All articles

Walmart and Instacart bet on AI agents to simplify basket creation
In the U.S.A., Walmart has partnered with Pinterest and Instacart with ChatGPT to simplify and speed up the creation of online grocery baskets. Details below.
12 December 2025
Laurent Hugou (Les Mousquetaires): “With Diebold’s camera system, shrinkage at self-check-out is reduced by a third”
Shift towards an omnichannel payment service provider, roll-out of mobile payment and Diebold’s computer vision solution for self-checkout, impact of one-click payment on online sales, adoption of...
11 December 2025
Price-fixing investigation: Swatch and Citizen under scrutiny in Italy
On December 9, 2025, Swiss watch groups Swatch (Tissot, Mido and Hamilton) and Japanese Citizen (Bulova, Vagary, Frédérique Constant and Alpina) were placed under investigation by...
11 December 2025
BNPL: Scalapay raises €70 million. Klarna now available in Apple Pay
On December 9, 2025, the European Investment Bank concluded a €70 million financing agreement with Scalapay, the Italian fintech specialising in 3- and 4-installment payments, already active...
11 December 2025
Shareholder change: Brevo becomes a unicorn through €500 million buy-out
After raising €140 million in 2020, CRM start-up Brevo, dedicated to SMEs, completed a buy-out on December 4, 2025. U.S. private equity fund General Atlantic and British Oakley Capital, each...
11 December 2025
Retail tech mapping 2025: 42% of start-ups already profitable, 53% aiming for breakeven within 3 years
In their final update for 2025 covering retail tech mapping, FDJ Ventures and France Digitale present new challenges for French retail start-ups. These include financing, slowing company creation...
10 December 2025
In the U.S.A., retail job cuts rise 139% in a year
According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a company specialising in employment trend analysis, in the U.S.A., 2025 has been tough for retail employment. The sector recorded 91,954 job cuts...
9 December 2025
Italian Golden Goose set for Chinese ownership
A year after the French children’s clothing brand Bonpoint was acquired by Chinese group Youngor, Italian luxury brand Golden Goose is next. British fund Permira (already owner of Hugo...
9 December 2025
Facing Temu and Shein’s offensive, Amazon cuts merchant fees
Asian marketplaces Shein, Temu and AliExpress, weakened in the U.S.A., are accelerating in Europe with very low, even zero, initial commissions.  Amazon, as the global largest e-commerce player...
9 December 2025
Refurbished smartphones: why Largo relies on Speeral automation
The start-up founded by the duo behind Teester and Skeepers is accelerating automation of second-hand product flows. The strategy is to use AI to direct products to high-traffic marketplaces such...
9 December 2025
With 7% of e‑commerce sales, Albertsons deploys an AI agent and prepares integration with ChatGPT
While Walmart and Target connected product catalogue to ChatGPT, Albertsons launches an AI agent on e‑commerce sites and hints at a future interface with OpenAI’s conversational platform.
5 December 2025
Customs duties: Costco sues the Trump administration
On November 28, Costco (net sales of US$267 billion in the fiscal year ending August 31, 2025 , up by 8.1% after 6% in 2024) sued the Trump administration, judging the tariff surcharges imposed...
5 December 2025
After Aldi, Anne‑Marie Gaultier joins Maisons du Monde
Late November 2025, Anne‑Marie Gaultier joined the executive committee of Maisons du Monde home equipment retailer as Executive Director. This appointment comes after the departure of...
5 December 2025
Leroy Merlin and Aroma‑Zone launch in‑store analytics pilots with XXII
French retail tech XXII, which aims to become the Google Analytics and Contentsquare of physical stores, has already signed with 15 retailers and shopping centres, mind Retail learned. A year...
5 December 2025
Boulanger partners with Valiuz and launches audio retail media format
Valiuz announced on Thursday 4 December the launch of a programmatic audio offering in stores, deployed in 95% of Boulanger’s home electrical stores. Developed in partnership with The Trade...
4 December 2025
Already in POC, Dialog’s conversational agent shows up in the search bar
Buoyed by a €3.8 million seed round closed in mid‑November 2025, French start‑up Dialog, specialised in AI‑based conversational e‑commerce, is accelerating. Initially placed on product pages, this...
4 December 2025
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Most viewed articles of the month on mind Retail
What readers clicked on the most last month.
What readers clicked on the most last month.
1
Shoptimus AI scales up in grocery smart shopping lists and prepares for a new funding round
After securing a strategic partnership with Spanish grocer Bon Preu, retail tech firm Shoptimus AI—first spotted by Carrefour—is accelerating a rollout. By leveraging AI agents to automate grocery...
11 January 2026
2
With Walmart, Ulta Beauty, Zalando and Carrefour, Google launches an agentic commerce protocol
Following the launch of payments in Copilot, Google is preparing to join OpenAI and Microsoft, but with a more integrated version focused on its own payment method, Google Pay. These moves...
13 January 2026
3
Circana: French e-commerce ended 2025 with strong growth, hypermarkets continue to decline
After four years of decline, volumes of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) rose again in 2025 in France and Europe, although they did not compensate for four years of losses. The rebound was...
4
2026 Trends – Chatbots, WhatsApp, social networks: don’t miss out on conversation
(Trends 2/6) After a cautious observation phase by retailers and some high-profile hallucination issues, 2025 was a turning point operationally for chatbots and conversational tools. Positioned...
13 January 2026
5
Black Friday: Amazon’s AI assistant Rufus featured in 38% of sessions in the US
While peak season sales, revealed at the NRF Big Show, rose by 4.1% in the US from November 1 to December 31, 2025, Rufus, Amazon’s conversational chatbot, confirmed its traction. During the...
15 January 2026
6
2026 Trends – How far should retailers open the door to AI Search engines ?
(Trends 1/6) With data visibility, recommendations, transactions on ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, LLMs are establishing themselves as new entry points for e-commerce. As search, comparison and...