Technology news

Asia-based ecommerce platform Shopee intends to premiumise its beauty offerings, by increasing its focus on K-beauty brands.  Sales of Korean beauty continues to grow in Southeast Asia and Taiwan Korean beauty products remain as one of the top-selling products of Shopee.  The retailer has seen more shoppers searching and buying K-beauty brands on its platform, due to the popularity of K-pop c...

Reliance Retail has announced that it is extending the date to complete the purchase of Future Retail.  While waiting for the merger to be approved by the authorities, Reliance Retail is focusing more on growing its private label brands, while Future Retail has enhanced its digital capability with a two-hour delivery guarantee for online shoppers of Big Bazaar. Potential acquisition of Future R...

Amazon is on track to launch its first robotics fulfilment centre in the market by the end of 2021. 200,000 sq m facility If it stays on schedule, the new 200,000 sq. m. facility will open in late 2021. It aims to deliver a faster, more consistent experience for customers across Australia and is set to be the biggest warehouse in the country. As reported by 9News.com.au, the FC could theore...

Walmart-owned Flipkart will expand its online grocery operations to more cities in India, start voice search in English and Hindi, and make changes in its board of directors.  The online grocery market has grown rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this expansion allows it to compete with the likes of Alibaba-backed BigBasket, Grofers, Amazon and Reliance Industries’ JioMart. Flipkart’s o...

Amazon has launched a grocery store format in the UK operating under the Amazon Fresh banner. The 2,500 sq ft store is located in Ealing, London. Amazon Fresh is the first convenience grocery store to offer Amazon’s Just Walk Out Technology, used in its US ‘Go’ format, outside of the US. Amazon plans to rollout the concept by opening additional stores in the Greater London area. Amazon ha...

As part of their commitment to sustainability and zero carbon emissions, Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon have recently started to shift to electric vehicles for customer deliveries in India. Source: Amazon Stories India Flipkart targets transition to 100% electric vehicles in the next ten years Flipkart plans to have more than 25,000 electric vehicles by 2030.  It will be partnering with ...

Earlier this year, we outlined five global trends that will shape the convenience channel this year and beyond. Below are some case studies to show how convenience retail and technology are connecting further. Edeka opens automated store in Germany Edeka has opened a 24/7 automated convenience store at Renningens train station. ‘E 24/7 Karow & Sommer’ stocks 300 SKUs items and will gra...

During a year like no other, Ocado Group delivered a 33% year-on-year (YoY) increase in sales. 2020 saw the launch of the first international CFCs for Groupe Casino in France and Sobey’s in Canada. In 2021, seven partners will be live with Ocado’s technology with ten CFCs live worldwide. Ocado will continue to invest in the Ocado Smart Platform to attract new partners and find efficiencies. In...

The pandemic has triggered the decline of the beauty market in 2020, but key suppliers such as Procter & Gamble and L’Oréal are now expecting growth to return, through their online sales. L’Oréal: ecommerce to aid return to growth of cosmetics Although the total sales of L’Oréal has dropped for the full year of 2020, APAC is the only region that reported growth during the year.  This is mai...

A.S. Watson has reported some trends that will shape the future of health and beauty, and other retail channels in 2021. Offline + online strategy as the new retail standard The pandemic has changed the shopping habits of customers, evolving their expectations and desires.  Like other retailers, A.S. Watson Group has witnessed a surge in online shopping in 2020, but it was able to adapt qui...