s launch by more than 700%, with orders from 150 countries to date.

A total of 80% of purchases have been made via the club’s e-commerce platforms, and LFC’s flagship Anfield physical store had its busiest week ever at the newly refurbished outlet.

Reds players past and present came together to celebrate the launch of the new kits. Current players including Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Ceri Holland and Curtis Jones joined in an Alice in Wonderland inspired launch video, alongside greats such as Sir Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, John Barnes, Robbie Fowler and Jamie Carragher.

$6 million...Xpand, a retail technology startup building autonomous, AI powered stores, has raised $6 million in a funding round led by Ibex Investors and Emerge.

The company’s executive team, including Chairman and CEO Joel Bar-El, also participated. Bar-El previously co-founded Trax Retail. Other senior team members bring experience from companies including SAP, Retalix, Bringg, and Magic Leap.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv and founded in 2021 under the name 1MRobotics, the venture was rebranded as Xpand to reflect its shift from research and development to commercial deployment. The new capital will accelerate store roll-outs across Europe and North America and fund the expansion of the sales, marketing, and technology teams.

The launch of its first smart autonomous store in Vienna is in the works.

“With this new investment, we are ready to move from vision to global execution,” says Bar-El. “The Vienna store is only the beginning. Our leadership team is deeply committed to bringing scalable, autonomous retail to life.”

£5 million...Specsavers has announced a £5 million investment over a two year period to fund the expansion and upgrade of its Vision Labs manufacturing facility in Kidderminster, Worcestershire.

The site produces prescription lenses for more than 900 stores across the UK, and the upgrade will increase its production from 140,000 to more than 200,000 lenses per week.

The project brings environmental benefits such as reducing water consumption and more efficient use of electricity, and the aim is to streamline the manufacturing process as well as improve working environments.

20,000...Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform, Alibaba.com, reports that CoCreate Pitch, its product focused pitch competition, has received over 20,000 submissions ahead of its first application deadline on 15th August.

It says that these show how AI is increasingly empowering entrepreneurs to bring product ideas from prototypes to global markets, how women entrepreneurs are playing pivotal roles, and how Gen Z founders are focusing on solving real-world issues rather than merely chasing profits.

Among the submitted pitch ideas, 63.5% include plans to leverage AI or machine learning, and more than 400 projects directly incorporate AI to address real-world needs. The most common AI applications include speech recognition, image processing, and natural language processing. Notably, solopreneurs engaged in significant AI adoption to reduce costs and expedite product development.