Know What's Happening in Retail
Know What's Happening in Retail
AI start‑ups deploy virtual‑try‑on tech to slash $850B in retail returns
AI firms such as Catches are launching virtual‑try‑on platforms that create digital twins of shoppers, aiming to reduce the retail sector’s $850B return problem. The National Retail Federation notes that returns accounted for 15.8% of U.S. sales and 19.3% of online sales in 2025, eroding margins. Generative AI and cheap cloud compute now make these solutions cost‑effective.
Also developing:
Country Road Group posted a 2.3% rise in total sales and a 2.5% increase in comparable store sales for the first half, driven by stronger performance at Country Road, Witchery and Politix. The modest growth aligns with the company’s January trading update and suggests its brand‑portfolio repositioning and operating‑model overhaul are gaining traction. Gross profit margin fell 100 basis points to 57.9% amid higher promotions, but adjusted operating profit rose 4.2% to $14.8 million, delivering a 2.6% operating margin. Management highlighted disciplined inventory actions and a focus on quality sales as key levers for resilience.
In this episode, Jeff Hendricks, Chief Customer Officer of Bimbo Bakeries USA, discusses how the company is leveraging real‑time customer and POS data to close the gap on missed sales and improve supply‑chain execution in an omni‑channel environment. He explains...
Amazon updated its Business Solutions Agreement on March 4, 2026, adding a new Agent Policy that bans AI agents from accessing its seller platform unless they self‑identify and can be shut down on request. The agreement also forbids using Amazon’s...
Asics opened a 304 sqm flagship store at Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping Centre, its second‑largest Australian location. The larger format lets the brand display its full performance portfolio—running, netball, football and licensed apparel—in a single space. Designed with Japanese‑inspired timber and bamboo,...
Daniel Langer argues that luxury buying decisions are driven first by emotion, with rational analysis serving only as post‑purchase justification. He notes that ultra‑high‑net‑worth individuals have risen 44 % since 2019, yet many clients now view luxury as overpriced because brands...
British actress Vanessa Kirby has been appointed Lancôme’s new global ambassador. The partnership underscores the brand’s emphasis on “sophisticated vulnerability” and everyday natural beauty, resonating with Kirby’s personal history and recent transition to motherhood. She will headline upcoming campaigns for...
The Malaysian grocery landscape just changed forever. 🚨 Thai retail giant CP Axtra (the power behind Lotus’s) is officially acquiring 100% of The Food Purveyor for RM1.66 billion. 💰 By Q4 2026, the group will control 120 stores nationwide, blending the scale...
Hong Kong‑based Sau Lee, founded by designer Cheryl Leung in 2014, has positioned itself as a modern Chinese heritage label for American consumers. By reimagining classic cheongsam silhouettes with contemporary prints, diverse sizing (00‑14) and price points from $228 to...
The modern male shopper has moved from muscle‑centric marketing to demanding ingredient transparency and functional benefits. Protein brands now highlight whey isolate purity, grass‑fed sourcing and the absence of additives, while men increasingly view protein as everyday nutrition. Skincare, haircare...
The Vitamin Shoppe unveiled its first Suppie Awards, a brand‑focused accolade created with Hearst Magazines, while supplement‑tracking startup SuppCo launched a “Tested by SuppCo” certification program featuring a roster of leading supplement brands. Both initiatives aim to provide third‑party validation...
The emerging conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran threatens the flow of oil and liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz, potentially pushing crude prices above $100 a barrel. Higher energy costs are expected to translate into...
An unusually warm February in India, with temperatures up to 31.9 °C, triggered a 25‑30% jump in sales of beverages, ice‑cream and air‑conditioners compared with the rain‑soaked February of 2025. Executives say the early heat is providing a strong tailwind for...
Shop price inflation in the UK slowed to 1.1% year‑on‑year in February, down from 1.5% in January, as intense retailer competition curbed price growth. Non‑food prices fell 0.1% while food inflation stayed elevated at 3.5%, reflecting persistent pressure on grocery...
DFI Retail Group posted a 35% jump in underlying profit to $270 million for FY2025, despite flat sales of $8.8 billion. Chairman Lincoln Pan credited portfolio simplification and a focus on higher‑margin categories for the performance. 7‑Eleven shifted toward ready‑to‑eat and non‑cigarette...
The Pokémon Centre at Jewel Changi Airport will close on April 1 for a three‑month renovation that introduces a fully localised store concept. The refreshed outlet will showcase Singapore‑heritage‑inspired installations, an expanded merchandise mix and immersive experiences. Temporary pop‑up stores will operate...
Another way to think of SEANs is software with a point of view If you think about Ads Manager, as a traditional software, Ads Manager is agnostic to your strategy. You can go in there, click whatever buttons you want, and...
Asian retailers are redefining physical stores as immersive lifestyle hubs. In the last quarter, Bape launched an all‑white flagship in Hong Kong featuring LED façades and a Bape Café, while Rapha opened its first mainland China Clubhouse in Shanghai, combining retail,...
Being afraid of sounding like a broken record… keeps you broke By the time you're sick of repeating your message, your audience is juuuust starting to hear it Say it again
Endeavour Group’s half‑year earnings show a 17.1% drop in net profit to $247 million despite a modest 0.2% rise in retail sales to $5.5 billion. The decline stems from an aggressive low‑price strategy that squeezed the retail drinks gross margin down 84...
Yeti Boo, an AI‑generated Bigfoot persona, exploded on TikTok, reaching over 439,000 followers and catching the eye of brands. KANE Footwear signed the character as an “AI athlete” to promote its Revive AC recovery shoe, pairing the mascot’s off‑beat wilderness...
David Berggren founded Furniture Connection in 1999 to challenge high furniture prices and poor service, expanding from a modest Oak Grove store to a 46,000‑square‑foot showroom in Clarksville, Tennessee. The showroom, the largest in the city, lets shoppers test products...
Amazon distinguishes between items "Sold by Amazon" and third‑party listings, a split that directly affects delivery windows and return processes. Products owned and shipped by Amazon enjoy uniform Prime delivery times and streamlined QR‑code returns, while seller‑fulfilled items can face...
Retailers are turning to cross‑border e‑commerce as domestic markets saturate, with global online sales forecast to hit $6.8 trillion by 2028. A Total Retail whitepaper, created with Melissa Data, highlights that address errors affect nearly one‑fifth of orders, driving costly failures....
Xometry is upgrading its AI‑driven marketplace with a new lead‑time prediction model and enhanced dynamic pricing logic. The lead‑time model, trained on a dataset four times larger, now incorporates supplier certifications, material requirements and specialized finishing specifications, improving forecasting accuracy...
PayPal and TCS Blockchain have partnered to launch a blockchain‑based payment platform that uses PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin to settle freight invoices. The solution promises same‑day, year‑round settlement and cost reductions of up to 90% compared with traditional invoice factoring....
Henry Schein is entering the next phase of its global ecommerce rollout, completing key North American deployments of its consolidated HenrySchein.com platform for dental and medical customers. The unified architecture standardizes the B2B purchasing experience and aligns ordering with data‑driven...
Nordstrom’s end‑of‑season sale is offering up to 60% off on more than 10,000 women’s items, many priced under $100. The promotion highlights key pieces such as Pistola barrel jeans, Reformation tops, and Adidas Tokyo sneakers. Discounts span a wide range...
Amazon has launched a grocery delivery partnership with Minnesota‑based Cub, enabling Twin Cities shoppers to order Cub’s fresh produce, meat, private‑label brands and household items via Amazon’s website and app. The service offers same‑day delivery, two‑hour windows and free shipping...
Rights & Brands, the licensing agency behind characters such as Moomin and Pippi Longstocking, has teamed up with traceability specialist TrusTrace to embed supply‑chain transparency into its global licensing network. The partnership will roll out a three‑phase implementation from January...
Billtrust announced the Agentic Credit Lines product, an AI‑driven credit risk tool embedded in its AR workflow. It leverages a proprietary network of 13 million buyers and 25 years of B2B payment data to analyze payment history, utilization patterns, and external credit...
NAPA Auto Parts is expanding its warehouse automation by deploying over 100 AI‑powered mobile robots from Brightpick at a new distribution center. The rollout follows a 2025 pilot that demonstrated reduced picker travel time and improved order accuracy. Brightpick will...
QXO Inc. posted fourth‑quarter 2025 net sales of $2.19 billion, a 14,000% jump from the same period a year earlier, and total 2025 sales of $6.8 billion. Adjusted EBITDA reached $150.3 million, while net income recorded a $90.2 million loss. The company announced a...
Diebold Nixdorf announced Andy Zosel as executive vice president and chief product and technology officer, a newly created role that unifies product management, engineering, R&D, and AI across its banking and retail divisions. Zosel will set global execution standards, accelerate...
Kroger is adding more than 20 new items to its Private Selection private‑label line, covering frozen entrees, refrigerated deli meals and whole roasted chicken. The assortment features globally inspired dishes such as Korean‑style beef bulgogi, chicken parmesan, Italian gnocchi and...
DS Smith, an International Paper subsidiary, announced a €13.4 million (DKK 100 million) investment to upgrade its Grenaa, Denmark packaging plant. The upgrade adds a high‑speed rotary die‑cutting line with five printing units, boosting annual corrugated board capacity by up to 15 million m². The...
Reliance Worldwide Corporation (RWC) opened a new distribution center in Mesquite, Texas, part of the greater Dallas area. The facility consolidates RWC’s full portfolio of brands under one roof, creating a larger footprint and streamlined layout. By positioning inventory closer...
Organic Valley has partnered with Stonyfield Organic, UNFI and Whole Foods Market to launch Verified Impact Units (VIUs) that fund carbon‑insetting projects on U.S. organic dairy farms. The initiative creates a transparent, third‑party verified system for measuring and reducing greenhouse‑gas...
NielsenIQ’s new Growth Frontier report, created with Kearney, shows artificial intelligence reshaping CPG innovation and discovery. Over the past three years niche brands added 1.5 percentage points of U.S. market share while large national brands fell 2.1 points, highlighting a shift...
Vanessa Phillips turned a personal celiac diagnosis into a $‑free frozen food empire, launching Feel Good Foods with gluten‑free dumplings that landed a Whole Foods order for 27 stores. She built the brand by hand‑selling samples, correcting packaging errors on...
The article outlines twelve practical steps for boosting pay‑per‑click (PPC) return on investment through automated bidding. It stresses defining a clear success metric, fixing conversion tracking, and selecting the smart‑bidding mode that aligns with business goals. Campaign segmentation by intent...
Extracting capital from a fast growing eCom business is nearly impossible. But there's a sweet spot where it does make sense. I surveyed 200+ store owners to figure out where. Here's what I found: The magic growth range is 10-20% annual revenue growth. Half of...
Despite a small pocket of futile, violent resistance (looking at you @jacob_posel, @ChereneAubert and @Chillestdotcom) SEAN's (Software Enabled AgeNcies) are all the rage. In this week's ecommerce playbook podcast episode I break down why we are committed to building a SEAN and...
United MileagePlus and Instacart have expanded their partnership, offering members up to 10,500 bonus miles through three linked activities: a first order, four additional orders, and an annual Instacart+ subscription. A complimentary 7‑day Instacart+ trial with $0 delivery fees is...
![[In the Picture] Ikea Rolls Out Self-Driving Delivery Vans in China](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://i0.wp.com/www.retaildetail.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/IKEA-China-self-driving-vehicles-photo-in-text-scaled-1-scaled-1.jpeg)
Ikea China has begun using autonomous electric delivery vans in Anhui province after a successful pilot. The vans shuttle orders between an external warehouse and the Hefei store, also restocking shelves. Over the trial they covered roughly 75,600 kilometers and...
Publix reported fourth‑quarter sales of $16 billion, a 2.8% increase, while comparable‑store sales rose modestly 0.7%. Net earnings held steady at $1.2 billion year‑over‑year, and the company trimmed its 2025 capital budget to $2.3 billion, 8% below its original outlook. The slowdown follows...
Dick’s Sporting Goods unveiled a new athletic‑footwear display that centers on motion, featuring a female mannequin mid‑run on a raised black platform. The dynamic pose creates a forward‑looking, performance‑focused narrative, while a static male mannequin currently breaks the momentum. Critics...
Google will enforce a $5‑per‑day minimum budget for all Demand Gen campaigns starting April 1, aiming to give its AI enough data during the 7‑ to 14‑day cold‑start learning phase. The rule primarily hits small advertisers who run low‑budget, hyper‑segmented tests,...
At eTail West 2026, retailers emphasized operational maturity over pure experimentation, seeking technology that directly drives revenue, efficiency, and retention. The top ten solutions ranged from Furniture.com’s aggregated home‑goods marketplace to Glance.com’s AR virtual‑try‑on and Teikametrics’ AI‑powered marketplace advertising. Companies...
Cargojet, the Canadian cargo airline, signed new service agreements with UPS to replace capacity lost after the FAA grounded its MD‑11 fleet. The move cushions a sharp drop in transpacific revenue caused by Great Vision HK Express suspending its contract...
Wix announced a partnership with OpenAI to embed its website‑building application inside ChatGPT. The new app lets users generate production‑ready sites using plain‑language text or voice commands, leveraging Wix’s proprietary protocols. The feature is being rolled out globally, aiming to...
