Retail

• [New] High-end vertical analytics in industries such as Healthcare, Retail, and Logistics are what will make Saas products global leaders in business solutions.
• [New] The European Commission is committed to meeting its Sustainable Development Goals and halving food waste per capita, at the retail and consumer level, by 2030.
• [New] Global electricity consumption has grown steadily for decades, but the rise in urbanization, corporate digitalization, and the electrification of cars and other utilities will create a new surge in demand for electricity.
• [New] Raising funding to pursue retail just felt like asking for money, raising money for e-commerce feels like offering an opportunity and it's the biggest shift in the world.
• [New] Hong Kong Digital Asset Exchange, the first digital asset exchange to combine both an online platform and a sizable physical store in Hong Kong, plans to launch a one-stop NFT (Non-Fungible Token) trading platform in the third quarter of 2021.
• [New] Reduction targets have been set, including Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3, which aims to halve per capita food waste at retail and consumer levels globally by 2030, as well as reduce food losses along production and supply chains.
• [New] We will see a rise of around 4.4% in the wholesale & retail trade sector in 2021 as restrictions continue to be eased, manufacturing will grow by around 5.7%, and the construction sector will grow by 6.7% by the end of 2021.
• [New] The level of retail disruption over the last year is equal to about five years of normal disruption.
• [New] The City of London Corporation will launch a new Covid-19 recovery grant on Monday, which will see SMEs from hospitality, retail, medical and leisure sectors able to apply for grants of up to £100,000 per business.
• [New] Leading industry analysts Forrester, Gartner, and IDC have predicted that the future of retail requires investment in holistic DTC strategies which embrace composable commerce with headless modular technologies.
• [New] Morrisons has become the first supermarket in the UK to ditch the sale of plastic bags entirely, announcing today its plastic 'bags for life' will be removed from stores and replaced with paper alternatives.
• [New] Consumer behavior and expectations have changed dramatically over the past year and brick-and-mortar retailers will need to adapt in order to survive and thrive in the years ahead.
• [New] There will be roughly 80,000 retail store closures nationwide in the next five years, impacting about 9% of all retail stores.
• [New] Gift cards from over 60 retailers including DoorDash, PetSmart, and major retailers will be available for purchase and for use in peer-to-peer transfer in the Bakkt App.
• [New] The online segment is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years due to the increasing number of online shoppers who prefer various e-commerce platforms over physical stores.
• [New] One in every 11 retail stores will likely close in the next five years, as shoppers continue to turn toward e-commerce.
• [New] Retailers will lose an estimated US$130 billion in cumulative revenue due to Card-Not-Present fraud between now and 2023; and the payment industry will be spending around US$10 billion yearly on fraud detection and prevention capabilities.
• [New] Just in time for baseball and summer BBQ season, Whole Foods Market will be the first retailer to offer consumers the latest plant-based innovation from Field Roast.
• [New] Whole Foods Market will be the first retailer to sell the Field Roast Signature Stadium Dog and will expand its Lightlife offerings to include Lightlife Plant-Based Italian Sausages and Plant-Based Breakfast Patties in all regions nationwide.
• [New] App stores provide developers access to a global customer base who shop at app stores with greater confidence because they trust that their app store purchases will be safe and secure.
• [New] Sweden's central bank will bring in banks in the coming year to test how its proposed digital currency - the e-krona - could handle commercial and retail payments in the real world.
• [New] The number of MFCs serving the grocery industry alone will grow from dozens currently to thousands within five years, as food retail continues to move online.
• Now available at Target stores in five states, the chain retailer plans to expand with EV charging at 100 sites across more than 20 states over the next two years.

Last updated: 15 April 2021