EuroShop 2026: How AI Is Taking the “Smartification” Of Stores to the Next Level
At EuroShop 2026, AI dominated the showcase, with vendors presenting solutions ranging from fraud‑detecting self‑scan systems to smart shopping carts and connected shelf labels. Vusion secured a European contract to turn Carrefour stores into data hubs and micro‑fulfilment centers, while NCR Voyix highlighted a hardware‑agnostic platform for unified commerce. Demonstrations showed AI‑driven cameras achieving up to 89% fraud detection and smart carts increasing basket size by as much as 50%, promising both operational efficiency and higher sales. The trend marks a shift from novelty to scalable, ROI‑focused AI deployments across European retail.
Bestway Retail Welcomes Award-Winning Glasgow Retailer Girish Jeeva to the Costcutter Family
Bestway Retail announced that award‑winning Glasgow retailer Girish Jeeva will transition his Barmulloch store from Booker’s Premier to the Costcutter symbol group, backed by a £100,000 refit investment. Phase one, launching this spring, expands the fresh and chilled aisle from 12 metres to...
Target's Q4 Profit Beats Expectations and Company Projects a Return to Growth in 2026
Target posted adjusted earnings of $2.44 per share for Q4, outpacing the $2.16 consensus, while net sales slipped 1.5% to $30.5 billion. Gross margin improved to 26.6% on lower shrinkage and supply‑chain costs, offset by higher product expenses. Non‑merchandise segments such...
Guiding Stars Expands Beyond Retail as PHA’s Nutrition Standard
Guiding Stars and Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) have broadened their collaboration, designating Guiding Stars as PHA’s core nutrition standard. The expanded partnership will see the three‑star rating system used to identify and communicate healthier foods across retailers, CPG...
YouTube Shopping Guide for Brands (Not Just Creators)
YouTube Shopping has expanded in 2026 to let brands turn any video—Shorts, long‑form, or Live—into a direct storefront. By linking a product catalog through Google Merchant Center, brands can tag SKUs within videos, letting viewers purchase without leaving the platform....
Three AI Moves Retailers Should Prioritise Ahead of Mother’s Day
Retailers eye Mother’s Day as a catalyst for AI adoption, focusing on demand forecasting, pricing optimization, and autonomous AI agents. AI models can ingest real‑time sales, inventory and regional data to accurately predict stock needs across stores and online channels....
Dstillery Has A New Agentic AI Interface For Refining Audiences Faster
Dstillery unveiled DS-1, an agentic AI interface that lets advertisers create and refine custom audience segments in minutes instead of days. Built on the Model Context Protocol, DS-1 integrates with Slack, Microsoft Teams, browsers and pushes audiences directly to The...
Dstillery Has A New Agentic AI Interface For Refining Audiences Faster
Dstillery unveiled DS‑1, an agentic AI interface that lets advertisers build and refine custom audience segments in minutes instead of days, integrating directly with Slack, Teams, browsers and pushing audiences to The Trade Desk. The tool, built on the Model...
Event Network Joins AAM in Museums Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill
Event Network, a leading operator of experiential retail for museums, participated in the American Alliance of Museums' Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill on February 24. The company’s executives joined museum leaders to lobby for continued IMLS funding, the bipartisan Museum...
North East Community Groups to Benefit From Free Radio Campaign to Celebrate 40 Years of Metrocentre
Award‑winning Pride Radio, operated by LGBTQ+ charity OUT North East, is donating £100,000 in airtime to mark Metrocentre’s 40‑year anniversary. The Top 40 Community Voices scheme will allocate a free 12‑week radio campaign to 40 local charities and community groups, with...
Garnier Signs Supermodel Gisele Bündchen as First Global Ambassador to Promote High-Tech Era
Garnier has appointed supermodel Gisele Bündchen as its first‑ever Global Brand Ambassador, anchoring the L’Oréal‑owned brand’s new “High‑Tech Nature” strategy that blends scientific performance with natural ingredients. Bündchen will front worldwide hair‑care campaigns, beginning with the launch of Fructis Diamond Sleek,...
Molly Sims’ Yse Beauty Appoints New CEO
Yse Beauty, the Gen X‑focused skincare brand founded by Molly Sims, announced Doreen Arbel as its first chief executive, effective March 30. Arbel joins from Charlotte Tilbury after leading its North American operations and brings two decades of L’Oréal experience. Her immediate mandate...
First Retailer Achieves End-to-End FSMA 204 Traceability
ReposiTrak announced that a leading grocery retailer has become the first to achieve true end‑to‑end traceability under FDA FSMA Section 204, using its Touchless Traceability solution. The system has already generated hundreds of thousands of FDA‑required Key Data Element records...
TikTok Viral Brand Trü Frü Expands Its Bestselling Range with New Strawberries in White & Dark Chocolate
Trü Frü, the TikTok‑driven frozen snack brand, is adding Strawberries in White & Dark Chocolate to its lineup, hitting UK shelves on 9 March 2026 exclusively through Tesco’s 342 stores and online. The 200 g pack retails at £6 and delivers 83...
Cutter & Squidge Launches Mother’s Day Collection and Exclusive Collaboration with Freddie’s Flowers
Cutter & Squidge has launched a Mother’s Day collection featuring curated hampers and baked‑good bundles. The line includes three flower‑and‑food bundles co‑created with B‑Corp florist Freddie’s Flowers, priced between £46.99 and £67.99. Additional hampers range from £35.99 to £59.99 and are...
Kroger Taps Inventory Drones for Cold Chain Distribution Operations
Kroger has begun using Corvus Robotics’ Corvus One drones to automate inventory scanning in its ambient and sub‑freezing distribution centers. The drones autonomously locate and scan pallets, delivering weekly, facility‑wide visibility without requiring Wi‑Fi, markers, or warehouse modifications. Capable of...
Sportswear Brand On Sees Possible Boost From Lower US Tariff Rate
On Holding, the Swiss sportswear brand, expects a boost from lower U.S. tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down emergency levies. The company forecast at least 23% sales growth in 2026 and a profit margin of 63%, up from 62.8%...
Pet Valu Reports Q4 and Annual Financial Results, with Sales Growth, New Store Openings
Pet Valu Holdings reported a robust fourth‑quarter and full‑year 2025 performance, with system‑wide sales climbing 9.2% to $423.7 million and annual sales up 5.6% to $1.53 billion. The retailer opened 14 new stores, bringing its network to 863 locations, and posted adjusted...
Exclusive: Anti-Ageing Skin Care Conference Keynote Reframes Skin Ageing as Biodesynchronosis
The anti‑ageing skin‑care conference introduced the concept of biodesynchronosis, framing skin ageing as a loss of regulatory coordination rather than merely chronological time. Speakers argued that traditional markers like wrinkles miss upstream failures, and that recovery speed after stress better...
Pilot Travel Centers Launch Robust New Foodservice Program
Pilot Travel Centers, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, is rolling out a comprehensive foodservice overhaul, extending its full hot‑deli menu to roughly 400 locations and keeping 350 franchised fast‑food outlets open around the clock. The company introduced two proprietary concepts—Pilot eats...
How Thom Browne Went From an Asics Fan to a Collaborator
Thom Browne, the New York‑based tailoring label, has launched its first partnership with sportswear giant Asics, creating a limited‑edition sneaker that blends the designer’s sleek aesthetic with Asics’ performance technology. The collaboration marks a strategic move for both brands: Browne...
Inditex Triples Down at Metrocentre with Bershka Signing
Inditex has signed Bershka for a 16,000 sq ft store in Metrocentre’s Red Mall, bringing its total footprint in the North‑East retail hub to over 65,000 sq ft alongside Zara and Stradivarius. The addition bolsters Metrocentre’s fashion offering as category sales rose 7.4% in...
Celio Drops Camaïeu Brand Name After All
Celio has officially retired the Camaïeu name, rebranding its women’s line as Celio Women after previously promising to keep the label as “be Camaïeu.” The shift marks a strategic consolidation of the French retailer’s portfolio. Celio is also expanding its...
Nykaa Bets of Fragrance with Opening of Dedicated Perfume Stores in Mumbai
Nykaa has launched Nykaa Perfumery, a dedicated fragrance‑only retail format, with two 800 sq ft stores in Mumbai’s Oberoi Mall and Infiniti Mall. The stores combine immersive discovery tables, AI‑driven Fragrance Finder, and trained fragrance advisors to guide shoppers through a curated...
Holland & Barrett Sales Boosted by TikTok Trends, as Losses Widen
Holland & Barrett reported an 11% rise in annual sales to £981 million, propelled by TikTok‑driven health trends and appetite‑suppressing products. Store revenue climbed to £731.3 million, and gross profit increased to £579.9 million. However, pre‑tax losses widened to £71 million, reflecting higher staff...
Estée Lauder Teams up with Fashion Designer Diane Von Furstenberg for Limited Edition Collection
Estée Lauder announced a limited‑edition beauty collection with designer Diane von Furstenberg. The InCharge Collection features a new $85 fragrance, a $35 multi‑use sculpting blush stick, and a $45 glossy lip oil trio. The partnership leverages von Furstenberg’s fashion legacy and her long‑standing friendship...
The Children’s Place Expands Sourcing Chief’s Remit in Turnaround Push
The Children’s Place has broadened SVP Kristin Clifford’s responsibilities to include product operations, international and technical design, alongside her existing sourcing duties, effective February 24, 2026. The reshuffle also adds Kim Roy as executive director overseeing design, merchandising, planning and...
Milk Makeup Taps Frank B as Global Artistic Director to ‘Drive Creativity’
Milk Makeup announced celebrity makeup artist Frank B as its inaugural Global Artistic Director. The newly created role tasks him with elevating the brand’s fashion‑centric DNA and guiding product development through an artistry‑first lens. Frank B will also craft a comprehensive artistry...
Cheaper Retail Prices Unlikely Despite Tariff Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20 that the Trump administration’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad tariffs was unconstitutional. Within hours, the administration invoked a different legal tool to impose a 15% tariff, later...
Google Cloud and Nexi to Build Agentic Commerce Infrastructure
Google Cloud and Italy’s Nexi Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to create an agentic commerce infrastructure across Europe. The deal merges Google Cloud’s artificial‑intelligence and data platforms with Nexi’s payment‑processing network, and backs open‑source standards such as the...
Groupe GM Cosmética Portugal on the Next Phase of Solid Beauty
Groupe GM Cosmética Portugal announced the launch of Solid Labs, a new platform dedicated to high‑performance solid cosmetics. The company argues that solid formats must evolve from sustainability‑driven storytelling to delivering parity—or superiority—with traditional products. Brands are urged to prioritize...
OPINION: Resale Isn’t a Sideshow Anymore — It’s Reshaping Digital Fashion Retail
The online fashion resale market has moved from niche to mainstream, with Vinted now the UK’s third‑largest fashion retailer by customer numbers and eBay agreeing to buy Depop for about $1.2 bn. UK online second‑hand sales are projected to hit roughly...
‘Art of the Desk’ Centers New Content From Montblanc
Montblanc unveiled its spring/summer 2026 "Art of the Desk" campaign, pairing a new line of writing accessories with a short‑film featuring Roman Coppola, Cooper Koch, Kiernan Shipka, Dree Hemingway and Daniel Brühl. The video series, called "Art of the Desk Talks," explores each star’s personal...
Castore Cuts Pricing Execution From Five Hours to Minutes on 35 Shopify Stores
Castore, a global sportswear brand operating 35 Shopify stores, replaced its manual, spreadsheet‑driven pricing workflow with Patchworks, a retail‑first iPaaS. The new integration cut pricing execution from roughly five hours to two‑three minutes and slashed error rates from 30‑35% to...
Second-Hand Marketplace Refurbed Reaches Three Billion Milestone
Refurbed announced a 40% year‑on‑year growth, pushing its gross merchandise volume past €3 billion and expanding into twelve new European markets. The platform now claims the title of Europe’s largest refurbished marketplace and reported profitability for the first time. A fresh...
Greggs Annual Profit Declines in ‘Tough’ Food-to-Go Market
Greggs reported a 9.5% drop in underlying pre‑tax profit to £171.9 million for the year to 27 December, even as total sales grew 6.8% to £2.1 billion. The chain added 121 net new outlets, marking its 2,700th shop and piloting a compact “bitesize”...
Tokyo Marathon Drives US$100m in Consumer Spending
The 2025 Tokyo Marathon generated an estimated ¥155 billion (about US$100 million) in incremental consumer spending over its three‑day weekend, according to Mastercard Economics Institute data. Merchant sales within a 10‑kilometre radius of the finish line were roughly seven percent higher than...
Global Brands Shut Middle East Stores as Conflict Causes Chaos
Global brands are shuttering or scaling back Middle East stores as the U.S.-Israeli air war with Iran escalates, prompting voluntary staffing and temporary closures across Dubai, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Luxury conglomerates Kering and LVMH halted travel...
Jeweller Musson Opens Sydney Flagship
Musson, the family‑owned Australian jeweller, has launched a 300 sqm flagship store at Chatswood Chase, reviving its North Shore roots first established in 1983. The two‑level space follows the brand’s Grand Boutique & Workshop in the Queen Victoria Building, positioning the...
EXCLUSIVE: Julia Garner Is Now a Global Brand Ambassador for Loewe
Julia Garner has been named a global brand ambassador for luxury fashion house Loewe, announced by the label’s new creative directors Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. The Emmy‑winning actress, previously linked to Gucci, will front Loewe’s upcoming campaigns, reflecting the designers’ vision...
Maternity Brand Ingrid & Isabel Launches First Walmart Line After 20 Years in Business
Ingrid & Isabel, a leading U.S. maternity brand, is debuting its first line at Walmart, entering 3,800 stores and Walmart.com. The new “For Every Belly” collection offers essentials such as leggings, tees and denim priced between $10 and $30, roughly...
From Lollipops to Lobsters, Whatnot Pushes Further Into Selling Food via Livestream Shopping
Whatnot, the livestream shopping platform, has expanded its food category from shelf‑stable snacks to fresh seafood and meat, achieving a 30% month‑over‑month growth and a 2.5× rise in transactions between July 2025 and January 2026. Sales of iconic brands like...
Miniso Opens Malaysia’s First Miniso Land at Sunway Pyramid
Miniso launched its first Miniso Land in Malaysia at Sunway Pyramid, creating the largest store of its kind in Southeast Asia. The 1,700 sqm outlet houses more than 8,000 products, with over 70 % featuring licensed or proprietary IP characters across 15...
Golden Goose ‘More Excited than Ever’ After Positive Earnings
Golden Goose reported FY25 revenue of €734 million, a 15% year‑on‑year rise, driven by a 21% surge in direct‑to‑consumer sales that now represent 81% of total revenue. The brand added 17 new stores, bringing its global footprint to 232 locations, with...
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Appoints David Tse as Global Creative Director
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group has created a global creative director role and appointed David Tse to fill it, signaling a strategic push to elevate the brand on the world stage. Tse, who previously led Hermès’ Shanghai creative team and...
This Founder Is Taking a Nigerian Retail Solution to Canada and the US
Nigerian entrepreneur Samuel Oyedemi is launching SKAAP, a scan‑and‑go platform targeting small and medium retailers in Canada and the United States. After a modest pilot in Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatchewan that enrolled about 200 users, the startup plans a U.S....
Australian Retail Council Launches New Identity
The Australian Retail Council (ARC) has been launched as a new national peak body, merging the Australian Retailers Association and the National Retail Association. Developed with branding agency FABRIC, ARC’s new visual identity aims to give retailers a single, unified...
Black Rock Coffee Bar Inc (BRCB) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Dutch Bros reported a 28% revenue increase to $1.64 billion for 2025, driven by 154 new store openings that brought the system to 1,136 locations. Adjusted EBITDA rose 31% to $303 million and average unit volume hit a record $2.1 million. The company...
The Top Five Legal Risks for Retailers and What to Do About Them
Retailers now operate across physical stores, online platforms, and multiple suppliers, creating overlapping legal obligations. LegalVision highlights five top legal risks—lease restrictions, mishandled customer returns, non‑compliant e‑commerce disclosures, vague supplier agreements, and inadequate employment contracts—and offers practical mitigation steps. The...
Anheuser-Busch Completes Its $490M BeatBox Acquisition
Anheuser‑Busch completed a $490 million acquisition of 85% of Austin‑based RTD brand BeatBox, finalizing a deal announced in December. BeatBox, which posted over $340 million in retail sales and a 50% revenue jump last year, joins AB InBev’s expanding Beyond Beer portfolio...