Customer service: With AI, Saks reduces calls requiring humans by 20%
On August 8, Saks officially launched Sophie, an AI-powered voice and text assistant designed with the U.S. conversational platform NLX and AWS. Since April, customers can ask the AI agent about...
After France, Italy fines Shein €1 million
On August 4, the Italian Competition Authority fined Infinite Styles Services, a subsidiary and manager of Shein‘s websites in Europe, 1 million euros for misleading environmental claims...
H&M equips U.K.’s staff with cameras to curb shoplifting and assaults
On July 7, 2025, H&M launched a trial in the United Kingdom of body cameras for sales staff, who have been facing an increase in shoplifting and assaults. Stores in Edinburgh, Wood Green and...
Non-compliant products, price perception, customs tensions: Zalando, Fnac-Darty, Carrefour and Procos sound the alarm
During the Start Me Up day organised on July 3, 2025 by Fevad, Laura Toledano (Zalando), Enrique Martinez (Fnac-Darty), Emmanuel Grenier (Carrefour), Emmanuel Le Roch (Procos), Henri Isaac...
Footwear: 80% of Asian sourcing weakened by the effects of climate change
With the Digital Product Passport set to impose greater transparency and traceability on textile production chains from 2027, Scott Kelly, an Economist at Risilience, warned on June 23, 2025, of...
Co-op U.K. and Coop Alleanza stop buying from Israel amid geopolitical pressure
Eager to “support peace,” the British Co-op announced on June 24 that it would stop buying from 17 countries, effective at the end of the June. The cooperative (turnover 2024...
[mind Retail Day] Sephora, Primark, Tara Jarmon and Zapa: maintaining CSR despite regulatory uncertainty
The current regulatory relaxation, coupled with economic tensions, could raise questions about the relevance of CSR strategies for retailers. At mind Retail Day however, Matthieu Riché (Sephora)...
EU adopts environmental labelling for B2B, France pushes for a consumer-facing version
While Brussels has just approved the methodological framework for eco-score in the fashion industry, France is taking the lead with a more ambitious version directly aimed at consumers. Already in...
[mind Retail exclusive] How second-hand goods are set to grow at Tara Jarmon and Zapa
Behind the scenes at the mind Retail Day conference in Paris on May 21, Laura Marquant, Managing Director of Tara Jarmon and Zapa, exclusively unveiled her circular roadmap. Accelerating...
SAP joins Amazon, Walmart and Salesforce in scaling back its diversity programme
Following Donald Trump's executive order to abolish diversity policies, SAP, the German business management software leader, has announced that it is scrapping its target of 40% women in its...
Paolo de Cesare takes over as Chairman of Grandi Stazioni
Paolo de Cesare was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Grandi Stazioni at the end of April 2025. Former Chairman and C.E.O. of Printemps Group (2007–2020) and then C.E.O. of luxury...
[mind Retail Exclusive] Faume raises several million Euros in funding
According to information from mind Retail, a new round of financing has been finalised by the second-hand start-up. In 2024, the latter saw its turnover increase by 64% to more than €2 million...
President Trump orders EU companies to cancel diversity policies
On March 28, many companies in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium (aviation, defence, consulting) received a letter from the Trump administration asking them to “certify” in writing that...
Dunlop Sports fined US$1.3 million for anti-competitive behaviour
In early March 2025, in South Korea, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) imposed a fine of US$1.29 million on the golf equipment supplier and e-tailer Dunlop Sports for anti-competitive practices...
In 2024, which retailers have the best scores on the professional equality index?
In 2024, 1,812 online and omnichannel retailers with more than 50 staff reported their score on the professional gender equality index to the French Ministry of Labour. mind Retail analysed the...
Thai subcontractors claim U$1 million from Otto Group
While in Germany, the application of CSDDD has been eased, Otto online retailer is the subject of a complaint related to Thai textile workers. After filing for bankruptcy, a former textile...
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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
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
2
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
3
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...
4
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
5
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
6
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...