Omnichannel strategies and seamless shopping experiences: the retail technology week in numbers — Retail Technology Innovation Hub

£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. 

15…Startups tackling sustainability challenges have the chance to pilot their technology with Amazon, as part of the third edition of the online retail giant’s Sustainability Accelerator.

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.