News brief

Tesco grants pay rises above UK’s inflation
On March 17, British retailer Tesco signed an agreement with the USDAW union increasing the wages of stores and distribution centre staff by 5.2%, a rise above inflation (3% in January)...
21 March 2025
In a week, Klarna signs with Walmart and files IPO application at NYSE
On March 17, Klarna announced an exclusive partnership with Walmart (2024 turnover: US$681 billion, up by 5.6%) in collaboration with the OnePay app. By December, the Swedish BNPL solution will be...
21 March 2025
b.connect authentification service will be launched with a six-month delay
In France, the b.connect authentication service, an offshoot of the banking card group (Groupement des Cartes Bancaires), will finally be launched in September 2025, 6 months later than planned...
21 March 2025
U.S. shoppers, nervous about Trump’s policies, are cutting back on non-essential purchases
On March 17, 2025, the Department of Commerce published the retail sales figures for the U.S.A. In February, these increased moderately by 0.2% in a month, below the forecast of a rise of 0.6%...
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...
18 March 2025
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...
18 March 2025
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...
13 March 2025
In 2024, E.Leclerc and Lidl were the 2 biggest French advertisers
On March 6, 2025, Kantar Media presented the Top 100 Advertisers 2024, revealing that they now account for 46% of investments in the multi-media advertising market (press, radio, TV, OOH, cinema...
13 March 2025
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...
13 March 2025
CMA CGM puts US$20 billion on the table to strengthen U.S.A. position
While additional customs duties are being confirmed (increase of 10% on Chinese products, which came into force at the beginning of February) or remain, for the moment, at the announcement stage...
10 March 2025
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
MediaMarkt rolls out a marketplace in Belgium and anchors in stores
After the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria, MediaMarkt launched a marketplace in Belgium on March 6, 2025. A subsidiary of Ceconomy (2024 turnover: €22.4 billion, up by 0.9% at...
10 March 2025
[mind Retail Exclusive] Exotec speeds up in supermarkets at Colruyt and E.Leclerc
In Belgium, the warehouse automation specialist Exotec signed an agreement with Colruyt grocery retailer (turnover of €5.4 billion in the 6 months to the end of September 2024 down by 0.5%...
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...
6 March 2025
Ebay improves search engine with AI to filter fast deliveries
After reporting revenue of US$10.28 billion in 2024, up 2% at constant rate, and a net margin ratio of 19.2% of sales (a fall of 8.2 points), Ebay updated a search engine on February 26 to help...
6 March 2025
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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
BNPL: Between healthcare and retail, Scalapay accelerates a P.O.S. offensive with two major signings
Building on a strong foothold in fashion, Scalapay is strengthening in-store penetration targeting players in the healthcare sector. According to our information, the Italian BNPL unicorn has...
25 February 2026
4
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
5
Profound raises US$96 million in Series C funding, becoming a first GEO unicorn
Founded in 2024 in New York by James Cadwallader, GEO startup Profound raised US$96 million on February 24, 2026, in a Series C round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, including Sequoia Capital...
25 February 2026
6
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