Sophie Baqué

Chief Editor of mind Retail
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Most read articles by Sophie Baqué
Eric Meulien, Al Futtaim: “The next step in our roadmap is to replace the in-store POS system”
Operating in 18 countries and managing brands such as Ikea, Zara and Marks & Spencer, Emirati group Al-Futtaim (2025 revenue: US$9.7 billion, up by 6%) has a unique vantage point from which to...
Marketplaces: How Orange and Virgin Australia reinvent their value creation models
Looking to turn their audience into a commercial platform without having to carry the risk of holding stock, new verticals are entering the marketplace space, with new models designed to enhance...
8 October 2026
AI agents: the KPIs that led L’Oréal to scale up across its warehouses
After testing 7 AI agents in its warehouses, L’Oréal is scaling up. Deployed to coordinate picking waves, manage replenishment and handle stocktaking, Manhattan’s agents have helped cut several...
20 October 2026
Danone turns to AI to personalise marketing campaigns and test advertising in ChatGPT
AI is being rolled out across some marketing activities, while others remain in a testing phase. If campaign automation and personalisation are among the most advanced applications, visibility in...
16 October 2026
Latest articles by Sophie Baqué
NFT: Bouygues Telecom partners with Cohort to build customer loyalty
For a month, Bouygues Telecom has been using Web3 to build loyalty and commitment among environment-committed customers, in partnership with Cohort and 1,000 associations. mind Retail presents all...
15 September 2023
David Eichholtzer, Wam Agency: “With Google’s new SGE, the visibility game is getting tougher”
David Eichholtzer, Founder of Wam Agency, has been testing the Search Generative Experience (SGE), available in the U.S.A. via Google Labs. We asked him about the Gen Z's expectations in terms of...
14 September 2023
How retail professionals are adopting generative AI
The contextWhilst AI has been an integral part of retailers’ organisations for over 10 years, the deployment of generative AI marks a new stage. Since November 2022, when ChatGPT 3.5 was...
7 September 2023
Dubai: The sustainable label The Giving Movement is multiplying pop-ups
Eco-friendly clothing brand The Giving Movement, founded in April 2020 in the United Arab Emirates, announced the opening of a flagship store in Dubai in 2024. Currently at the Mall of the...
USA: Shein makes historic breakthrough in physical retailing
While the Republican Attorney Generals in 16 states asked the SEC to investigate whether Shein’s supply chain uses forced labour, the pure-player (US$23 billion turnover in 2022 via 150...
L’Occitane confirms that its owner is considering a takeover
After posting spectacular results for the three months to June (sales of €502 million, up 24.5% at constant exchange rates), L’Occitane International confirmed on 15th August that...
1 September 2023
Uber posts an operating margin for the first time
In Q2 to June 2023, the profitability of DoorDash and Uber Technologies improved, driven by stronger consumer demand for fast deliveries. DoorDash managed to limit losses in the U.S.A. and Uber...
Waste: Brussels wants binding targets for textiles and food
On 5 July 2023, the European Commission published a draft directive to reduce waste. Each E.U. country could be subject to a binding target to reduce food waste. By December 2030, the aim is to...
Auchan outpaces Jeronimo Martins as Portugal’s leading retailer
In Europe, the consolidation move continues amongst supermarkets. On August 3, Auchan Retail announced the purchase of 489 Dia stores (Minipreço and Mais Perto banners) plus 3 warehouses in...
Photovoltaics, electricity bills: retailers launch a green offensive
In the retail sector, the average electricity bill before the Ukraine crisis ranged from €20,000 a year for a specialist store, €80,000 a year for a supermarket and €500,000 a year...
India: Walmart reinvests US$1.4 billion in Flipkart
After scaling back operations in the U.K., Brazil and Japan, Walmart is strengthening control over Indian online retailer Flipkart. On July 30, 2023, the firm invested US$1.4 billion, buying the...
Automatic checkouts: Specialist retailers follow in supermarket footsteps
In the early 2000s, self-checkout (SCO) systems were introduced in France at Auchan and Casino, and in the U.S.A. at Kroger and Costco, operated by IBM Retail. Today, Intermarché has 1,600...
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What you absolutely must read this week
The essential content of the week selected by the editorial team.
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How retailers are reinventing the checkout
As pressure on household budgets continues, new payment methods including account-to-account (A2A) instant payments, Wero, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), loyalty points and cashback, are gaining...
2 November 2026
Julien Cailleau, Oney: “With 3 retailers, we are testing the use of Valiuz data to streamline financing approvals”
Against a backdrop of growing pressure on household budgets, the European CCD2 Directive coming into force and a new legal framework for assisted purchasing journeys, Oney is stepping up an...
29 October 2026
Advantail signs with Formality to streamline commercial lease management
Amid an ownership shake-up following its acquisition by Evoriel, shopping centre operator Advantail has signed with Formality to digitise the management of commercial leases and contracts across...
US retailers divided over the rise of autonomous shopping agents
In the US, Gap, Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon and eBay are taking very different approaches to agentic commerce. While TV shopping giants QVC and HSN see these new intermediaries as an opportunity to...
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
Eric Meulien, Al Futtaim: “The next step in our roadmap is to replace the in-store POS system”
Operating in 18 countries and managing brands such as Ikea, Zara and Marks & Spencer, Emirati group Al-Futtaim (2025 revenue: US$9.7 billion, up by 6%) has a unique vantage point from which to...
2
Marketplaces: How Orange and Virgin Australia reinvent their value creation models
Looking to turn their audience into a commercial platform without having to carry the risk of holding stock, new verticals are entering the marketplace space, with new models designed to enhance...
8 October 2026
3
How Maison A.Constant built a unified customer database with n8n
Eager to bring together customer data and improve data accuracy, jewellery and watch retailer Maison A.Constant built its own Single Customer Repository (SCR) using n8n, an orchestration platform...
4
Cashback: Younited secures an exclusive contract with Bouygues Telecom
Following Orange and the launch of a marketplace, Bouygues Telecom is strengthening a customer loyalty strategy by focusing on purchasing power with a new cashback offer. For French fintech...
16 October 2026