UK Supermarkets Adopt Automated Solutions to Combat Labor Shortage

In 2023, it is anticipated that the availability of beef will decrease, leading Americans to seek alternative sources of protein and dietary staples. The USDA projects that the average American will consume 5.6% less beef in 2023, marking the largest decrease in consumption in almost four decades, as reported by Beef Magazine.

Scotland-based digital pharmacy Phlo has reportedly raised 10 million pounds (about $12 million) in Series A funding. The digital pharmacy will use the new capital to expand the reach of both Phlo Digital Pharmacy, which offers patients same-day delivery of medications in two British cities, and Phlo Connect, which provides healthcare providers with a digital infrastructure platform, Tech Funding News reported Friday (Feb. 3).

Now that Amazon has delivered its mixed fourth-quarter earnings results, the focus has shifted to Walmart, which is set to report its Q4 earnings Feb. 21 in what could be an inverse outcome of what its rival just booked. Where the eCommerce giant delivered 9% top-line growth for the year...

ShiftMed has raised $200 million to expand its digital healthcare labor marketplace. The platform, which connects healthcare providers with licensed nurses, aims to expand its national footprint across the healthcare market, ShiftMed said in a Monday (Feb. 6) press release. “Healthcare providers continue to struggle with access to credentialed workers...

Product returns as we’ve known it is getting an overhaul as retailers and payment partners find new ways of offering good experiences without losing their shirts. PYMNTS’ Karen Webster was joined by David Sobie, vice president of PayPal’s Happy Returns service, and Drew Cook, chief financial officer and head of operations at sustainable clothing brand Pact, for an episode of SMB-TV that explored the changes coming to retail returns.

China's Foreign Ministry said the craft was a lost civilian balloon, the same explanation it gave for a suspected spy balloon that drifted over the US.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly considering an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Friday (Feb. 3) that it is not known what part of the company’s operations would be targeted but that the FTC has been looking for years at how it treats competitors’ products on its platforms, how it deals with third-party sellers and how it bundles offerings with its Prime subscription service.

Inflation’s impact on the affordability of housing is putting the American dream of home ownership further out of reach for more consumers, with even renting now outpacing the financial realities of more people. PYMNTS has assiduously tracked the effects of inflation from the start of the current economic crisis,...

After closing the books on a better-than-expected fourth quarter but a harder-than-expected year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stressed that more work needed to be done in order to restore the brand to its pre-pandemic cost structure. “I think probably the number one priority that I spend time with the team...

Comfortable shoes, widespread product distribution and marketing are paying off for Skechers. The footwear and apparel brand has achieved four consecutive quarters of record sales and reached annual sales of $7.4 billion in 2022 — a total that was 18% higher than that of the previous year, Skechers said in a Thursday (Feb. 2) press release.

Continental nearshoring is driving a broad shift in both global trade and friction-free B2B payments. Supply-chain disruptions, prolonged “zero COVID” shutdowns in China, and soaring shipping rates, alongside widespread geopolitical uncertainty caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are combining to fuel a nearshoring trend as companies look to strategically diversify their operations in the hopes of avoiding overreliance on a single market or one that is hemispheres away.

The U.K.’s financial regulator sent out over 1,800 alerts last year to protect consumers from financial scams. In a Friday (Feb. 3) press release, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it required firms to amend or remove 8,582 promotions during 2022, a 14-fold increase from the previous year. The...

For an emerging market, Latin America is in many ways leading the global digital transformation of payments through endless innovation and new ways of partnering. This was the upshot of a recent conversation between PYMNTS’ Karen Webster and PayU Latam CEO Francisco Leon, who said the platform has not let up on investment in innovation in both cross-border and local payment methods, and it’s paying off amid an economic slowdown.

As grocers look to maximize convenience, curbside pickup is emerging as the fast and favorite method. This, as new grocers are popping up across the country, offering curbside-only models and no consumer-facing stores. Jim McQuade, CEO and co-founder of the first such retailer on the East Coast, Addie’s, argued in an interview with PYMNTS that this system is more convenient than delivery.

While mostly a retail and finance tool, receipt data has already proven it can save lives. Researchers in the United Kingdom published findings last month demonstrating the benefit of early disease detection using item-level data taken from loyalty cards. The paper, led by Imperial College scientists as part of the Cancer Loyalty Card Study, correlated higher purchases of over-the-counter pain and indigestion medication in women later diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Even small changes may reap cost-cutting rewards for small businesses seeking to weather 2023’s projected rocky road. Economic news over the past few days has felt grim. Grocers are seeing even their higher-income customers buy less, and interest rate hikes are influencing the shopping behaviors of the same demographic. Discretionary items such as smartphones are also experiencing record sales slumps.

PYMNTS research indicates consumers’ outsized perception of fresh food inflation disproportionately hurts brick-and-mortar grocers. Though online grocery may not be the novelty that it was pre-pandemic, consumers continue not to trust digital options as much as brick-and-mortar retailers for fresh foods. Consequently, when consumers overestimate inflation rates for fresh foods, traditional grocers feel the brunt of their consequent belt-tightening behavior far more than their eCommerce counterparts.

As food costs rise, consumers are turning to dollar stores to buy groceries. More than 20% of consumers purchase their groceries at stores such as Dollar Tree and Dollar General, CNBC reported Sunday (Feb. 5), citing research from Coresight. The report also points to a study published in the American...

Unbanked and Mastercard have partnered to accelerate decentralized finance (DeFi) card issuance in Europe. Through this partnership, the two companies will use their existing footprint in the United Kingdom and the continent to work with Web3 organizations to enable the issuance of cryptocurrency-powered card programs, the companies said in a Thursday (Feb. 2) press release.

Open banking can help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in more ways than one. In fact, from payment gateways to automatic invoicing software, a variety of Europe-based startups are using the technology to better cater to the needs of the SMB market. Payments Automation. Managing and tracking payments can be...