U.S.A.: Forever 21 files for bankruptcy, with debts of US$1.58 billion
On March 17, 2025, Forever 21 (2021 turnover US$2 billion, last available financial data) filed for bankruptcy in a Delaware court. This includes 354 stores in the USA, the brand licence and U.S...
With a 9% increase in turnover, Mercadona has strengthened its margin in 2024
On March 13, Mercadona, Spain‘s largest grocery retailer (1,674 stores in Spain and Portugal, 110,000 employees) reported gross sales of €38.84 billion, up by 9%, after a 15% increase...
Lego ends the year up 13%, buoyed by a country with uncertain regulations
On March 11, the world’s largest toy retailer Lego reported sales of US$10.79 billion, up 12.8% (after a rise of 2% in 2023 and 16.9% in 2022). Net margin stood at US$2 billion. This is a...
South Korea : CJ Olive Young tests multilingual personal shoppers in-store
To appeal to an increasingly international clientele, Korean cosmetics giant CJ Olive Young (turnover 2024: US$3.5 billion, up 24%, net margin ratio at 10% of sales) is trialling multilingual...
13 March 2025
Printemps sets up in the U.S. against a backdrop of department store crisis
After beginning international expansion in 2022 in Doha (Qatar) with 40,000 sq.m, the Printemps group (21 department stores, confidential turnover) selected New York as the entry into the U.S.A...
Lowe’s and Home Depot are banking on AI to assist customers
In the U.S.A., n°1 and n°2 D.I.Y. retailers, Home Depot and Lowe’s, unveiled their AI assistant a day apart. Home Depot (2024 turnover a US$159.5 billion, up by 4.5% year-on-year via...
10 March 2025
Walmart leaves Japan by selling Seiyu for US$2.5 billion
On March 5, 2025, the American fund KKR and Walmart (turnover 2024 of US$681 billion, up by 5.6% at constant rates) announced the sale of the Japanese grocery retailer Seiyu, in which they hold...
In Germany, C&A closes the only European manufacturing site
The Dutch fashion brand C&A (13,000 stores in 17 countries) closed the 4,200 sq.m production plant in Mönchengladbach, Germany at the end of February 2025. Opened in 2021 for producing...
For the first time since 2020, the number of French franchised stores fell in 2024
Closures in the fashion sector, lower performance for supermarkets and household equipment farnchised stores, which underperformed the market... In France, the number of franchises fell by 1.4% in...
Profit and market valuation slashed in half: will Shein postpone I.P.O.?
Shein may delay a London Stock Exchange I.P.O., initially planned for April 2025, to the second half of the year. According to the Financial Times on February 23, growth in 2024 fell short of...
Google embarks on international expansion with 2 stores in India
Google (Alphabet Inc: 2024 revenue of US$350 billion, up 15% at constant exchange rates, net margin ratio of 28.6%) plans to open first stores in India, according to Reuters on February, 20. The...
Driven by new profit streams in 2024, Walmart puts the spotlight on e-commerce
Walmart maintained growth while generating higher profits from the core business. With online sales accounting for 18% of total revenue -a level equivalent to Target - e-commerce triggered...
25 February 2025
Following a strong 2024, Carrefour wants to spend €800 million for the Brazilian unit
On February 19, 2025, Carrefour published annual results: in 2024, total sales grew by 5.3% at constant rates to €87.27 billion excluding V.A.T., half as fast as in 2023. In France, revenue...
Alibaba opens a first furniture showroom in Hong Kong
On February 22, 2025, Taobao (Alibaba Group) teamed up with Chinese home furnishings platform Papabo to open a first physical furniture store. Named PapaHome and located within the Tsim Sha Tsui...
Driven by property development, Emaar boosted revenue by a third in 2024
On February 14, 2025, Dubai-based property developer Emaar Properties (owner of office assets such as the Burj Khalifa, shopping malls, luxury hotels, etc.) announced a 33% increase in turnover in...
USA: Quiksilver, Roxy and Volcom operator shuts down 122 Stores
On February 7, Liberated Brands (2022 revenue : US$422 million, up by 21%, with no new figures since) began closing 122 stores across the U.S.A. following a bankruptcy filing on February, 2. The...
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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
Electronic labels: Hanshow accelerates breakthrough and signs with a leading British retailer
While the leader in electronic labels, Vusion exceeded €1.47 billion in revenue in 2025, rival Hanshow is stepping up a global offensive, winning a strategic account in the U.K. and a new POC for...
27 February 2026
2
Conflicts in the Middle East: what impact on the supply chain and European retail?
With US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggering a major crisis on February 28, 2026, retailers already have to face the closure of strategic trade routes, rising freight costs and import...
3
Regulatory: With 200,000 Digital Product Passports issued, Darty scales up
While the European Commission is set to vote on delegated acts to specify requirements for home appliances, Darty is accelerating a Digital Product Passport (DPP) push by integrating new products...
11 March 2026
4
Following a complaint from the FTC, Walmart agrees to pay US$100 million to Spark delivery drivers
On February 26, 2026, Walmart (2025 revenue: US$713.2 billion, up by 5.1% at constant rates) agreed to pay US$100 million in response to allegations of misleading compensation to delivery drivers...
5
Agentic commerce : After Stripe, Mirakl partners with JPMorgan Payments
On March 10, 2026, Mirakl and JPMorgan Payments (JPMP) unveiled a partnership to deploy agentic commerce by combining the Mirakl Nexus agentic orchestration platform with the U.S. bank’s...
16 March 2026
6
Online authentification : Prelude expands a “message free” solution globally 
A competitor to Twilio, Vonage and Plivo, the French startup Prelude, which has 75 retail clients, is actively deploying Prelude Zero, an authentication method that requires no message delivery...
13 March 2026