Retail tech
[mind Retail Exclusive] How Custplace’s AI automates the collection of customer reviews for Darty, Optical Centre and KparK
On October 1, 2024, Custplace, the SaaS platform managing customer and employee reviews, announced the beta test launch of “Inbox IA”. This solution enables customer reviews to be...
- Retail
- mind Exclusive
- Analysis
1 October 2024
Pierre Chassigneux, b.connect: ‘Around 20% of e-commerce baskets are abandoned due to authentication issues’
Recruiting major e-retailers in France, defining the right business model, opening up to other banking partners... The b.connect authentication solution, supported by 5 French banks, is due to be...
- Retail
- Analysis
18 September 2024
Toy specialist Hamleys opens more concept stores in Dubai and London
In Dubai, on August 23, Hamleys (2023 sales: US$59 million, down by 8.8%, after a rise of 68% in 2022), the oldest British toy chain, now a subsidiary of Reliance Retail (acquired in 2019 for...
- Retail
- News brief
26 August 2024
Old Navy and Rent the Runway adapt collections in response to a rush on anti-diabetic drugs
In the U.S.A., Rent the Runway, Amarra and Old Navy are all seeing an unprecedented shift towards smaller sizes. The cause is often new anti-obesity treatments, popularised on TikTok, which are...
- Retail
- News
24 June 2024
2 months after launch, La Maison Convertible’s chatbot converts 15% of users
At the mind Retail Day conference, La Maison Convertible presented an initial assessment of a new AI-based chatbot launched in April 2024. The furniture retailer has succeeded in boosting the...
- Retail
- Analysis
21 June 2024
E-commerce: LVMH and Alibaba combine cloud and AI technologies
On May 22, at Viva Technology, in Paris, LVMH and Alibaba announced a five-year technology partnership to optimise customer experiences and logistics (inventory management, distribution) of the...
- Retail
- News brief
24 May 2024
[mind Retail Exclusive] After 3 months of a pilot, what are the results of Castorama’s chatbot powered with GenAI?
As part of the 1to1Monaco event, Romain Roulleau, Marketing, Digital and Customer Director at Castorama, spoke to mind Retail about the results of the Hello Casto chatbot. He also detailed...
- Retail
- mind Exclusive
- Analysis
14 March 2024
Castorama launches a chatbot boosted by generative AI
In France, Castorama launched a chatbot that integrates three LLM models, based on Athena, the technological foundation developed by the Kingfisher Group. While customer data remains outside the...
- Retail
- News
17 November 2023
Urban stores: Why Ikea is reintroducing mazes
Since 2018, Ikea’s urban expansion has been accompanied by a redesign of the customer journey. These stores, 4 times smaller than those in the suburbs, were initially designed without a...
- Retail
- News brief
4 October 2023
China: Harrods targets the ultra-rich with a private club in Shanghai
On 17 July, Harrods announced the evolution of “The Residence” concept (launched in 2020) with the creation of a private club for ultra-rich customers. The company’s first...
- Retail
- News brief
20 July 2023
[op-ed] How European retailers are getting prepared for the new-generation Chinese tourists ?
Selvane Mohandas du Ménil, Managing Director at International Association of Department Stores, explains the current retail strategies after the reopening of the Chinese borders in January 2023...
- Retail
- News
2 June 2023
[Confidential] GPT Chat: Yext is working on two features based on the generative A.I. model
The U.S. company is one of the first to reveal integration of GPT 3, the GPT Chat language model, into its natural language chatbot. According to our information, another project is to have a...
- Retail
- mind Exclusive
- Analysis
15 February 2023
Confidential. Citrus Ad to open an office in Dubai
Advertising technology company Citrus Ad (owned by Publicis Group since 2021) is building a team in the United Arab Emirates. According to Alban Villani, C.E.O. EMEA, “We are in the process...
- Retail
- mind Exclusive
- Analysis
6 December 2022
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Our mind news
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...
- Retail
- mind Exclusive
- Retail tech
9 December 2025
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...
- Retail
- mind Exclusive
- Retail tech
5 December 2025
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...
- Retail
- mind Exclusive
- Retail tech
4 December 2025
With 500 e‑merchant clients, including Embryolisse, Hindbag, Airup, Hygée or Jacks Beauty Line, German logistics provider Hive is capitalising on data to raise e‑commerce conversion via a finely...
- Retail
- mind Exclusive
- Retail tech
2 December 2025
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
Online Advertising: Leroy Merlin and Auchan at the heart of a political controversy
Since November 17, Leroy Merlin has faced controversy after a report from Sleeping Giants, an activist group against online hate speech. The organisation alerted the Adeo group retailer (GMV 2024...
- Retail
- News
- News brief
21 November 2025
2
Payments and e-commerce : which retail tech solutions dominate French websites?
In mid-November 2025, mind Retail analysed 50 French e-commerce websites using Wappalyzer to identify technologies installed on them. The result was 144 solutions were recorded, installed more...
- Retail
- Retail tech
- Analysis
20 November 2025
3
Payment: a lever for retail innovation
This month, our editorial team highlights how innovation is taking shape around payment. This key stage, enabling turnover to be collected by retailers, is at the heart of numerous pilots and...
- Retail
- Special Reports
28 November 2025
4
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...
- Retail
- mind Exclusive
- Retail tech
5 December 2025
5
Adobe bets on GEO with the US$1.9 billion acquisition of Semrush
On November 19 the technology leader Adobe (2024 revenue: US$21.5 billion, up by 11% at constant rates) announced the acquisition of SaaS platform Semrush (2024 revenue: US$376.8 million, up by...
- Retail
- Retail tech
- News
21 November 2025
6
How Maison 123 generated €420,000 on WhatsApp in 5 months
Riding on a reduction in Meta’s commercial policy, Wax start‑up specialised in WhatsApp engagement, is gaining ground, capitalising on messaging as a customer acquisition and retention channel in...
- Retail
- Retail tech
- Analysis
3 December 2025