Customer service: With AI, Saks reduces calls requiring humans by 20% Americas On August 8, Saks officially launched Sophie, an AI-powered voice and text assistant designed with the U.S.…
Negotiations between Seven & I and Alimentation Couche-Tard come to an end Asia Takeover talks between Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) and Seven & I (2024 revenue: 122 billion dollars, up by 4.4% year-on-year) have ended after a year.…
Through partnership with Shopify, OpenAI wants to integrate a native checkout feature into ChatGPT Americas On July 16, according to the Financial Times, OpenAI is working with Shopify on a new feature that will allow ChatGPT users to complete purchases directly from the chatbot interface via an integrated payment system.…
Lagardère Travel Retail announces 3 appointments in Latin America and the Pacific Americas With Frédéric Chevalier taking over as C.E.O. of Lagardère Travel Retail on July 1, Monday, July 21, 2025, Lagardère (2024 revenue: 8.94 billion euros,…
Cyberattacks: Marks & Spencer calls for mandatory reporting in the U.K. Europe Whilst 27% of British companies were victims of cyberattacks in the last 12 months, some players continue to slip under the radar. As it took nearly four months for Marks & Spencer's e-commerce to return to normal, the Chairman called for a legal reporting requirement, warning of two recent major hacks that had not been detected by the NCSC.
E-commerce: China tightens regulations on pricing and algorithms Asia On June 27, 2025, the Chinese government adopted a new amendment to the law against unfair competition,…
Shein must pay €40 million fine for misleading business practices Asia Europe On July 3, the French Ministry of Economy fined ultra-fast fashion giant Shein 40 million euros for misleading business practices following an investigation by the General Direction for Competition Policy,…
Home Depot acquires GMS for US$5.5 billion and confirms shift towards an integrated B2B model Americas With 50% of revenue from professional customers and a weakening property market, The Home Depot is making a second major investment in B2B. To acquire GMS Inc., the company is offering US$5.5 billion in cash, bringing total investment in this sector to more than US$23 billion in 15 months.
Central Retail invests US$1.4 billion in omnichannel strategy in Thailand and Vietnam Asia On June 24, the subsidiary of Thai conglomerate Central Group, Central Retail Corporation (revenue for the year ended March 2025: US$7.3 billion,…
Hugues Chanoine, Hygie31: “In a year, our retail media revenue jumped 25% to €1 million” Expansion of a physical network, e-commerce upgrades, developing retail media, overhaul of digital tools... With little media exposure, the Hygie31 group—which operates 1,519 pharmacies and 5 websites in 7 countries—is undergoing a major transformation of an omnichannel ecosystem. With e-commerce accounting for 3.3% of business in 2024, the M.D. of the group's digital subsidiary, Hugues Chanoine, tells mind Retail about the new projects and future ambitions.
