News brief

Can 24-hour grocery stores be profitable in Europe?
Business case studies. The concept of 24h/24 supermarkets has been spreading across Europe, from France with Carrefour and Casino (with 60 stores in late February 2019) to Germany with Edeka and...
8 October 2019
Beauty. When young shoots jostle traditional retailers
In Europe, the young brands of skincare and beauty have decided to increase their brand exposure on the retailers’ shelves. “The Ordinary” (skincare) and “Aime”...
8 October 2019
Swedish giant Ikea bets on Chinese expansion
The Ikea Group has just released figures for the fiscal year ending in August 2019. Total sales are €41.3 billion (+6.4% year-on-year) driven by store openings and online sales. If the Group...
8 October 2019
China. Which retailers bet on Pinduoduo, and why?
As e-commerce is very advanced in China with platforms such as Alibaba, JD and WeChat, other online operations are recording fair growth. This is the case of the fast-growing Pinduoduo (PDD)...
8 October 2019
Uncertain change or better results at JD.com?
The Beijing-based online retailer JD.com is struggling with a staff exodus, following fierce market competition alongside a sex scandal in 2018 with Richard Liu Qiangdong, a founder and C.E.O...
11 September 2019
Home Depot’s faces a consumer boycott
Bernie Marcus, (aged 90) is the co-founder of the world’s biggest D.I.Y. retailer The Home Depot. In a recent interview for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the 90-year-old magnate...
11 September 2019
Study. Top five D.I.Y. retailers are well-established, but disruption is coming
According to the annual report from Dähne Verlag, the D.I.Y. retail market in Europe is challenged by an array of trends. A sample ranges from new consumers habits of...
11 September 2019
Singapore. Loyalty programs are not enough anymore
According to a Criteo S.A. survey conducted in Singapore about brand loyalty, consumer purchase decisions have changed: loyalty programs and low prices do not fit the purpose anymore. Indeed, due...
11 September 2019
India. A year later, what retail lessons for Ikea?
As the world’s biggest retailers Wal-Mart and Amazon continue their foray into India’s major cities, the Ikea Group is adjusting its strategy after 12 months of operation.  As a...
11 September 2019
Esprit relies on 1st German footwear retailer to get back on its feet
The German footwear retailer Deichmann (sales of €5.8 billion in 2018) and the Hong Kong-headquartered fashion brand Esprit (sales of €1.78 billion last year) sealed a new deal to...
11 September 2019
Animal Bars. The Asian version of retail experience?
As all global retailers are in search of qualitative and “Instagrammable” shopping experiences, the expansion of retail concepts based on experience with living animals is striking in...
11 September 2019
Ranking. Alibaba and JD.com are Asia’s largest retailers
According to an Euromonitor study published in August 2019, the Chinese companies Alibaba and JD.com dominate the ranking of Asia’s 100 largest retailers by sales. This study also highlights...
11 September 2019
In India, Amazon and Wal-Mart further merge online and offline
The leading Indian retailer Future Retail (2,000 stores including the supermarket chain Big Bazaar) has signed an historical deal with Amazon. After having purchased Wholefoods in the U.S.A...
11 September 2019
Mega apps, gamification and high-end interactions are key to succeed in China
What are the pillars of a successful retail strategy in China, which is expected to become the world’s largest market for fashion in 2020 as forecasted by McKinsey? In this mobile-first...
11 September 2019
The price of Dubai commercial leases continues to fall
According to a JLL study, the rents for Dubai’s best commercial locations fell by 4% in the quarter ending in June 2019 (annual evolution), and this trend is expected to continue until 2020...
11 September 2019
Urban Outfitters makes inroads in the Gulf
Urban Outfitters partnered with the Azadea Group, with a September opening of a first store in the Middle East within the iconic Dubai Mall (350,000 sq.m GLA, 41 million visitors in the first half...
11 September 2019
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Most viewed articles of the month on mind Retail
What readers clicked on the most last month.
What readers clicked on the most last month.
1
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...
2
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...
3
Walmart finally accepts in-store payments with Apple Pay and Google Pay
Sanctioned by financial markets after a sharp US slowdown in Q2, Walmart is reviewing a checkout strategy. Abandoning a rejection of technological giants, the group is rolling out Apple Pay and...
24 August 2026
4
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...
5
Lidl’s owner continues cloud services offensive
With €2.2 billion in cloud revenue and growth 3 times faster than the rest of the business, Schwarz Group continues a technological shift. Between investments in its own data centres, buyouts in...
1 September 2026