News brief

Amazon announces an end to remote working for administrative staff
On September 16, 2024, Amazon‘s CEO Andy Jassy announced the end of remote working for 350,000 administrative staff (i.e. 23%). This flexibility ends on January 2, 2025. “When we look...
20 September 2024
Aldar Properties and Mubadala create a US$2.45 billion joint venture
On September 18, the Prince and Chairman of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, announced a partnership between Aldar Properties and Mubadala in Abu Dhabi. By the end of...
20 September 2024
The Emirates abolish customs duties on Australian imports
On September 17, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia signed a trade agreement aimed at boosting investment and bilateral trade between the countries. The agreement, the date of which was...
20 September 2024
Fnac Darty launches takeoverbid for Unieuro to create a European leader
Following the approval given by the Italian financial markets authority on August 23, Italian home-electrical retailer Unieuro (2023 sales of €2.63 billion) has until October 25 to accept...
13 September 2024
10 years after leaving India, Carrefour returns via a franchising agreement
While Carrefour is gradually withdrawing from Africa, the group (2023 sales of €92 billion, up 10.4% on a like-for-like basis via 14,000 stores in 40 countries) announced on September 9 a...
11 September 2024
After Adidas, Lego teams up with Nike to combine sport and play
In the run-up to the Olympic Games, and at a time when only 20% of children engage in the level of physical activity recommended by the WHO on a daily basis, Nike (2023 sales: US$51.4 billion, up...
10 September 2024
Beauty: Nykka relies on express delivery to deliver 50% of orders on D+1
On September 3, according to Office Chai, Indian omnichannel fashion and beauty retailer Nykka (US$770 million turnover in 2023, up 24%, 200 stores in 72 Indian cities) launched a 3-hour delivery...
6 September 2024
In the U.S.A., pure-players account for 37% of back-to-school purchases
In the United States, sales of school supplies are expected to reach US$31.3 billion in 2024 (Deloitte). While Walmart leads the market with a 34% market share in value terms, supermarkets and...
3 September 2024
Couche Tard offers US$38 billion for control of 7/Eleven
Three years ago, North American convenience stores specialist Couche Tard failed to takeover Carrefour. On August 19, the owner of Circle K stores (sales of US$69.3 billion in the year to April...
30 August 2024
Toy specialist Hamleys opens more concept stores in Dubai and London
In Dubai, on August 23, Hamleys (2023 sales: US$59 million, down by 8.8%, after a rise of 68% in 2022), the oldest British toy chain, now a subsidiary of Reliance Retail (acquired in 2019 for...
26 August 2024
China: After an upbeat Q2, Walmart sells JD.com
On August 21, Walmart confirmed the sale of their stake in JD.com (2023 sales:US$153 billion, up 3.7% in a year). In China, faced with competitors Pinduoduo, Xiaohongshu and Alibaba, the...
23 August 2024
Social commerce: why Amazon needs TikTok’s audience
At a time when growth is slowing, Amazon (2023 sales: US$574.8 billion, up 12%) signed an agreement on August, 8 with Tik Tok (1.58 billion users in April) to enable highly engaged American users...
21 August 2024
Macy’s develops post-purchase retail media with Rokt AI
After a test phase last autumn, Macy’s Media Network, the Macy’s advertising network created in 2020, signed a partnership with New York-based retail tech Rokt on August 8, 2024. This...
21 August 2024
Lidl launches a D.I.Y. and garden services
After launching a non-food e-commerce business in May 2023, Lidl is further investing in physical stores. In mid-July 2024, the Schwarz Group subsidiary (2023 sales: €167.2 billion, up 8.5%...
20 August 2024
Apple compelled to open up iPhone contactless payment to competitors
On July 11, Apple (quarterly sales at the end of July: US$85.5 billion, up 4.9% year-on-year) made a commitment to the European Commission to open up iPhone contactless payment to competing...
20 August 2024
Decathlon Hong Kong: a virtuous circle of lifetime returns with Adyen
At the NRF Big Show held in Singapore from June 11 to 13, Decathlon Hong Kong reported on the results of an unlimited returns policy, introduced in 2022 for members of the loyalty programme (free...
19 August 2024
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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