This Weeks News
Week 17 - 2025
A New Era has Started: Radware Finds 57% of Online Shopping Traffic Now Bots, Not Buyers
Radware® a global leader in application security and delivery solutions for multi-cloud environments, today released its “2025 Ecommerce Bot Threat Report.” The report found that automated bots good and bad bots accounted for 57% of ecommerce website traffic during the 2024 holiday season. It marks the first time that automated, non DDoS generating bots drove more traffic than human shoppers, signaling a critical shift in the cybersecurity landscape for ecommerce providers and online retailers. (Source)
Otrium announces new automated warehouse - O-Mega Robot. Saving 400% space
Dutch fashion platform Otrium has announced the launch of a new automated warehouse, called the O-Mega Robot. According to the company, this AutoStore system has up to 400 percent better space utilization than traditional warehouses.
Otrium is an online fashion outlet that was founded in 2017, in the Netherlands. It sells older collections and excess inventory from 300 high-end brands for reduced prices. Brands include Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, for example. (Source)
Kering sales drop 14% in Q1 as Gucci woes continue
Kering said on Wednesday that Q1 revenue fell 14 per cent to €3.9 billion on a comparable basis, just below expectations, while Gucci sales dropped 25 per cent, also below expectations and continuing the downward trend from the fourth quarter, when Gucci sales were down 24 per cent.
“This confirms our understanding that the Gucci revival is yet to appear and will likely face a more difficult context, as luxury consumer demand softens,” Bernstein analyst Luca Solca wrote. (Source)
Asos sales dip 13% but losses narrow as turnaround takes hold
Asos has narrowed its first half losses and delivered a significant improvement in gross margin, reinforcing early signs that its turnaround strategy is beginning to take hold, despite sales continuing to fall.
The online fashion giant reported a pre-tax loss of £241.5m for the 26 weeks to 2 March 2025, down from a £291.1m loss in the same period last year.
Sales, however, remained under pressure, with a 13% drop on a like for like basis. The number of active customers fell 16% to 18 million, reflecting what Asos described as a “strategic shift” aimed at improving the profitability of its customer base. (Source)
Retail sales see biggest rise for nearly four years
UK retail sales rose at the fastest pace for nearly four years in the first few months of the year, after warmer weather helped boost sales in March.
Between January and March, sales volumes were up 1.6% from the previous three months, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which was the biggest quarterly rise since July 2021. (Source)