Retail Technology Innovation Hub rounds up the key Covid-19 developments from last week. 

Online furniture retailer Made.com is looking into a stock market flotation that would value it at more than £500 million and possibly as much as £1 billion.

Private equity firm IW Capital has completed a £800,000 investment in the latest round of a £2.9 million raise for scan, pay and go venture, Ubamarket.

The three UK coronavirus lockdowns have cost non-food store-based retailers over £22 billion in lost sales, according to the BRC.

41% of UK retailers are expecting a Valentine’s Day sales boost, with an average 26% growth predicted, according to research from Barclaycard Payments.

Buy now, pay later specialist Clearpay is to become the principal partner of London Fashion Week.

The two-year deal, which kicks off this month, will see Clearpay team with the British Fashion Council (BFC) to offer shoppable moments and interactive concepts for consumers.

In 2020, the number of vacant units in the City of London increased from 174 at the end of 2019 to 255 at the end of 2020, according to research from the Local Data Company.

This was down to workers staying home during the Covid-19 pandemic and footfall falling across the district.

92.4% of Brits have visited an online store in the past month, with 85.5% making a transaction, according to research from Hootsuite and We Are Social.

This also finds that those of us aged between 45-54 and 55-64 are making the most online purchases during the latest coronavirus lockdown (87.5% and 86.1% respectively). 

UK online shoppers are sitting on a potential £2.4 billion of unreturned goods, as coronavirus lockdown restrictions make it significant harder to return unwanted items, according to research from InPost. 

Online marketplace notonthehighstreet has been bought by private equity firm, Great Hill Partners, for an undisclosed sum.

The deal comes after the venture – which was founded in 2006 – added nearly a million new customers and saw its community of hand-picked small business sellers rise four-fold in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic drove an e-commerce boom. 

Aldi Ireland has begun the roll-out of a new Click and Collect service.

The discount retailer’s first foray into e-commerce in the country, this will allow customers to order their shopping online at least one day, and up to one week, prior to picking it up for a fee of €4.99. 

Last month saw the highest UK online sales since the coronavirus pandemic began (+74% YoY), and the highest January sales on record since 2008, according to research from IMRG and Capgemini.

Ocado said it would stump up £700 million for new projects for its technology clients in 2021 as group sales in the year to 29th November reached £2.3 billion.

Brits were set to significantly increase their Valentine’s Day spend this year, according to research from Emarsys involving 2,000 people.

January saw UK retail sales growth decline to its lowest level since May of last year, according to research from the BRC and KPMG.

They increased 7.1% on a like-for-like basis from January 2020, when they had decreased 0.8% from the preceding year.

Holland & Barrett has completed the roll-out of its built from the ground up Bumblebee till system.

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