News
Online apparel sales accounted for 27.4% of overall US apparel sales last year, up from 23.5% in 2016 and 20.7% in 2015, according to the most recent Internet Retailer Online Apparel Report published last week.
American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch and other apparel brands are investing in digital sales. Gap and Target have even introduced subscription models for children.
Fashion retailers dominated Internet Retailer’s 2018 Top 1000 list with 266 (more than any other category) making the list. That doesn’t include mass-merchant giants like Amazon (number one on that list) and Walmart (number three).
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Amazon has announced plans to acquire PillPack, an online pharmacy that sorts patients’ medications into personalized packets and delivers them directly to their door.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Amazon referred to the deal as a “definitive merger agreement.”
PillPack was founded in 2013 and has raised more than $120m in funding from investors including TechStars, Menlo Ventures and Accel.
This announcement follows one previously in the year where Amazon entered U.S. employee healthcare via a partnership with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan. This will be Amazon's first foray into the lucrative pharmaceutical market.
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Alibaba, the Chinese multinational e-commerce, retail, Internet, AI and technology conglomerate that delivers more packages than Amazon, is expanding its focus from primarily digital to brick-and-mortar stores.
As part of the move they are implementing what is being termed "New Retail" technologies to Chinese hypermarket chain RT-Mart and has so far completed transforming about 100 of its 400 stores. According to Peter Huang, CEO of RT-Mart, "New Retail has introduced a new way of thinking. By digitizing the store’s operation, the online and offline business merge into one".
For the one-hour delivery of orders placed through RT-Mart’s mobile app, in-store inventory is picked, then put on conveyor belts that carry shopping bags above the shop floor to where they are packed and readied for delivery.
Additionally, in-store shoppers can use the Mobile Taobao app to scan bar codes and place products in a virtual shopping cart. The transaction is completed with Alipay, the parent company of which Alibaba has a 33% stake in, and delivered to a residence in as quickly as 60 minutes.
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Unicorn, a term that denotes a young company which successfully reaches a $1bn valuation, was originally coined in 2013 by Aileen Lee, founder of VC house Cowboy Ventures. The term was made in reference to the fact so few companies achieve this mythical standing.
Having said that, Revolut is the latest startup to join the British unicorn club, following its $1.7bn (£1.2bn) valuation in May.
Unicorns are most common in the US, China and the UK.
As well as the initial valuation of over $1bn, the other criteria startups need to meet - albeit some of this is debatable - is:
- to be privately held (if a company has floated on a public market it is likely to have been valued over $1bn for quite some time.)
- to be independent (due to the fact a subsidiary of large companies have a much easier route to a $1bn valuation)
- to have not been acquired (see above point).
Of the British companies that have incorporated since 2010 seven have qualified for unicorn status: OakNorth, Revolut, BenevolentAI, Deliveroo, Funding Circle, Improbable and TransferWise.
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Monzo, the FinTech startup, has partnered up with TransferWise, the money transfer service, to offer international payments to its customers.
The UK challenger bank was founded in February 2015 and has grown exponentially since. It now has more than 300 employees and claims its 750,000 customers have spent over £2bn with their cards.
TransferWise launched in 2011 and, according to their stats, has more than 3 million users who transfer over £2bn every month across the 50 currencies that they offer.
Together they want to bring fairness and transparency to the banking sector.
Monzo will integrate with TransferWise’s API, to help customers send money in 16 currencies via their Monzo app.
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Smart cities are the way of the future and will benefit not only businesses and governments but also its residents. The technology that will help could range from increased security, thanks to the likes of HD Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled CCTV and parking optimisation, through to smart lighting and a fully WiFi-enabled town centre to improve connectivity. There could also be green initiatives, such as electric car charging and monitoring air quality via phones, to reduce pollution exposure by citizens.
With better living conditions for its residents, their numbers will swell and this will lead to an increase in businesses as demand for them grows, which in term will boost employment opportunities, all of which will benefit local councils through greater income from tax, which can then be reinvested.
So the question is how can this be achieved...
Connectivity is a major focus. City centres need to be able to offer high quality Wi-Fi connectivity, which in turn could allow businesses to provide more personalised services through apps and as well as mobile checkout facilities and click-and-collect, thereby being able to compete with ecommerce. It could also facilitate the connection between people living in cities and therefore build stronger communities, creating a better place for people to live and work.
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Dr Liam Fox, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Trade, has launched a new FinTech investment drive to attract more funding into the sector. Investment into the sector grew by 153% last year to £1.8bn.
As well as investment the drive will also create a steering board and work on building collaborations between academics, industry experts and businesses.
The steering board will be chaired by the City of London’s Lord Mayor, Charles Bowman, and firms including Zopa, Neyber, EY, Innovate Finance and Santander will sit alongside government, regulators and academics from MIT and Oxford University.
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Amazon is partnering up with Marriott International to launch Alexa Hospitality across select locations this summer.
The service will be available to guests upon request and can provide information on things such as spa opening times, as well as the ability to order room service and housekeeping.Thereby reducing the demand for a constantly manned hotel reception desk.
As well as this Alexa can be configured to allow guests to control in-room technology such as lights, thermostats, blinds and TV or radio preferences.
There is also the potential to create a temporary connection to the guest's account to provide a more personalised visit.
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Spearheaded by Capital Enterprise, a consortium including Tech Nation, Diversity VC and Your Startup, Your Story, are aiming to double the diversity of founders in London tech startups over the next two years.
The initiative is being supported by JP Morgan Chase and is focused on increasing investment for tech startups founded by women and people from minority ethnicity backgrounds.
The campaign aims to raise a total of £15.1m of investment for startups, and create 300 new tech jobs by working with over 50 venture capital firms, angel investors and tech accelerators across the capital.
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Uber is set to launch its electric bike sharing service across Europe this summer on the back of its purchase of Jump in April.
The news was announced by Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi at a conference in Berlin, where the scheme will initially launch before spreading to other European cities.
This forms part of Uber's move to improve relations with governments and local bodies, following issues raised about safety and regulations.
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