News brief

In the U.K., The Body Shop is for sale
After a period of financial difficulties (EBITDA down 40% in the 9 months to end-November 2023), The Body Shop (900 directly-operated stores and 1,600 franchises worldwide, 7,000 staff, including...
23 February 2024
Walmart invests US$ 2.3 billion in connected TVs
On February 20, 2024, in a context in which American retailers are attracting an audience similar to that of major TV channels, Walmart (US$645 billion in sales in 2023, up by 5.5% at constant...
21 February 2024
Nike cuts 2% of workforce to reduce costs
At Nike, the layoff of 1,600 staff, announced on February 15, 2024, is part of a US$2 billion cost-cutting plan over the next 3 years. In December, the company revised annual revenue forecasts...
20 February 2024
The Digital Service Act extends authority to all marketplaces
From February 17, 2024, the DSA (Digital Service Act) extended authority to all e-commerce sites operating in the European Union, whatever their size. Amongst measures is an obligation to appoint...
19 February 2024
BNPL: Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance acquires Pledg
On February 15, Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance (owner of Sofinco) announced plans to acquire BNPL specialist Pledg. This 100% takeover (without financial details) should enable the...
19 February 2024
LVMH and Hermès improve margins in 2023 despite slower growth rates
In a context of return to normal consumer demand after post-Covid-19 euphoria, particularly in Europe and Asia, LVMH recorded a total turnover of €86.15 billion in 2023 up by 9%. Growth was...
10 February 2024
China’s JD.com opens a first warehouse near Paris
At the end of January, JD.com (retail sales of US$92.9 billion in the 9 months to September 2023, up by 1%) opened a new warehouse in France. Managed by cross-border arm JD Worldwide, the new...
1 February 2024
Social commerce: TikTok acquires an Indonesian e-commerce giant
In Indonesia, the parent company of TikTok ByteDance (2022 revenue of US$85.2 billion, operating margin of US$20 billion) finalized the acquisition of the online retailer Tokopedia. Tokopedia is...
1 February 2024
After Fast Retailing, H&M Spain drastically reduces the store network
The need for larger stores serving as e-commerce hubs, combined with the difficulties facing the fashion industry, is forcing the sector’s giants to review future strategies. In Spain...
31 January 2024
[mind Retail Exclusive] Marie Ferry joins GfK France
Marie Ferry, who was Director of Retail and Out-of-Home Catering at Adot (a subsidiary of Veepee Ad, Veepee’s advertising network), left the group, according to information supplied to mind...
20 January 2024
Retail media: 7/Eleven to roll out radio format in 30,000 stores
On 14 January, convenience retailer 7/Eleven announced the launch of radio spots as part of retail media formats. This will be deployed across all North American stores. The spots will be managed...
20 January 2024
[mind Retail Exclusive] Cegid will be rolled out at Diptyque, Iris Galerie and is set to open a 5th data center
Cegid, the P.O.S. software publisher for specialty retailers, is to open a 5th data center in a fast-growing region. “This is due in Dubai for April 2024,” revealed Nathalie Echinard...
19 January 2024
Picnic raises €355 million from historical shareholders
As finance opportunities in the tech sector remains under pressure, Picnic has again demonstrated solid strength to investors. On January 9, the pure-player raised €355 million, in which all...
11 January 2024
[NRF 2024] Consumer service, in-store cloud service…Google launches 5 generative AI features for retail
Ahead of the NRF, Google Cloud announced the launch of generative AI solutions. We selected 4 of them. Dedicated to consumer services, “Customer Service Modernization” can design...
11 January 2024
How Decathlon and Mango continued business in Russia
According to an investigation by Disclose media based on internal documents, Decathlon supplied ARM, the Russian buyer of its stores (now active under the Desport brand) for more than one year...
11 January 2024
Franchising: Why McDonald’s faces boycott in Malaysia
In Malaysia, McDonald’s is caught up in the consequences of the war between Israel and Gaza. On 5 January 2023, the company’s Malaysian franchisee took a local pro-Palestinian group...
10 January 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
Italy seizes €27.4 million from CEVA Logistics for fraud and undeclared labour
On March 3, 2026, Italian tax authorities announced the seizure of €27.4 million from two Italian subsidiaries of French supply chain specialist CEVA Logistics, itself a subsidiary of the...
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
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...
4
Social media & age verification: Tech breaks the glass ceiling of precision
As an array of international governments restrict social networks access for teenagers under 15 or 16, new facial recognition technologies from Yoti, Persona and k-ID are making progress in...
13 March 2026
5
Faced with sluggish demand, The Home Depot and Lowe’s cut 1,400 jobs and reaffirm a B2B focus
In the United States, with the home improvement and D.I.Y. market under pressure, retail leaders are reorganising. Home Depot and Lowe's, respectively No. 1 and No. 2 in the market, announced...
25 February 2026
6
Search AI : in the retail sector, 25% of AI queries are transactional
For mind Retail, online SEO specialist Ahrefs analysed retail queries on AI search engines. The goal was to measure the proportion of transactional prompts compared to informational ones. The...