The Retail Times is a weekly newsletter covering retail tech news from Canada and around the globe.
Subscribe to R|T using the form at the bottom of this page to ensure you don’t miss out on the most important retail tech news every week!
New temporary policy to allow foreign workers to apply for work permit without leaving Canada (BETAKIT)
Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced a new public policy set to make it easier to apply for a work permit amid COVID-19.
COVID-19 pandemic accelerated shift to e-commerce by 5 years, new report says (TECHCRUNCH)
According to new data from IBM’s U.S. Retail Index, the pandemic has accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by roughly five years.
Farmers, food processors and indie retailers team up to ask feds to rein in big grocers (FINANCIAL POST)
Eight major industry associations are asking the government to create a grocery code of conduct to regulate relations between supermarkets and suppliers.
How TikTok could turn Walmart into an advertising powerhouse (FAST COMPANY)
By teaming up with Microsoft to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations, the e-commerce giant could take on Google, Facebook, and Amazon’s huge ad businesses.
Former Foodora workers reach $3.46M settlement with app’s parent company (CBC)
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers complained couriers were losing their jobs just as COVID-19 was spreading.
This startup aims to make e-commerce accessible for everyone (FORBES)
Consumers are now embracing online transactions more than ever. Unfortunately for the disabled, the limited number of accessible e-commerce channels excludes them from participating in the global e-commerce boom.
Reliance Retail to acquire Future Group’s units for $3.4 billion (BNN BLOOMBERG)
Reliance Industries Ltd. said it will acquire the retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing units of India’s Future Group for 247.1 billion rupees ($3.4 billion), in a transaction that will propel Mukesh Ambani’s ambitions to dominate India’s retail sector.
Virus lockdowns give major boost to e-commerce (ECONOMIC TIMES)
While large traditional retailers announce big lay-offs because of the pandemic, sometimes shedding thousands of staff, coronavirus lockdowns have in contrast given e-commerce a major boost.
E-commerce experts on how the industry can capitalize from a coronavirus-led boom in online sales (CNBC)
Online sales were boosted massively during stay-at-home orders in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but whether they can be sustained in a profitable way remains to be seen.