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South Korean sunglasses retailer Gentle Monster signed an agreement with the Dubai-based group Seddiqi Holding to open in the Middle East. On May 30, 2019, the first Emirati Gentle Monster store...

16 July 2019

Lesotho. Wool producers protest against Chinese monopoly

At the end of June 2019, several thousand goat farmers demonstrated in the Lesotho’s capital city (Maseru) to denounce a recent agreement that obliges them to sell all their wool and mohair...

16 July 2019

Employee activism. Wayfair workers protest

The fast-growing furniture retailer Wayfair (net sales of US$6.7 billion in 2018, up by 45%) faces adversity from their employees after the sale of US$200,000 worth of bedroom furniture to a...

16 July 2019

Nakheel Mall, Mall of the Month

The new soul of Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, Nakheel Mall is a premium lifestyle shopping, dining and entertainment destination by master developer Nakheel. It is set to open this year, and...

16 July 2019

Brazil. Casino sells home electrical business

As part of a large debt reduction plan and simplification strategy, Casino is restructuring its Latino assets. The retailer sold the 38.3% in its home electrical business called Via Varejo...

16 July 2019

Brazil. Magazine Luiza aims to build a Brazilian equivalent of WeChat

The non-food Brazilian retailer Magazine Luiza (162 stores, 33 million app downloads) has big ambitions for the online footwear retailer Netshoes, which it has just bought after winning a fierce...

16 July 2019

Amazon increases inventory capacity in the U.S.

“Amazon’s quest for same-day and one-day delivery quest means that product warehouses are moving closer and closer to customers”, said Andre Pharand, Global Managing Director...

16 July 2019

How far will Facebook move into retail and e-commerce?

All over the world, the Facebook Group is developing payment options directly on apps, including WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. Since March 2019 in the U.S.A., the group has been testing an...

16 July 2019

International airports are hot channels for luxury retailers

In the U.S., retailers of luxury goods, from alcohol to high-end bags, could have found the antidote to a declining format for shopping malls. Perhaps the elixir is found at airport terminals...

16 July 2019

Thierry Garnier on the Kingfisher bridge

The “One Kingfisher” reorganisation plan is being deployed across the company, aiming to standardize the whole business including private labels and buying processes. Thierry Garnier...

16 July 2019

Ikea adopts McDonald’s best practices

In the restaurant retail sector, touch screens for self-ordering are widely available as a ubiquitous customer-facing technology. In Europe, the world’s largest furniture retailer Ikea has...

16 July 2019

L’Occitane’s profits jump, driven by the highly digital Elemis

The Swiss-based but Hong Kong-listed beauty retailer posted net sales up by 8.7% to € 1.43 billion last year (1,572 units worldwide, +17 new units year-on-year). The 22% jump in net profits...

16 July 2019

Why outlets growth is identical to e-commerce

According to Cushman & Wakefield, the productivity of brand villages in Europe would have dropped from 6.9% to 4.7% in the last ten years. As this sector attracts an array of investors...

16 July 2019

Lego owner to take control of Disney’s biggest rival

This is one of the largest acquisitions ever for the owners of the Danish toy retailer Lego (sales of US$5.6 billion in 2018 up by 4%). In a huge deal of US$7.5 billion, including debts...

16 July 2019

The Californian footwear retailer Allbirds to make inroads in Germany.

The brand of durable and high-end shoes (sold between US$130 and US$160) accelerates in Europe: it will launch a European website (Allbirds.eu) and picked up Berlin to open a first store in Europe...

16 July 2019

Maisons du Monde. Five years to double turnover?

This is the ambition of home equipment retailer Maisons du Monde (MDM, sales of €1.1 billion in 2018, up by 10%), which jousts at sales of €2 billion by 2024. Online revenue should grow...

16 July 2019

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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

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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

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