News brief

Amid a backdrop of tighter regulation for BNPL with a revision of the European Credit Directive, online payment and BNPL solution provider Klarna reported a 14% increase in business volume in...

13 October 2023

Israel: Inditex, Ikea, Mango and H&M close their stores

Inditex, Ikea, H&M, Mango. International retailers are temporarily ceasing operations in Israel. Conflict has intensified since October 7th, 2023 after the Hamas terrorist organisation...

12 October 2023

US housing crisis: Home Depot and Lowe’s on the front line

In the United States, existing-home sales fell again in August 2023 (down by 0.7% compared with July), marking the worst property crisis for a decade. Over a year, sales fell by 15.3%. Since...

4 October 2023

China’s Temu (Pinduoduo) accused of espionage

According to the American research company Grizzly Research, Temu, a subsidiary of PDD Holdings (capitalisation: US$130 billion), contains spyware. “It has all the characteristics of the...

4 October 2023

Urban stores: Why Ikea is reintroducing mazes

Since 2018, Ikea’s urban expansion has been accompanied by a redesign of the customer journey. These stores, 4 times smaller than those in the suburbs, were initially designed without a...

4 October 2023

USA: Macy’s wants to triple small format stores

Macy’s (sales of US$5.1 billion in Q2 2023, up by 8% year-on-year) is stepping up expansion focused on small formats. The firm wants to triple small stores by Autumn 2025. On October 3, the...

4 October 2023

India: Reliance Retail steps up fund-raising ahead of possible IPO

While Amazon and Walmart are stepping up investments in India, Reliance Retail Ventures (2022 sales of US$31.7 billion, net margin of 3.5% of sales) raised US$250 million from the New-York based...

3 October 2023

Building materials: sales plummet in China

As China’s property crisis reverberates through all sectors of the economy, the building materials sector, which is closely correlated with new home purchases, has been in double-digit...

3 October 2023

Travel retail: the LVMH subsidiary DFS invests in a large luxury mall in Hainan

On 1st October, travel retail specialist DFS Group announced plans to open an ultra-luxury shopping centre in Sanya on Hainan island by 2026. Named “DFS Yalong Bay”, this 128,000 sq.m...

3 October 2023

Bain, GIC: In the face of US-China geopolitical tensions, Vietnam is attracting investors

According to Reuters, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC is in the running to acquire up to a 20% stake in Bach Hoa Xanh supermarkets (sales of US$558 million, up 7% in H1 2023 via 1,700...

3 October 2023

Cdiscount: +30% conversion thanks to GPT-4

Since July 2023, Cdiscount (80 million products) has been exploring the industrial use of generative AI, particularly for product categorisation. “When a seller creates a product sheet, we...

2 October 2023

Lego abandons production of recycled PET bricks

Danish retailer Lego (sales of €3.7 billion in H1 2023, up by 1% vs H1 2022) is giving up manufacturing toys in recycled plastic (Polyethylene Terephtalate) because they produce too much CO2...

29 September 2023

Japan’s 7-Eleven takes a first step into Laos with CP All

On September 7 2023, 7-Eleven opened a first convenience store in Laos in Vientiane, the country’s capital. A total of 7 stores are planned. This new supermarket is operated by CP All...

29 September 2023

TikTok: Indonesia is about to ban commerce on social networks

Indonesia, the most populated country in South-East Asia (270 million inhabitants), is taking action to limit the risk of the major social networks, such as TikTok, becoming a monopoly. At a...

27 September 2023

Generative AI: Amazon to invest up to US$4 billion in Anthropic

The digital cloud giants are not slowing investments in generative AI, which needs massive computing power to function properly. Following Google and a US$300 million investment in Anthropic in...

26 September 2023

Headwinds in China force SMCP to reduce annual forecasts

On 18th September, the SMCP group (Maje, Sandro, Claudie Pierlot, Fursac) announced an adjustment of annual growth targets due to disappointing sales. While an operating margin in excess of 9.2%...

22 September 2023

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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

Refurbished smartphones: why Largo relies on Speeral automation

The start-up founded by the duo behind Teester and Skeepers is accelerating automation of second-hand product flows. The strategy is to use AI to direct products to high-traffic marketplaces such...

9 December 2025

Leroy Merlin and Aroma‑Zone launch in‑store analytics pilots with XXII

French retail tech XXII, which aims to become the Google Analytics and Contentsquare of physical stores, has already signed with 15 retailers and shopping centres, mind Retail learned. A year...

5 December 2025

Already in POC, Dialog’s conversational agent shows up in the search bar

Buoyed by a €3.8 million seed round closed in mid‑November 2025, French start‑up Dialog, specialised in AI‑based conversational e‑commerce, is accelerating. Initially placed on product pages, this...

4 December 2025

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Personalised pricing: Europe keeps a low profile while New York forces retailers to be transparent

In the State of New York, unprecedented legislation has come into force requiring retailers using personalised pricing algorithms to inform consumers. While the NRF is seeking to counter its...

12 December 2025

Price-fixing investigation: Swatch and Citizen under scrutiny in Italy

On December 9, 2025, Swiss watch groups Swatch (Tissot, Mido and Hamilton) and Japanese Citizen (Bulova, Vagary, Frédérique Constant and Alpina) were placed under investigation by...

11 December 2025

In the U.S.A., retail job cuts rise 139% in a year

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a company specialising in employment trend analysis, in the U.S.A., 2025 has been tough for retail employment. The sector recorded 91,954 job cuts...

9 December 2025

Italy: three executives from luxury goods group Tod’s investigated over worker exploitation

After placing Loro Piana (LVMH), Armani, Dior and Valentino under judicial administration, the Milan public prosecutor's office is now targeting Tod's. Three of its executives are under...

28 November 2025

Customs duties: Costco sues the Trump administration

On November 28, Costco (net sales of US$267 billion in the fiscal year ending August 31, 2025 , up by 8.1% after 6% in 2024) sued the Trump administration, judging the tariff surcharges imposed...

5 December 2025

Australia bans access to social networks for under‑16s

As part of the adoption of the Online Safety law Social Media Minimum Age, voted on 28 November 2025, minors aged under 16 will no longer be able to access social networks in Australia from...

2 December 2025