Borden Cheese Launches National Search for "America's Favorite Grilled Cheese"
Borden Cheese has launched a nationwide contest to crown “America’s Favorite Grilled Cheese,” inviting consumers to vote for one of four recipe contenders through March 24, 2026. Each vote doubles as an entry to win a year’s supply of Borden cheese and kitchen accessories, with additional instant‑win swag packs available. The competition aligns with the lead‑up to National Grilled Cheese Day on April 12, when Borden will also announce its first “Grilled Cheese of the Year.” The initiative showcases Borden’s extensive cheese portfolio and leverages trending flavor profiles to drive brand engagement.
Walmart's Advertising Revenue Is Outpacing Amazon's
Walmart’s advertising business surged 46% to $6.4 billion in FY26, outpacing Amazon’s 22% rise to $68.6 billion. The dollar gap narrowed from roughly 15:1 to 11:1, though it remains sizable. Growth figures include the VIZIO acquisition, while Walmart Connect – the core...
Shopify Dominant Software in New Stores
ShopRank research shows Shopify powered 54% of new online stores in the Netherlands, 49% in France and 41% in Spain last year. Across seven major European markets, Shopify launched 148,044 new stores, outpacing WooCommerce’s 99,140 and PrestaShop’s 9,747. WooCommerce saw...
Puma CEO Cites $260 Hyrox Sneaker as Early Step in Turnaround
Puma CEO Arthur Hoeld is steering a turnaround by slashing staff, buying back excess inventory, and spotlighting a new training division. The company launched the $260 Puma X Hyrox Deviate Nitro Elite, its first shoe built specifically for the Hyrox fitness competition. Hoeld calls the...
3 Ways FedEx, UPS Competitors Are Leveling up in 2026
Alternative parcel carriers such as Veho, Gofo, UniUni and Maersk E‑Commerce are intensifying competition with FedEx and UPS in 2026. They are rolling out new tech‑driven features like real‑time performance portals, AI‑optimized FlexSave delivery windows, picture‑proof‑of‑delivery and weekend service. Coverage is...
Outback Steakhouse, Noodles & Company, CAVA
Outback Steakhouse recorded a 0.9% traffic increase in Q4, its first rise in four years, driven by the popular Aussie 3‑Course value meals, though same‑store sales slipped 0.6% because of lower pricing. The chain will allocate $50 million toward further restaurant...
Sofa Club Appoints Stephanie Rackley to Head up Marketing
Sofa Club, the online furniture retailer, has appointed Stephanie Rackley as its group marketing director. Rackley previously served as a marketing consultant and social media strategist at Caroline Gardner, and held senior roles at Medik8, Bare Minerals and Champneys. In...
Dia Makes Impressive Comeback in Spain
Grupo Dia posted a profit in 2025 after seven consecutive loss‑making years, reporting €5.8 billion in total turnover, a 3.5% increase. In Spain, sales rose 8% to €4.6 billion, driven by a 7.4% rise in comparable turnover and the opening of 94...
Papa Johns Will Close 300 Restaurants
Papa Johns announced it will shutter 300 underperforming North American restaurants by the end of 2027, targeting sites that generate less than $600,000 in annual sales and typically post negative four‑wall earnings. The closures are part of a broader transformation...
Target Leans Into Spirit of Adventure with Roller Rabbit Collab
Target is rolling out a limited‑time collaboration with cult‑favorite lifestyle brand Roller Rabbit on March 7, offering more than 250 items that span apparel, travel gear, home goods and new categories such as luggage and outdoor products. The collection is anchored...
Colruyt Group Extends Sunday Opening Hours for Okay City City Stores
Colruyt Group is extending Sunday opening hours for its urban Okay City stores in Ghent, Antwerp and Liège, now staying open until 7:30 p.m. The change follows a trial that showed strong customer uptake and stable average turnover per shopping cart....
Kroger Traffic Rises as Trips Grow Shorter in Q4 2025 – Placer.ai Blog
Kroger reported a 2.3% year‑over‑year rise in overall store traffic and a 2.8% increase in visits per venue for Q4 2025, signaling continued grocery demand resilience. At the same time, average dwell time slipped, indicating shoppers are making more frequent, mission‑driven...
Casino Working on Recovery After Further Decline in Revenue
French retailer Casino posted 2025 consolidated sales of €8.26 billion, up 0.5 % on a comparable‑store basis but down 2.5 % in published terms. The decline reflects the closure of roughly 1,000 small neighbourhood stores as the chain trims its footprint. Despite the...
Søstrene Grene Accelerates UK Expansion as Manchester Opening Marks 400th Global Store
Søstrene Grene will unveil its 400th global store at Manchester Arndale on 26 March, marking the sixth UK opening of 2026. The Danish retailer now operates more than 70 UK locations and aims for 100 stores by 2027, after a 130 percent...
Burger King Has Upgraded Its Signature Whopper
Burger King announced its first Whopper reformulation in nearly ten years, driven by guest feedback. The new version keeps the quarter‑pound flame‑grilled beef but adds a premium bun, upgraded mayo, and serves the sandwich in a heat‑retaining box, while eliminating...
Festival Place Leading the Way with New Inclusivity Initiative
Festival Place in Basingstoke has become the UK’s first shopping centre to launch a dedicated inclusivity partnership with disability consultancy Purple Advantage. The collaboration delivers bespoke training, practical tools and ongoing support to centre staff and retailers, aiming to make...
NOMO’s Biggest Ever Easter Range Secures Free From Award Wins
NOMO’s 2026 Easter collection earned multiple gold and silver accolades at the Free From Easter Awards, marking the brand’s most extensive range to date. The lineup introduced four new allergen‑free products, including a Salted Popcorn Egg and Honeycomb Bunny, while...
UK Supermarkets Show Progress on Packaging Sustainability – but There’s Still Room to Improve
Research by Aura shows 53% of packaging used by the UK’s nine biggest supermarkets scores green for recyclability under Defra’s RAM, while 37% falls into amber or red categories. The methodology will feed into eco‑modulated EPR fees that begin in...
AI Revives Ecommerce DIY
Ecommerce firms are embracing AI and automation to revive a DIY spirit, letting non‑technical staff build custom tools. A Northwest retailer equipped employees with OpenAI, Gemini and n8n, creating a price‑monitoring workflow that feeds data into Google Sheets. The approach...
Estée Lauder to Armani: The Risks and Rewards of Reformulating a Hero Beauty Product
Iconic beauty brands such as Estée Lauder and Armani are reformulating flagship foundations like Double Wear and Luminous Silk to address regulatory changes, ingredient costs, and supply‑chain disruptions. While reformulations can alienate loyal consumers, companies argue that staying static poses...
Analysis: Are We Witnessing the Fall of the Celebrity Beauty Brand?
Celebrity beauty brands have long leveraged star power, from early fragrance lines by Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez to modern powerhouses like Kylie Cosmetics and Rare Beauty. Recent closures—including Gwen Stefani’s Gxve Beauty, Drew Barrymore’s Flower Beauty, and Kate Moss’s Cosmoss—suggest the segment’s...
Momentum Builds in Athletic Apparel & Sporting Goods: DICK’s, Academy Sports + Outdoors, and Lululemon – Placer.ai Blog
Foot traffic data and Q3 earnings show DICK’s, Academy Sports + Outdoors, and Lululemon each leaning on distinct growth levers in 2026. DICK’s maintains stable visits while integrating Foot Locker and rolling out experiential House of Sport and Field House concepts. Academy...
Hello Sunday Voluntarily Recalls Mineral Sunscreen in UK over Potential Health Risk
Hello Sunday has voluntarily recalled its The One For Your Eyes Mineral Eye Cream SPF 50 in the United Kingdom after recent laboratory testing revealed the product does not achieve the advertised SPF 50 protection. The recall affects all batches sold between...
Unrest Continues at Intermarché Belgium
Intermarché Belgium’s 2022 acquisition of the Mestdagh franchise doubled its store count but triggered operational chaos, leading to multiple bankruptcies and legal disputes. Independent shopkeepers report tens of millions of euros in debt as the group allegedly shifts invoices onto...
The Hidden Customer Experience Cost of Returns: Why Apparel Brands Must Rethink Reverse Logistics
Apparel brands are recognizing that returns have become a pivotal customer‑experience moment rather than a hidden back‑office cost. Over 80% of shoppers say return policies influence purchase decisions, and slow, opaque refunds erode trust and repeat‑purchase intent. Reverse‑logistics delays have...
Australia’s Top Retailers Honoured for CX, Store and Loyalty
Australia’s Retailer Awards, presented by Inside Retail and Shiperoo, honored leading retailers for excellence in customer experience, store design and loyalty. Priceline secured the CX Innovator of the Year award for firms with over $250 million revenue, while Decjuba won the...
Akeneo Partners with Stripe to Help Businesses Get Ready to Sell on AI Agents
Akeneo, a product experience company, announced a partnership with Stripe to integrate its PIM platform with Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Suite. The joint solution lets merchants expose structured, real‑time product data to AI assistants and enables agent‑ready checkout, payments, and fraud...
Eurobrick Supports New Marks & Spencer Flagship Store in Bristol
Marks & Spencer opened a new flagship store at Cabot Circus in Bristol in November 2025, featuring a food hall fitted out by Eurobrick. The supplier delivered 75 m² of its I‑Clad cladding system together with Red Blue Flamed brick slips...
EcoVista Evolves Brand to Sharpen Focus on Retail Media, DOOH and Stadia
EcoVista has launched a refreshed brand identity and website, sharpening its focus on three core verticals—Retail Media, Digital Out of Home (DOOH), and Venues & Stadia. Over the past year the company expanded its retail‑media projects, moving from pure installation...
Ecommpay Launches Free E-Commerce Fraud Defence Guide
Payments platform Ecommpay released a free whitepaper titled “E‑commerce fraud defence: A quick guide for merchants.” The guide details nine top fraud threats, including friendly fraud, refund fraud, account takeover and AI‑powered deepfakes, and offers actionable mitigation tactics. Ecommpay claims...
Global Supply Chain Volatility Pushes Sports Brand On to Open Robot-Centric South Korean Factory
Swiss performance brand On has inaugurated its second automated footwear factory near Busan, South Korea, featuring 32 robots. The new plant, together with the Zurich site, is projected to boost global production capacity by 30 times in 2026, shifting the...
Soft Drink’s Jio Moment? RIL’s Campa Tests Coke-Pepsi Duopoly of 30 Years
Reliance Industries has revived the legacy Campa Cola brand, pricing bottles at INR 10 and quickly gaining a foothold in India's carbonated soft‑drink market. Within a year, Campa grew to roughly 7% market share and generated about INR 1,000 crore in revenue, contributing...
Aldi to Raise Pay for Second Time This Year
Aldi announced a second pay rise for its UK store staff effective 1 April 2026, boosting hourly wages to £13.50 nationally and £14.88 within the M25, with higher rates for longer service. The increase covers more than 28,000 hourly‑paid colleagues and follows...
EG Group to Divest French Operations
EG Group announced it will sell its French operating business, including 260 convenience and fuel sites, to co‑founder Zuber Issa’s vehicle EG On Move via a put option. The divestiture follows a staged exit that began with the sale of...
Co-Op Appoints Andy Wilmot as Group Supply Chain and Logistics Director
Co‑op announced the appointment of Andy Wilmot as group supply chain and logistics director, effective April 2026. Wilmot, a veteran of A.F. Blakemore and DHL, replaces Derek Furnival, who is retiring after three decades. The hire is positioned to accelerate Co‑op’s operational...
Celio’s Francois Gomez Bets on Bigger Stores, Honest Pricing and Sharper India Play
At the ET Retail GIRS 2026 conference, Celio COO Francois Gomez outlined a new growth plan for India, emphasizing larger‑format stores and a shift away from discount‑driven sales. The brand will prioritize honest pricing and its core apparel DNA—suits, polos, shirts and...
Ralph Lauren Creates MLB Capsule Just in Time for World Baseball Classic
Ralph Lauren unveiled a new MLB capsule featuring six teams, timed for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The line offers satin jackets, fleece sweatshirts, caps and novelty pieces, with a pronounced focus on the New York Yankees. The collection launches...
How Korean-American Fine Jewellery Brand Kinn Is Turning Into a Modern Heritage House
Jennie Yoon founded Kinn after a 2015 theft stole family heirlooms, prompting her to create modern, sustainable fine jewellery. Launching in 2017, the DTC brand differentiates with lab‑grown gemstones, recycled 14k gold, and a "KinnCycle" service that remelts old pieces....
Meta Is Auto-Generating AI Ads for Its Advertisers, Causing Headaches for Image-Conscious Fashion Brands
Meta has begun automatically generating AI‑derived advertisements from brands' existing creative assets, inserting them into Facebook and Instagram feeds without explicit advertiser approval. The move aims to boost ad inventory and lower production costs, but early adopters like British tights...
Can Amika Conquer Body Care?
Amika, the Brooklyn‑based prestige hair‑care brand, is launching a three‑piece body‑care line featuring a body wash, whipped butter and a vitamin C‑infused oil priced between $27 and $50. The move follows a 97% consumer demand signal and taps into the fastest‑growing...
Why Ruggable’s Lauren Sherman Is Focused on Resetting the Balance of Brand and Performance Marketing
Lauren Sherman, Ruggable’s chief marketing officer, is leading a deliberate reset that shifts focus from pure performance‑driven digital spend to brand‑centric initiatives. After seven months in the role, she aims to embed consumer‑led creative, real‑world activations, and designer collaborations into...
Setting up Shop with Brotherwolf
Brotherwolf has opened a flagship studio on Clarendon Street in South Melbourne, converting a 19th‑century bank into a 100‑square‑metre grooming and fashion hub. The new space reflects a decade of learning, shifting from instinctive expansion to deliberate design that blends...
Cettire in the Red Amid Weak US Performance, Shares Plunge
Cettire reported a first‑half fiscal loss of $1.1 million, reversing a $4.7 million profit from the prior year, as US tariff changes and soft luxury demand hit sales. Revenue slipped 2.8% to $382.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA fell 28% to $8.7 million. Excluding the...
Harris Technology Now ‘One of the Fastest Growing’ in Its Sector
Harris Technology, a refurbished‑technology specialist, posted an 18.9% rise in sales revenue to $8.3 million and a 7.1% increase in profit to $2.8 million for the first half of the financial year. Monthly refurbished sales now average $500,000. A strategic shift toward...
Sigma’s Double-Digit Sales, Profit Growth ‘Proves’ Merger Decision
Sigma Healthcare reported double‑digit growth in its first‑half fiscal results, driven by the Chemist Warehouse network. Revenue rose 15% to $5.5 billion, normalised EBIT increased 18.7% to $582.9 million, and NPAT grew 19.2% to $392 million. Chemist Warehouse sales jumped 17.2% to $5.1 billion,...
84 Lumber Launches Campaign to Honor Nation’s 250th Anniversary
84 Lumber has launched the Building America 250 campaign to commemorate the United States’ 250th anniversary of independence. The initiative ties the company’s 70‑year history to the national celebration, featuring a new logo unveiled at the International Builders’ Show and a series...
Coupang Set to Declare Fallout From Massive Korean Data Breach
South Korea’s e‑commerce leader Coupang disclosed a massive data breach affecting about 34 million users, prompting a government investigation that blamed internal management failures. The incident coincided with a 3.5 % drop in monthly active users and a 6.3 % decline in daily...
What Lies Ahead for Thailand’s Retail Giants?
Thailand’s two retail powerhouses, Makro‑Lotus (CP Axtra) and Berli Jucker’s Big C, posted modest 2025 results, with total revenues rising only 1.7% to THB 520.7 bn and Big C’s sales falling 2.4% to THB 101 bn. Both firms cite a 7.2% drop in international tourist arrivals...
How Cafuné Built a Contemporary Handbag Brand From Hong Kong
Queenie Fan and Day Lau launched Cafuné in 2015 to address a lack of affordable, high‑quality contemporary handbags in Asia. Leveraging Fan’s New York design experience and a digital‑first, direct‑to‑consumer model, the brand built a reputation for structured, timeless silhouettes...
Myer Celebrates TOPSHOP Arrival With Star-Studded Campaign Via Howatson+Co
Australian department store Myer announced the arrival of British fast‑fashion label TOPSHOP with a high‑profile “My Store Is” campaign. The campaign, produced by Howatson+Company, stars actress Olivia De Jonge, TikTok creator Guy Vadas and artist Bella McGoldrick, emphasizing personal style as identity....