The Retail Times is a weekly newsletter covering retail tech news from Canada and around the globe.
Subscribe to R|T using this form to ensure you don’t miss out on the most important retail tech news every week!
Lightspeed reduces staff by 10 percent in suite of cost-cutting steps following Dax Dasilva’s return
Montréal-based Lightspeed Commerce has cut 10 percent of its staff and initiated a stock buyback as the company attempts to reclaim shareholder favour.
The cost-reducing initiatives are Lightspeed founder and CEO Dax Dasilva’s first moves since returning to the CEO job following a negative response to the company’s Q3 2024 earnings call in February.
Lightspeed share value jumped from $18.86 per share on market close Tuesday to $19.98 per share on Wednesday at 12:00 pm, a near six percent increase after the news dropped.
(BetaKit)
Amazon’s Grocery Stores to Drop Just Walk Out Checkout Tech
Amazon’s grab-and-go checkout system, Just Walk Out, has been a centerpiece of its ambitions to transform bricks-and-mortar supermarkets. Now Amazon is gearing up to open a new batch of grocery stores after an 18-month pause—and it’s ditching the technology.
Amazon’s pullback on deploying Just Walk Out underscores how the company is still fine-tuning its broader grocery strategy. It also shows the limitations of using Just Walk Out, which relies on cameras and sensors to track what people leave the store with, in larger-format stores.
Nuvei to be acquired by US-based Advent and taken private in $6.3-billion USD deal
Boston-based Advent has agreed to buy Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq-listed Nuvei and take it private in a deal that values the Canadian FinTech firm at $6.3 billion USD. The announcement comes two weeks after The Wall Street Journal first reported that the two companies were engaged in advanced buyout discussions.
For Nuvei, the deal comes about 3.5 years after it first went public in September 2020.
(BetaKit)
Indigo agrees to go private after sale to holding company
Indigo Books & Music Inc. has agreed to be taken private after agreeing to a sweetened offer from a holding company connected to its largest shareholder.
The retailer says its agreement will see Trilogy Retail Holdings Inc. and Trilogy Investments L.P. pay $2.50 per share in cash for the stake in Indigo they do not already own.
The Trilogy companies, owned by Gerald Schwartz, the spouse of Indigo chief executive Heather Reisman, offered Indigo $2.25 per share in cash in February.
Startup Open House returns to its roots after acquisition by MTL NewTech
Nonprofit MTL NewTech has acquired the rights to Startup Open House from Elevate and will bring the event back to Montréal this spring.
“An initiative like Startup Open House really represents us to the core of everything we try to do,” said Simran Kanda, executive director at MTL NewTech. “Part of it is just being involved, present, and supporting the ecosystem and the community, but also to help inspire new generations of entrepreneurs.”
(BetaKit)
“The stakes are high”: CCI report calls on feds, provinces to revamp approach to buying from Canadian tech companies
The Council of Canadian Innovators believes that improving Canada’s approach to public procurement could help address the nation’s “historic innovation underperformance.”
According to the report, in 2021, procurement amounted to 14.6 percent of Canada’s gross domestic product, while typically, procurement accounts for over a quarter of all public sector spending. As CCI noted, given the amount of money at play, “the stakes are high.”
(BetaKit)
TikTok Shop Chief: No Plans to Dial Back Shop Content
TikTok isn’t swayed by users complaining they’re seeing too much on their feeds from creators hawking products.
“I’m not considering” dialing back the amount of e-commerce content on TikTok’s For You page, said Marni Levine, head of TikTok Shop’s U.S. operations for small and medium businesses, in response to a question about user complaints at The Information’s Creator Economy Summit.
When TikTok launched TikTok Shop in the U.S. last year, the feature flooded users’ feeds with clips promoting goods to buy on TikTok, prompting complaints from some people that the ads were crowding out the entertainment they enjoy.
BetaKit Live: How Coinbase is growing crypto adoption in Canada
Coinbase announced it has obtained restricted dealer status from the Canadian Securities Administrators, making it the first international and largest cryptocurrency exchange to be registered in Canada.
In partnership with Coinbase, BetaKit is happy to present a live-streamed fireside discussion tackling the company’s focus on growing the opportunity for digital assets in Canada, the future of money, and Canada’s innovation opportunity.
(BetaKit)
Canadian Tire’s down year prompts zero bonuses for executives
Canadian Tire Corp. gave its top executives no cash bonuses for 2023 – a rarity in corporate Canada – as consumers pulled back on discretionary purchases and the retailer’s results came in well below expectations.
By way of comparison, last year chief executive officer Greg Hicks received $983,974 from the company’s annual incentive plan on top of his $1.25-million salary. In 2021, a year in which Canadian Tire blew through its targets, Mr. Hicks received a $2.6-million bonus.
Hard Knocks: Marcus Daniels on creating impact over activity in #CDNtech
In the first entry of Hard Knocks, a four-part series presented by Mantle where key players from Canadian tech share insights, war stories, and lessons learned, Highline Beta CEO Marcus Daniels believes Canadian tech is facing an “Old Yeller” moment.
Well, not entirely. To Daniels, Canada does a fantastic job cheering for its triumphs, even those he considers to be “superficial wins.” However, he believes the real test comes when things aren’t going well, and it’s time to pull the plug.
(BetaKit)