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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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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