News brief

China’s booming pet food spending has global interest
Global investors see a wave of opportunities in China’s pet food market, where households have a rising spending power and show a growing demand for premium-priced packaged pet foods. In...
16 April 2018
Chinese owner struggles to boost House of Fraser’s business
The struggling British chain of department stores House of Fraser (HoF) may be sold by majority shareholder Chinese firm Sanpower Group, which has an 89% stake in HoF and also runs China’s...
16 April 2018
Abu Dhabi aims to attract more foreign visitors
As the Emirate is ramping up tourist resources, including a large new Louvre Museum and easing of visitor regulations for Chinese travellers, Abu Dhabi reported a total of 405,849 visitors to...
16 April 2018
The U.K. retailer ‘Missguided’ opens in the Middle East
In late March, “Missguided” partnered with the Azadea Group to launch stores and online businesses in the U.A.E., Saudi, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. The retailer targets
16 April 2018
900 days to transform
Eager to enhance its omnichannel business and encourage all 13,000 staff to adapt to changes, the Chalhoub group has set up a transition programme from January 1st 2018. This will spread over
16 April 2018
Lego to open a new office in Dubai
In 2018, the Danish toy retailer will open in Dubai to expand operations in the Middle East and Africa. In 2017, Lego operated 6 stores in Dubai, 1 in Abu Dhabi’s Yas Mall and others in...
16 April 2018
Dubai’s retail rents to fall in 2018
According to Patrick Chalhoub, C.E.O. of the high-end retailer Chalhoub Group, retail rents are about to face a downward trend in the United Arab Emirates. “You cannot have a situation where...
16 April 2018
Lifestyle retailers gain ground in the Middle East
Often called the Japanese “dollar store” with all its range costing 100 yens (the equivalent of US$1), the discount lifestyle retailer Daiso has gained traction in the Middle East. In...
16 April 2018
Diving into Crate & Barrel’s omnichannel push
For the home furnishing Crate & Barrel retailer, which had little social-media presence three years ago, the digital revolution is underway. In 2017, online sales accounted for 47% of the...
16 April 2018
In the U.S., investors bet on plus-size fashion
With an additional US$8 million in fresh capital, the “11 Honoré” is the latest firm demonstrating rising interest for the fast-growing plus-size market. In the last three...
16 April 2018
Monoprix-Amazon
The French retailer Monoprix signed a deal with Amazon to sell up to 10,000 grocery products (private labels and national brands) via the Amazon Prime website.
16 April 2018
Fast-growing Migros Ticaret builds a Turkish footprint
In March 2018, the Turkish grocer acquired 73 stores from Makro Market for €22 million. This adds 53 Uyum Market stores in Istanbul, 3 in Tekirdag and 17 Makro Market units in Antalya. The...
16 April 2018
Inditex finally unveils its online sales
For the 1st time ever, Inditex reported online revenue in the year to January 2018: online sales grew by
16 April 2018
Kidswear. Smallable travels from France to Tokyo
A decade ago, Smallable started online selling a high-end selection of 35,000 items targeting children from 0 to 16 years old (fashion, decoration and toys). After a 1st store in Paris from 2015...
16 April 2018
Whips sales increase at Decathlon
The Decathlon sporting goods retailer posted an unusual increase in whip sales in February 2018. After analysis, the group found that this peak corresponded to the release of the “50 Shades...
16 April 2018
Westfield London becomes Europe’s biggest shopping mall
Following the 69,000 sq.m GLA expansion, whose 1st phase was released for operations in March 2018, Westfield London (26 million visitors in 2017) is the largest shopping centre in Europe. It...
16 April 2018
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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
O’Boticario rolls out AI diagnostics across 4,000 stores with Haut.ai
On August 18, Brazilian cosmetics retail chain O’Boticario (2025 GMV up by 6.7%) announced the deployment of skin analysis technology provided by Estonian start-up Haut.AI. It will be rolled...
21 August 2026
2
Hugues Chanoine (Hygie31 Digital): “The next step is to eliminate filters to move to 100% conversational search”
The Hygie31 retail group, known for the Lafayette Pharmacies, is continuing to transform its websites, driven by Cocooncenter. Thanks to an AI strategy and a fully redesigned IT architecture, it...
3
ChatGPT: Bureau Vallée’s recipe to capture back-to-school spending
By launching a conversational chatbot with Algolia and a new module converting school lists into e-commerce carts this summer, Bureau Vallée aims to ease the chore of back-to-school supply list...
4
Walmart finally accepts in-store payments with Apple Pay and Google Pay
Sanctioned by financial markets after a sharp US slowdown in Q2, Walmart is reviewing a checkout strategy. Abandoning a rejection of technological giants, the group is rolling out Apple Pay and...
24 August 2026
5
Why Shein emits twice as much CO2 as Inditex for equivalent revenue
On the occasion of an IPO, Shein revealed a carbon footprint of 25.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2025, up by 20% compared to a reference year. For an equivalent sales level, the fast...
6
Lidl’s owner continues cloud services offensive
With €2.2 billion in cloud revenue and growth 3 times faster than the rest of the business, Schwarz Group continues a technological shift. Between investments in its own data centres, buyouts in...
1 September 2026