Financing and expansion

Faced with the fragility of the fashion industry, Hong-Kong based fund AA Investments is continuing to acquire assets in difficulty. A latest acquisition is the online concept store L'Exception.

9 January 2025

After 5 years, Alibaba sells off Sun Art supermarkets and loses €1.9 billion

Alibaba Group is continuing a withdrawal from physical retail. After Intime department stores, the giant is selling control of Sun Art supermarkets to Chinese private equity firm DCP Capital for...

9 January 2025

Following the collapse of Big Lots, specialist retail concentrates in the U.S.

In a sluggish U.S. property market, discount furniture retailer Big Lots found a partial buyer. Variety Wholesalers is to take up to 400 stores.

7 January 2025

Following an aborted merger, Albertsons claims US$6 billion from Kroger

The mega-merger between Kroger, the 3rd largest food retailer in the U.S.A. and Albertsons, the 6th largest, , will not go ahead. On December 10, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruled that a...

20 December 2024

Alibaba sells Intime department stores and loses US$1.3 billion

On December 16, Alibaba Group (Q3 2024 sales: US$33.7 billion, up 5%) announced the sale of the department store subsidiary Intime, acquired in 2017 for US$2.6 billion. Once approval has been...

20 December 2024

The major retail and e-commerce trends of 2025

In a context of sluggish consumption, budgetary and geopolitical uncertainties (U.S.A., Middle East, Ukraine), concentration and financing tensions, retailers are prioritising efficient and...

19 December 2024

Asda obtains a US$196-million loan to postpone debt maturities

Following a US$4 billion refinancing in May 2024, the UK’s third-largest grocery retailer Asda (2023 sales of US$ 27.2 billion+ 7,1 % in a year) obtained a US$196 million loan on December 4...

11 December 2024

With 16 new contracts signed in Q3, Shopify continues to focus on key accounts

Off-White, Victoria's Secret, Reebok... long associated with VSEs, Shopify intends to compete with Salesforce, Oracle, Adobe and SAP by setting its sights on major accounts.

4 December 2024

Delivery platforms: After Swiggy, India’s Zomato raises US$1 billion

With the Indian market of express delivery set to reach US$6 billion in 2024, the number of IPOs and capital raisings by delivery platforms is increasing. Following Swiggy and Zepto, Zomato...

3 December 2024

Kohl’s sales plunge 8.8% in Q3, penalised by insufficient private label inventory

American chain Kohl’s (2023 sales 16.6 billion dollars , down by 3.4%, 1,100 stores in 49 states) is going through a difficult period. Quarterly sales to November 2 fell by 8.8%...

28 November 2024

Delivery Hero prepares Talabat’s I.P.O. for Dubai Stock Exchange

German delivery giant Delivery Hero (GMV of US$51.2 billion in 2023, up by 5.7% in 70 countries) is aiming for US$1.5 billion when Talabat, the very dynamic subsidiary in the Middle East, is...

21 November 2024

After a US$1.5 billion disposal, Advance Auto Parts closes 15% of its stores

In the U.S.A., Advance Auto Parts (AAP, 69,000 employees at the end of 2023), the American auto parts specialist, announced a closure of 727 stores (523 Advance Auto Parts, 204 Carquest) and 4...

21 November 2024

With sales up 21% in nine months, Action focuses on Southern Europe

In the first 9 months of 2024, Action recorded 10% like-for-like growth, driven by a larger customer base. It is targeting 350 store openings in 2024.

18 November 2024

Faced with inflation and the housing crisis, Ikea sales fall for the first time in 5 years

While the restriction of purchasing power for the working classes continues unabated, even shaking up the political landscape, Ikea's sales fell by 4% in value and remained sluggish in volume in...

15 October 2024

USA: CVS makes further redundancies and plans to split retail and health insurance businesses

According to CNBC, drugstore retailer CVS Health (sales of US$357.8 billion in 2023, up 10.9%, net margin at 2.3% of sales) has hired consultants to carry out a strategic review of the business...

4 October 2024

In 2024, Costco maintains growth and raises net margin to 2.9% of turnover

On September 26, 2024, Costco, the world’s 2nd largest food retailer by sales, published results for the financial year ending August 2024. Continuing the growth momentum of 2023, the...

3 October 2024

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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

Save launches an e-commerce site to support a shift towards sales

Having just reached break-even, the French subsidiary of refurbished specialist Save intends to go beyond an historical model of repair to develop sales of accessories and refurbished products...

23 January 2026

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

Agentic AI: Hymalaia attracts retailers and announces imminent fundraising

According to our sources, the young start-up Hymalaia is continuing development in retail with 4 new retailers currently in POC and an imminent fundraising. We examine the details.

16 December 2025

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Shoptimus AI scales up in grocery smart shopping lists and prepares for a new funding round

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

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

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