News brief

“If Siri (Apple), Alexa (Amazon) and Google Home are well established, I wouldn’t be surprised if a Chinese company win the battle for digital voice assistants,” said William...

12 December 2019

The U.S. gem Tiffany moves under the LVMH flag

In late November 2019, the world’s biggest luxury retailer LVMH (sales of €46.8 billion in 2018 for a net margin of €6.4 billion at 14% of sales) secured a massive deal to purchase...

12 December 2019

Ikea too decides to quit Amazon

With a sales target of US$238 billion this year with a staff of 750,000, “Amazon is a company functioning at a scale that was previously left to government,” said Thomas Perriello...

12 December 2019

Discount. Action now valued €10 billion

With 1,473 stores in seven European countries and a staff of 46,000 employees, the Dutch retailer Action (turnover of €4.2 billion in 2018, up by 5.4% in the 10 months tao late October 2019)...

12 December 2019

Cherrywood Dublin, The Mall of the Month

A strong player in the business office market keeps expanding into retail. Developed by the family-owned U.S. investor Hines, the Cherrywood project in Dublin (Ireland) is one of Europe’s...

12 December 2019

L’Occitane: Elemis investment pays back

The beauty retailer L’Occitane International (3,420 points of sales including 1,572 company-owned stores), announced net sales of € 727 million in the quarter to late...

10 December 2019

Voice recognition from. A future revolution for retail?

Voice dictation services are booming. Although 70% of voice requests to either Alexa and Siri are about weather, 30% of smart phone users also use voice dictation every day. (source: BDM media)...

26 November 2019

Who are the new Picard shareholders?

As discreet as influent, these individuals are unknown to the public but have a fair legacy of success as convenience store experts. Moez-Alexandre and Soraya Zouari, who own the eponymous Zouari...

14 November 2019

New M.D for Walmart U.S.A.

In the United States, Walmart announced the surprise departure of Greg Foran, who ran Walmart U.S.A. for the past five years, i.e. 4,769 stores excluding the Sam’s Club cash & carry...

14 November 2019

Hong Kong protests push city into recession

In September 2019, the chain of organic convenience stores JustGreen dropped the curtain in Hong Kong, after 11 years of business. InterContinental Hotels Group told investors that in Hong Kong...

14 November 2019

Do Chinese shoppers want sustainable fashion?

In China’s retail, trends generally spread very quickly. As Chinese consumers are used to be interested in the best deals on designer brands, will the next frontier be ethically sourced or...

14 November 2019

Uniqlo’s impressive Indian start

Japan’s biggest fashion brand is Uniqlo (a subsidiary of Fast Retailing, revenues of US$48.1 billion in 2018, up by 7.5%). The business opened a first store in India in October 2019 and...

14 November 2019

U.S. brands lose Chinese customers

Many international retailers miscalculated the consequences of a wave of Chinese patriotism in a country with a population exceeding 1 billion. According to a study from Brunswick Group of June...

14 November 2019

Metro AG and Costco in opposite moves in China

The German wholesale retailer Metro AG agreed to sell a majority stake in its Chinese operations to Wumei Technology, which owns 1,000 stores (under the Wumart brand notably) with annual sales of...

14 November 2019

Electro Man, The Concept of The Month

In Seoul, we visited the Electro Mart store in the Starfield Hanam Mall. Electro Mart is part of E-mart, South Korea’s largest diversified retailer (US$15.5 billion revenue in 2018, a rise...

14 November 2019

India’s new protectionist laws threatens Walmart

In India, Amazon and Walmart, owner of Flipkart, are in the target cross-hairs aimed by ‘Kiranas’, who are traditional family shops that sell a little of everything on every street...

14 November 2019

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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.

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Refurbished smartphones: why Largo relies on Speeral automation

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9 December 2025

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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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Payment: a lever for retail innovation

This month, our editorial team highlights how innovation is taking shape around payment. This key stage, enabling turnover to be collected by retailers, is at the heart of numerous pilots and...

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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

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