Sophie Baqué

Latest articles by Sophie Baqué

South Asia: Mothercare and Reliance Brands create a joint venture

On October 17, the struggling British retailer Mothercare (sales of US$355 million in the fiscal year to March 2024, down by 9% at constant exchange rates after a fall of 13% in 2022) and the...

25 October 2024

Web-to-store, drive-to-store: how to generate in-store traffic and build customer loyalty

Fighting for market share with pure-players, shrinking consumer demand, making retail rents profitable... As footfall keeps decreasing in stores, drive-to-store has become an essential lever for...

24 October 2024

Watsons, L’Oréal and Alibaba take the brunt of China’s flagging demand

Against a backdrop of slowing consumer demand in China, international beauty and luxury retailers are adopting a cautious expansion approach.

23 October 2024

Sensei completes a US$16.2-million Series A

As announced by mind Retail, Portuguese start-up Sensei, which specialises in AI-enhanced computer vision and sensor technologies to operate autonomous supermarkets, has just raised US$16.2...

23 October 2024

Didier Veloso, GS1: “At Decathlon and L’Oréal, the usages’ growth of QR code scanning is very encouraging”

As traditional barcode is reaching its limits, QR codes are proliferating on home-electrical, fashion and food products. Didier Veloso, Executive President of GS1 France, and Diana de Bernardy...

18 October 2024

With 10% of online sales, Yves Rocher launches a marketplace to round off offering

On September 23, beauty retailer Yves Rocher (660 stores in France, turnover of €1.2 billion in 2023 including 10% of online sales) launched a marketplace in France, powered by the Mirakl...

17 October 2024

Chatbot: between Castorama and ManoMano, the transformation capacity of GenAI can be doubled

Deployed over the past year on DIY websites and marketplaces, the integration of generative AI within chatbots has improved efficiency in pre-sales. Here's a look at the results from Kingfisher...

17 October 2024

Commercial rents fell by 3.5% in Tokyo in the 1st half of the year

According to Savills’ October 2024 report, retail rents for ground floor stores in Tokyo fell by 3.5% in the 6 months to the end of June 2024. This fall in rental values is explained by the...

16 October 2024

Faced with inflation and the housing crisis, Ikea sales fall for the first time in 5 years

While the restriction of purchasing power for the working classes continues unabated, even shaking up the political landscape, Ikea's sales fell by 4% in value and remained sluggish in volume in...

15 October 2024

Saudi Cenomi and GIB Capital launch a €245 million retail property fund

On October 8, 2024, in Saudi Arabia, mall developer Cenomi Centres (66 million visitors in H1 2024, 92.5% occupancy rate) joined forces with investment fund GIB Capital (a branch of Gulf...

15 October 2024

In the retail sector, M&A are expected to rise in the GCC in 2024

As online retailers are putting a rising pressure on omnichannel retailers, retailers located in the Gulf Cooperation Council are expected to see a rise in M&A transactions. According to the...

11 October 2024

Cécile Margnac, Snowflake: “Data clean room can add great value to retail promotional efficiency”

10 October 2024

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Agentic commerce : After Stripe, Mirakl partners with JPMorgan Payments

On March 10, 2026, Mirakl and JPMorgan Payments (JPMP) unveiled a partnership to deploy agentic commerce by combining the Mirakl Nexus agentic orchestration platform with the U.S. bank’s...

16 March 2026

Aroma-Zone and Najar reveal the behind-the-scenes of a strategic partnership

As the adoption of AI results in increasing cost volatility for companies, mind Retail spoke in Monaco with Christelle Glaszer, Manager of Indirect Purchases at Aroma-Zone natural beauty retailer...

13 March 2026

Online authentification : Prelude expands a “message free” solution globally

A competitor to Twilio, Vonage and Plivo, the French startup Prelude, which has 75 retail clients, is actively deploying Prelude Zero, an authentication method that requires no message delivery...

13 March 2026

Social media & age verification: Tech breaks the glass ceiling of precision

As an array of international governments restrict social networks access for teenagers under 15 or 16, new facial recognition technologies from Yoti, Persona and k-ID are making progress in...

13 March 2026

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Electronic labels: Hanshow accelerates breakthrough and signs with a leading British retailer

While the leader in electronic labels, Vusion exceeded €1.47 billion in revenue in 2025, rival Hanshow is stepping up a global offensive, winning a strategic account in the U.K. and a new POC for...

27 February 2026

Conflicts in the Middle East: what impact on the supply chain and European retail?

With US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggering a major crisis on February 28, 2026, retailers already have to face the closure of strategic trade routes, rising freight costs and import...

5 March 2026

BNPL: Between healthcare and retail, Scalapay accelerates a P.O.S. offensive with two major signings

Building on a strong foothold in fashion, Scalapay is strengthening in-store penetration targeting players in the healthcare sector. According to our information, the Italian BNPL unicorn has...

25 February 2026

Regulatory: With 200,000 Digital Product Passports issued, Darty scales up

While the European Commission is set to vote on delegated acts to specify requirements for home appliances, Darty is accelerating a Digital Product Passport (DPP) push by integrating new products...

11 March 2026

Profound raises US$96 million in Series C funding, becoming a first GEO unicorn

Founded in 2024 in New York by James Cadwallader, GEO startup Profound raised US$96 million on February 24, 2026, in a Series C round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, including Sequoia Capital...

25 February 2026

Agentic commerce : After Stripe, Mirakl partners with JPMorgan Payments

On March 10, 2026, Mirakl and JPMorgan Payments (JPMP) unveiled a partnership to deploy agentic commerce by combining the Mirakl Nexus agentic orchestration platform with the U.S. bank’s...

16 March 2026