Sophie Baqué

Latest articles by Sophie Baqué

UK : Selfridges department stores soon under Qatari flag?

Prolonged closure, falling tourist numbers...After suffering the pangs of lockdowns, Selfridges department stores are looking for a new investor to make a real digital shift and secure the future.

22 October 2021

Sephora and The Body Shop speed up deliveries

In the U.S. and Canada, The Body Shop (a subsidiary of Brazilian cosmetics giant Natura Group) partnered with on-demand delivery platform Instacart.

22 October 2021

Supply chain. Retailers wait for a return to normal business

What impact will the current supply chain disruption have on store out-of-stock and sales as the Christmas season approaches?

22 October 2021

Grégoire Borgoltz, Picnic : “We impose a delivery routine, and it works”

Active in the Netherlands, Germany and France, the online retailer Picnic has just raised €600 million from the fund created by Bill and Melinda Gates. Thanks to a high ticket, mutualized routes...

15 October 2021

Who is Fidji Simo, the new CEO of Instacart?

Less than two months after taking up her post, Fidji Simo, the new CEO of Instacart, is launching herself into the sale of online advertising.

11 October 2021

Benetton. “We consider partnering with Deliveroo or Uber for last mile delivery”

Ahead of Deliver conference in Amsterdam, Mind Retail discussed with Valentino Soldan, Head of Logistics at Benetton fashion retailer. He explains his main supply-chain priorities in order to...

1 October 2021

Julien Tessonneau, Central Food Retail : “E-commerce became profitable in 2021”

With a turnover of €2.1 billion in 2020, Central Food Retail under Central Retail is the largest supermarket chain in Thailand (more than 1,000 stores). From delivery in less than 25 minutes...

24 September 2021

Beauty retailer Natura is moving ahead in China

Roberto Marques, President of the Brazilian cosmetics group Natura (owner of Avon, The Body Shop, Natura and Aesop) is in the process of registering The Body Shop and Aesop brands in China.

20 May 2021

In China, Pinduoduo overtakes Alibaba

The Nasdaq-listed online platform Pinduoduo (Tencent) is growing a competitive audience in China’s e-commerce market. The company reported 788.4 million annual active users in 2020, ahead of...

15 April 2021

Luckin Coffee : The so-called “Chinese Starbucks” goes bankrupt in the U.S.A.

After being fined US$180 million by the U.S. Financial Markets Authority for falsifying accounts, Luckin Coffee filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S.A. in early February 2021. This decision...

26 February 2021

VFCorp: “Goodbye Hong Kong, hello Shanghai”

From April 2021, fashion retailer VF Corp (brands include Supreme, Timberland, Vans and The North Face) will be moving the Hong Kong headquarters to Shanghai, China.A second operational base...

26 February 2021

Couche-Tard: France blocks €16.1 billion bid for Carrefour

The Canadian Couche-Tard‘s offer of €20 per Carrefour share was rejected by the French government, citing food security and employment issues. Carrefour, whose share price has fallen to...

21 January 2021

1…51 525354 55 56

Our other services

Research

Conducting customized studies: benchmarks, overviews, personalized newsletters, white label content.

Training courses

Our training courses & masterclasses: short formats for management, executive coaching, and skills development for junior profiles.

Events

Our networking activities: half-day conferences dedicated to industry issues and open to the entire ecosystem.

What you absolutely must read this week

The essential content of the week selected by the editorial team.

See all

E-retail media solidifies brand–retailer relationships

According to Publicis Commerce‘s e-retail media barometer for 2025 (surveying around 200 marketing, commerce, and e-commerce decision-makers in France) published on January 7, 2026, nearly...

2 February 2026

Marketplaces: Stockly enters Switzerland with MediaMarkt, Decathlon, Galaxus and Manor

After a loss-making but high-growth year in 2025, the stock-pooling start-up for marketplaces signed agreements with 4 Swiss retailers, mind Retail learned. By taking on one of Europe’s most...

30 January 2026

Retail tech: major trends for 2026

In 2026, retail can no longer afford to promise. It must deliver. Retail tech has entered the execution stage. The race for showcase innovation is over, giving way to clear priorities: operational...

30 January 2026

Bonus textile repair: a virtuous scheme held back by a shortage of skills

Two years after a launch in the fashion sector, the French repair "bonus" is struggling to scale up. The main reason is a limited pool of repairers constrained by poor recruitment. We share an...

29 January 2026

Most viewed articles of the month on mind Retail

What readers clicked on the most last month.

In the category

What readers clicked on the most last month.

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

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

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...

15 January 2026

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

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...

8 January 2026

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