News brief

Allbirds (27 stores in late June 2021), plans to list on the Nasdaq. In 2020, the company raised US$100 million in Series E funding, valuing the firm at US$1.7 billion, said WWD. Allbirds, which...

24 September 2021

Michel Chalhoub dies at 89

Michel Chalhoub, Chairman and Founder of the Chalhoub Group, died on July 30, 2021 at the age of 89. He leaves behind a family-owned group that has become a key player in the Middle East luxury...

20 September 2021

Gemo is advancing in Africa

In 2020, Gemo’s turnover fell by 12% to €720 million via 440 stores worldwide. Having opened stores in Tahiti and New Caledonia (the Noumea unit is in the Top 10), a second store will...

20 September 2021

UAE’s e-commerce is progressing

According to Euromonitor, e-commerce reached US$3.9 billion in the U.A.E. in 2020, reaching 8% of retail sales (Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry).

20 September 2021

Dubai. Carrefour launches a first standalone supermarket

Majid Al Futtaim, Carrefour’s franchisor for 30 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, inaugurated its first standalone supermarket on September 6, 2021.

20 September 2021

Gulf Sovereign wealth funds eye Selfridges

In the end of July 2021, the British department store operator Selfridges said it was considering a sale. Credit Suisse sent an information memorandum to potential investors. Selfridges operates 4...

20 September 2021

Auchan Retail revenue still sluggish in H1

In the first half of the year 2021, Auchan Retail’s sales fell by 2% on a comparable basis, to €14.9 billion excluding V.A.T. Profitability improved to €594 million. In France...

20 September 2021

Kingfisher and Adeo test urban shores

After the deployment of “pedestrian food drives” in European city centers, will D.I.Y. retailers follow a similar path? For the time being, retailers are piloting numerous small...

17 September 2021

Buy Now Pay Later. Ikea invests in Jifiti

In early September 2021, the Swedish retailer Ingka (390 Ikea stores in 32 countries, 45 shopping centers plus an e-commerce site accounting for 18% of last year’s turnover) invested US$...

17 September 2021

Square aims for seamless mobile payment in retail

The U.S. payment solution specialist Square, founded by Jack Dorsey (co-founder of Twitter) is now allowing retailers to accept mobile payments via its Cash App Pay functionality.

17 September 2021

Sainsbury’s and Tesco move towards store/warehouse pay equality

In the U.K., retail staff are demanding that employers achieve pay equity between shop jobs (predominantly female and lower paid) and warehouse jobs (predominantly male).

16 September 2021

Deliveroo still making a loss in the first half of the year

Will Deliveroo’s business model ever be profitable? Boosted by successive lockdowns, the business doubled in the first half of 2021, going from 75 to 149 million deliveries: double those of...

3 September 2021

Footfall is still sluggish in British city centers

Even though home office recommendations were lifted on July 19, British workers are not returning to the office in numbers, thus penalising retail activity in city centers, summarises the think...

3 September 2021

Brazil. More than 60% of online sales for the home-electrical leader

At the home electrical retailer Via Varejo, 61% of the turnover in the first half of 2021 came from e-commerce against 30% before the pandemic.

3 September 2021

U.S.A. The wholesale disruptor, Boxed, soon to go public

The delivery company Boxed (selling groceries and supplies in bulk volumes) is going to go public by merging with a SPAC (Seven Oaks).

3 September 2021

Amazon to roll out deferred payment with Affirm

In the US, Amazon has confirmed that Affirm’s “Buy Now, Pay Later” payment option, currently under test, will be offered more widely on its website in the coming months. The...

3 September 2021

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How Upsellr boosts conversion at Les Mousquetaires and targets traditional PIMs

While his start-up shakes up an array of players focused on product data management solutions, Edouard Margain, Co-Founder of Upsellr, shared with us at NRF Europe the results of the data...

19 September 2026

Hanshow makes a breakthrough in the US but stumbles on the economics of smart trolley

While at NRF Europe, Hanshow revealed a major contract with one of the U.S. retail giants to mind Retail, its smart trolley has yet to prove a market match. A hardware-focused strategy that raises...

18 September 2026

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

Most viewed articles of the month on mind Retail

What readers clicked on the most last month.

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Electronic shelf labels: why the US regulator threatens rollout

In the USA, the Federal Trade Commission has just required full transparency on the use of pricing algorithms based on personal data, under threat of penalties. In this regulatory framework...

21 August 2026

From ChatGPT Ads to Amazon Alexa for Shopping: advertising in LLMs scales up in Europe

This summer, OpenAI successively rolled out its ChatGPT Ads platform in the UK and in 30 European countries. From formats used, CPM levels notably for FMCG products and the new role of GEO...

27 August 2026

With Claudeforce, Salesforce opens data to Anthropic and shifts into the conversational AI era

With the announcement of deep integration of the Claude LLM within the Salesforce ecosystem via MCP servers, SaaS software interfaces are fading in favour of AI agents. According to...

9 September 2026

Retail media & LLMs: navigating intent-driven and custom experiences

From store aisles to ChatGPT Ads placements, retail media is shifting away from traditional slots, formats and keywords toward intent-based targeting. Driven by lower access costs to LLMs, full...

31 August 2026

Facing SharkNinja’s hegemony, Carrefour and Darty gain ground on TikTok Shop

While Sephora follows in Ulta's footsteps on TikTok Shop in the US, mind Retail analyzed sellers performance in Q2 2026. Based on exclusive data from Lengow and Kalodata, this European market...

7 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