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
Hong Kong: Chanel to open a 19,000 sq.m beauty flagship
After opening 39 beauty stores in 2022, Chanel signed a commercial lease for a 19,000 sq.m space in Hong Kong (at a monthly rent of US$383,000). Covering two floors in the Capitol Centre at...
6 June 2023
DIY: Home Depot and Lowe’s reduce annual forecasts
Affected by a fall in discretionary spending, The Home Depot (2022 sales of US$160 billion, net margin of 10.9% of sales) is not optimistic for the current financial year. Instead of stagnating as...
E-commerce: Walmart reduces plastic and packaging
On June, 2023 Walmart (Q1 2023 sales of US$152.3 billion, up by 7.6%, net margin down to 1% of revenue) announced a program to save 2,000 tons of plastic in the USA this year. For the e-commerce...
Carrefour to cut up to 1,500 head office jobs  
Carrefour's strategy for reducing staff has two aims. The first is to increase the leased stores (by the end of June, 25% of French hypermarkets will be leased and more than 50% of Carrefour...
1 June 2023
Unibail Rodamco Westfield sells assets in Florida and France
With 1st quarter results showing an increase in mall vacancies in both the U.S.A. and in Europe, URW continues to clean up a balance sheet amid a tightening credit market. 
31 May 2023
U.A.E. retailers will be subject to Corporation Tax from June 1st 2023
While G.D.P. growth reached 7.6% in 2022, the United Arab Emirates will introduce a first Corporate Tax from June 1st, 2023. Set at 9%, this applies to companies whose annual income from...
26 May 2023
India: Shein joins forces with Reliance to fight U.S. regulator
The WSJ revealed that Shein signed a partnership with India’s Reliance Industries as it faces scrutiny from the U.S.A. Stock Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) over enforced labour of Uighur...
‘Yes Ad’ zones: in-store traffic takes a hit in Q1 2023
Given exclusive access to the Adot study, mind Retail revealed that in France, only 13% of households in ‘Yes Ad’ zones affixed an “opt-in” sticker to letterboxes at the end of March 2023. As a...
25 May 2023
[Case study] Merchandising : How Etam went from 15 to 4 days for new collections set up
With 1,300 points of sale, which account for most of turnover, the Etam Group (Etam, Undiz, Maison 123, Ysé and Livy) adopted the Yoobic application to ensure compliance with in-store...
24 May 2023
Lease transfer: Mall of America wins Supreme Court case 
With the Supreme Court's decision, the largest mall in the U.S. continues the challenge against a former president of Sears, requiring the ability to rent commercial space at a higher rate than an...
24 May 2023
USA. Amazon enters the fissure of paid returns
Since 13th April, Amazon has been testing a new approach to returns. In the U.S., a symbolic charge of US$1 is made for returns made via UPS on condition that an Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market...
Non-food: Lidl expands an online non-food business
Following the Belgian online store launch by Action last week with 150 products (already selling in Netherlands since 2021), Lidl has just launched an e-commerce website in France dedicated to...
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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