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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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...

10 September 2026

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...

10 September 2026

Fnac Darty to launch Wero on its e-commerce sites

According to our information, Fnac Darty is about to deploy European payment solution Wero, based on account-to-account instant transfers, on its e-commerce sites. Already active in Germany at...

4 September 2026

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...

3 September 2026

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Before an IPO, Shein forced to reveal margin erosion in 2025 and impact of US tariff shock

Made public ahead of a Hong Kong listing planned for September, Shein’s financial documents, seen by mind Retail, confirm the shift experienced by the fast-fashion retailer. Despite a 8% sales...

21 August 2026