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At the end of January 2021, the Swedish furniture giant Ikea announced an intention to sell spare parts in order to comply with the C.S.R. policy. As an example, Ikea wants to sell individual...

26 February 2021

DIY. Lowe’s invests in staff.

For the 7th consecutive year, the American home improvement retailer Lowe’s is granting a bonus to all employees. These include teams working in stores, at distribution centres and at call...

26 February 2021

D.I.Y. is also accelerating in Norway.

Sales of D.I.Y. products in Norway grew by 26% in 2020, said Carl Otto Lovenskiold, responsible for the Lovenskiold-Vækero Co-Operative (65 Maxbo stores, from 600 sq. m.) to the DIY...

26 February 2021

Ikea downsizes plans at Copenhagen train station.

Initially planned over 37,000 sq.m GLA, the future Ikea store opposite the Central Station on Kalvebod Brygge, will finally open in 2023 over a reduced area of 19,000 sq.m. This freehold store...

26 February 2021

Do-It-yourself. ManoMano doesn’t say no to an IPO.

The D.I.Y. pure player doubled overall business volume in 2020 (€1.2 billion) and says open to the idea of an IPO. The Group ended the year with 7 million active monthly customers, increasing...

26 February 2021

VFCorp: “Goodbye Hong Kong, hello Shanghai”

From April 2021, fashion retailer VF Corp (brands include Supreme, Timberland, Vans and The North Face) will be moving the Hong Kong headquarters to Shanghai, China.A second operational base...

26 February 2021

Customer experience. Bad Buzz of the Month

Gmail, Hotmail, Netflix and Linkedin. 3.2 billion of accounts hacked?One of the most significant leaks of personal information from the Web may have happened in mid-February 2021. Hackers posted a...

26 February 2021

View from a battlefield “We need to find smarter schemes that reward owners”

“Landowners will have to change their business model, which has been based on triple net for years. Current lease terms range from 10 to 12 year in several European countries. This strangles...

26 February 2021

Amazon. Jeff Bezos passes the torch

Amazon C.E.O. Jeff Bezos, aged 57, will step down as of the third quarter of 2021, moving to Executive Chairman of the Board. A replacement C.E.O. is Mr. Andy Jassy, currently C.E.O. of Amazon Web...

26 February 2021

Zalando poaches a former boss from Boots

Online beauty is becoming more and more competitive. Zalando, Europe’s biggest fashion pure-player, is fast building a brand reputation. Previously Vice President at Boots, Joanna Rogers now...

26 February 2021

China. Luxury pushes the boundaries of e-commerce

How do retailers successfully ride the dynamics of luxury goods in Continental China, the only region in the world where this market is growing? If luxury brands were historically very reluctant...

26 February 2021

IKEA wants a warehouse store in New Delhi

While the initial contract was signed in 2018, the Delhi’s IKEA store project conducted by Ingka Group has been stalled since then due to administrative delays.

26 February 2021

Charging for picking. New entrants dare

Betting on e-commerce is fine, but at what price? For many retailers, answers are not easy. Whist Covid-19 restrictions boosted hypermarkets’ sales, many retailers replaced profitable...

26 February 2021

Asos and Boohoo take over fashion high-street giants

In the U.K., the pure-player Asos (turnover of €3.6 billion in 2020, a rise of 19%) acquired the celebrated Topshop chain, including the brand ownership for Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT...

26 February 2021

U.S. retailers are invaluable partners in vaccination relay race

Due to conservation rules and very cold storage requirements, distribution of Covid-19 vaccines across the U.S.A. is proving to be a significant logistical challenge. However, the supply-chain...

26 February 2021

Weakened in the U.S.A., L’Occitane continues to advance in Asia

The beauty retailer L’Occitane, listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, adjusts priorities. If it managed to contain losses over the 9 months of 2020 (net turnover of €1.19 billion...

26 February 2021

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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

Most viewed articles of the month on mind Retail

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What readers clicked on the most last month.

Laurent Hugou (Les Mousquetaires): “With Diebold’s camera system, shrinkage at self-check-out is reduced by a third”

Shift towards an omnichannel payment service provider, roll-out of mobile payment and Diebold’s computer vision solution for self-checkout, impact of one-click payment on online sales, adoption of...

11 December 2025

How Maison 123 generated €420,000 on WhatsApp in 5 months

Riding on a reduction in Meta’s commercial policy, Wax start‑up specialised in WhatsApp engagement, is gaining ground, capitalising on messaging as a customer acquisition and retention channel in...

3 December 2025

Retail media: Marionnaud bets on print with Figaro to boost drive-to-store

According to our sources, Marionnaud’s beauty retailer will expand an advertising unit into 3 new countries in 2026 and is launching another retail media lever in the French key market. The goal...

26 November 2025

Carmila join forces with Unlimitail and JCDecaux to equip 252 malls

On December 9, Carrefour and Carmila signed a partnership with Unlimitail and JCDecaux to create a retail media network combining indoor DOOH and outdoor OOH across their sites in France and...

12 December 2025

Deborah Van Dessel (Lagardère Travel Retail): “We are testing AI tools and prompts for store layout”

Between global governance, local ambassador clubs and deployments at scale, Lagardère Travel Retail identified major operational gains thanks to AI, while other use cases reveal the current limits...

25 November 2025

Facing Temu and Shein’s offensive, Amazon cuts merchant fees

Asian marketplaces Shein, Temu and AliExpress, weakened in the U.S.A., are accelerating in Europe with very low, even zero, initial commissions. Amazon, as the global largest e-commerce player...

9 December 2025