Mon.Jan 06, 2025

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Navigating the Tariff Era: A Strategic Roadmap for Retailers

Retail TouchPoints

The re-emergence of tariffs on the global trade horizon has once again thrust the retail industry into uncertainty. While policymakers often champion tariffs as a mechanism to protect domestic industries, their ripple effects are far-reaching, inflating costs, disrupting supply chains and, ultimately, burdening consumers. As retailers brace for this looming economic shift, learning from past experiences and implementing forward-thinking strategies is paramount to mitigating risk and seizing oppo

Apparel 278
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Amazon is set to take off in Australia this year, get ready

Inside Retail

Amazon, the $2 trillion gorilla, arrived on our shores officially in December 2017, just in time for Christmas. And some seven years on, much to the dismay of retailers, it is now starting to shake the tree and become a real force in the market , as Australian shoppers increasingly turn to alternatives to manage the cost-of-living crisis. Amazon announced it posted over $3.1 billion in sales revenue (across cloud, advertising and marketplace sales) in calendar year 2023, up from $2.63 billion in

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Albertsons Hosts Third Annual Innovative Food and Pet Products Competition

Retail TouchPoints

Albertsons has once again launched its Innovation Launchpad competition, seeking emerging brands in the food, beverage and pet categories for the third iteration of the contest that began in 2022. Independent brands with $3 to $10 million in net retail sales can apply through Jan. 19, 2025 for the chance to win $300,000 in cash and industry services, as well as the opportunity to be merchandised in Albertsons banner supermarkets.

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Gap, J Crew, and Abercrombie: The retail comeback stories you need to know

Inside Retail

The years are the 90s and early 2000s. Denim and preppiness with a professional edge are ruling the fashion world, especially for millennials, who were then in their junior high, high school, college, and first-job years. Three retailers in particular seemed to just get it when it comes to this audience: Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, and J Crew. Then, suddenly, a combination of The Great Recession, changing style preferences, and an urgent need for omnichannel operations caused this mighty power

Fashion 130
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Smart Tools & Strong Teams: A People-First Approach to AI in Sales

Speaker: Matt Sunshine, CEO at The Center for Sales Strategy

AI isn’t replacing salespeople—it’s empowering them. The most forward-thinking sales organizations are using AI to enhance human performance rather than eliminate it. From coaching and messaging to prospecting and pipeline accountability, artificial intelligence is giving managers and SDRs the new tools they need to work smarter, sell better, and close more.

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Halfords Revs Up Omnichannel Customer Engagement with Aptos Technology

365 Retail

Aptos , a leader in unified commerce solutions, announced today that Halfords has recently extended its use of Aptos software to support its customer engagement and store operations strategies. Halfords is leveraging Aptos POS, CRM and Sales Audit applications, with each of these solutions working together to help Halfords deliver inspiring journeys to millions of customers each year.

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Moshi Moshi eyes expansion beyond Thailand, targets 200 stores by 2025

Inside Retail

If you are a lifestyle retailer and you want to open a store in Thailand, you could do worse than to follow the real estate footprint of Moshi Moshi, and as Moshi Moshi itself prepares to step out of its native country and expand overseas for the first time, you might want to monitor where they go pretty closely. Thailands mashup of Smiggle, Daiso and Miniso now has a foothold in 158 locations in 59 of Thailands 76 provinces plus Greater Bangkok.

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Panpuri CEO Vorravit Siripark talks Kose acquisition and future of Thai beauty

Inside Retail

Japanese beauty giant Kose has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of Bangkok-based beauty and wellness brand Panpuri from Lakeshore Capital and shareholders. The move came less than four months after the Thai luxury wellness brand opened its first overseas store in Hong Kongs K11 Musea. Kose aims to expand to three or four stores in Hong Kong and establish its main office there, capitalising on the citys status as a strategic gateway to the region.

Marketing 130
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B&Q acquires 5 Homebase UK stores

Retail Gazette

B&Q is set to acquire five Homebase stores in the UK for 2.5m following the chain’s collapse last year. The stores in Altrincham, Basingstoke, Biggleswade, Leamington Spa and Worcester will join the DIY giant’s portfolio, and store staff will be transferred across. B&Q said the deal will add a combined 25,000 sqm to its store estate and aims to begin converting the spaces to its banner in the Spring.

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Pricer Plaza now available on Google Cloud Marketplace

Retail Focus

Pricer , the leading in-store automation andcommunication solutions provider, has announced its availability on Google Cloud Marketplace, allowing retailers to quickly deploy and seamlessly integrate Pricers ESLsolutions within their Google Cloud engagement as part of their digital transformation strategies for their store networks. Google Cloud Marketplace offers a universal catalogue of solutions, both from Google Cloud and its certified best-in-class technology partners, which help enterprise

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Aldi toasts ‘best Christmas ever’ as sales top £1.6bn

Retail Gazette

Aldi has recorded its “best Christmas ever” as sales rose to 1.6bn thanks to shoppers trading up over the holiday period. The discounter reported a 3.4% increase in total sales in the four weeks to Christmas Eve, while its seasonal products jumped 10% year on year and its premium Specially Selected range surged 12%. Monday 23 December was the supermarkets busiest ever trading day as it served nearly 3 million customers.

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AI In The Aisles: The Executives Guide To Better In-Store Experiences

Speaker: Steve Worthy, MBA

The rapid rise of AI-powered displays, touchless technology, and sensory marketing is reshaping the future of in-store engagement. Yet for many retail executives, the real challenge is not identifying new tools - it is knowing which signals to trust, which inputs to prioritize, and how to architect decisions that elevate in-store leadership rather than dilute it.

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Instacart Expands B2B Ad Reach Through New Partnership with Foodservice Solution Cut+Dry

Retail TouchPoints

Instacart is scaling the reach of its retail media technology, Carrot Ads , to give advertisers access to the multibillion-dollar foodservice industry through a new partnership with the B2B ecommerce ordering platform Cut+Dry. Cut+Dry which serves independent foodservice distributors and manufacturers such as restaurants and catering services will integrate Carrot Ads technology across its platform over the next few quarters, offering CPG brands direct access to buyers and unlocking new revenu

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Loyalty Redefined

365 Retail

Whether it is your local coffee shop, favourite supermarket, airline of choice or business hotel chain, the principles of loyalty programmes have been unchanged for decades. It is a basic bribe; some form of points are accrued based on the frequency of visited value of spend, and the points can then be redeemed for something of perceived value, such as a discount or complimentary item.

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London Designer Outlet celebrates bumper 2024 as outlet retail continues to thrive

A1 Retail

The designer outlet reported a five percent rise in sales during 2024, including its best Black Friday and Boxing Day ever with over 3.4m taken during the Christmas week The past 12 months saw 11 new lettings and relocations totalling 15,759 sq ft Footfall grew by two percent thanks to another action-packed events calendar at Wembley London Designer Outlet (LDO) has announced that during the course of 2024 sales figures grew by five percent to over 103m.

Location 103
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Amazon Fresh launches ‘London’s best value meal deal’ for £1

Retail Gazette

Amazon Fresh has launched what it described as “Londons best value meal deal” at just 1 for shoppers throughout January. Available from 6 to 31 January in the retailers stores across the capital, customers can buy a main, snack and drink from the 3.90 meal deal range for just 1. The grocery business’s 5.50 premium meal deal is not included within the offer.

Checkout 111
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New Research-Backed Strategies to Empower Managers as Culture & Engagement Leaders

Speaker: Beth Sunshine, SVP, Up Your Culture

When culture isn’t consistently lived out across the organization, engagement suffers—and it often starts with a disconnect at the top. In this session, Beth Sunshine, SVP of Up Your Culture at The Center for Sales Strategy, will reveal how HR and executive leaders can close the gap between vision and execution by equipping frontline and mid-level managers to become culture carriers.

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Holland & Barrett upsizes on Oxford Street, opening their latest wellness destination on The Langham Estate

Retail Focus

Holland & Barrett joined The Langham Estate at 146/148 Oxford Street on 20 December, relocating from 52 Oxford Street as part of its strategic expansion on the famous shopping thoroughfare. The deal takes the 11.3-acre Estates total ground floor retail to 87.5% let, with a number of further deals in progress as demand for prime retail space in the West End continues.

Location 148
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Alibaba’s Accio AI search engine hits 500,000 SME user milestone

Retail Times

Retail Times publishes international & UK retail news covering products, data, tech, packaging, people, research, comment and more besides! Alibaba International proudly announces that its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered business-to-business (B2B) search engine for product sourcing, Accio, has reached a significant milestone since its launch in November 2024, currently boasting over 500,000 small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) users.

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Sodexo Plans Nearly 100 Cashierless Campus ‘Food Hives’

Retail TouchPoints

Campus foodservice leader Sodexo will open nearly 100 Food Hive markets on college campuses by 2026, beginning with the approximately 30 locations opening during the 2024-2025 academic year. The cashless convenience stores will have a community focus, supporting local partners and minority- and women-owned businesses by featuring their products and other healthy options for student consumers.

Planning 278
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The O2 celebrates highest volume of visitors and sales ever recorded

Retail Focus

The O2, the live entertainment, leisure, and retail destination, has recorded its best-ever year for sales and footfall. These standout results have been strengthened by significant leasing across the Entertainment District and Outlet Shopping at The O2, as well as the growing importance of social spending, and reaffirm The O2s position as a market-leading retail and leisure destination in the UK.

Shopping 148
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Breaking The Commerce Bottleneck: Your SAP Exit Plan Starts Now

Speaker: Jason Cottrell and Gireesh Sahukar

Retailers know the clock is ticking–legacy SAP Commerce support ends in 2026. Legacy platforms are becoming a liability burdened by complexity, rigidity, and mounting operational costs. But modernization isn’t just about swapping out systems, it’s about preparing for a future shaped by real-time interactions, AI powered buying assistants, and flexible commerce architecture.

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Sanjay Puri Architects designs Mumbai boutique to reflect "the future of Indian fashion"

Dezeen

Cobalt blue floors, reflective chrome furniture and a column of yarn balls come together to create the futuristic interior of the Nezo boutique in Mumbai by local studio Sanjay Puri Architects. Nezo 's 1,800-square-foot showroom serves as a platform to unite emerging fashion brands from across India and was designed by Sanjay Puri Architects to reflect its goal of empowering women through modern silhouettes.

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Shopkeepers who sell vapes to children deserve harsher punishments, according to BAT research

Retail Times

Retail Times publishes international & UK retail news covering products, data, tech, packaging, people, research, comment and more besides! The Government must introduce tougher punishments on retailers in order to tackle underage vaping and curb illicit vape sales, according to a newstudyof almost 6,000 members of the public. More than half of those polled dismissed the Governments plans to introduce 200 on- the-spot fines for shopkeepers caught illegally selling vapes to children as too [&

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Waterstones plots a dozen new stores for 2025

Retail Gazette

Waterstones boss James Daunt plans to open dozens of new bookshops this year following a solid Christmas trading. The chief executive, who also manages Barnes & Noble in the US, said the business opened 12 new stores in the UK last year and is looking to do that or more in 2025. It comes as Daunt revealed another successful festive season for Waterstones, boosted by the last weekend of trading before Christmas Day.

Planning 124
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B&Q to Acquire Five UK Homebase Stores in £2.5 Million Deal

365 Retail

B&Q announces today that it has reached agreement to acquire five leasehold stores in the UK, currently trading as Homebase, for a total purchase price of 2.5 m. This follows the agreement to buy three stores currently trading as Homebase in the Republic of Ireland announced on 24 December 2024, and further complements and strengthens B&Qs existing network of stores.

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Humans + Agents = Rethinking Enterprise Commerce with AI

AI agents already analyze trends, draft content, and trigger actions across leading commerce platforms. Yet most organizations still rely on workflows built for human‑only teams, losing speed, margin, and customer loyalty. Humans + Agents: Rethinking Enterprise Commerce in the Age of AI Collaboration shows how to close that gap. In one concise read you’ll see where agent gains surface first, how early adopters prove ROI, and which lean controls keep innovation moving without risking data or bran

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Alcohol-free wine brand Wednesday’s Domaine secures Ocado listing & doubles revenue in December

Retail Times

Retail Times publishes international & UK retail news covering products, data, tech, packaging, people, research, comment and more besides! Wednesdays Domaine will be bringing a selection of their premium alcohol-free wines to Ocado in 2025. Launching on the 6th January, Piquant, a still white, Cuve, a sparkling ros, and Vignette, a full bodied red, will be available from the UKs biggest online-only supermarket.

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Wedding dress designer George Elsissa fined for ripping off staff

Inside Retail

Sydney-based wedding dress designer 10 Foster Street needs to pay $51,604 in penalty and back pay entitlements after failing to act on Fair Work Ombudsman’s (FWO) compliance notices. The Federal Circuit and Family Courtimposed a $30,000 penalty against 10 Foster Street formerly trading as George Elsissa and ordered it to pay back pay the workers $21,604, plus superannuation and interest.

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Kaytea enters the functional tea space with Hydro Infusions Electrolyte blends

Retail Times

Retail Times publishes international & UK retail news covering products, data, tech, packaging, people, research, comment and more besides! Challenger tea brand,KAYTEA,a leading voice in the RTD Ice Tea sector, has entered the functional tea space with a new range of Electrolyte Infused Blends. Naturally unsweetened, the New!Hydro Infusionswhole leaf teabags blend botanicals and natural fruit flavours with electrolytes for hydration and energy with no artificial sweeteners or sugary extras.

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Data: Retailers hit with £1.51bn in returns after Christmas rush

Retail Gazette

As Brits returned to work after the festive break, 1.51bn worth of unwanted gifts and goods have made their way back to retailers, according to home delivery specialist Parcelhero. Data released by the firm found that post-Christmas returns surged by 6.8% on 2 January, compared to the same day in 2024. Royal Mail also reported a 52% increase in returns compared to a typical day from the previous month.

Returns 64
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5 Tips for a Winning Category Management Strategy in 2025

Category Management is a cornerstone of a successful retail strategy. While it promotes collaboration between manufacturers and retailers to optimize category performance, challenges persist in its effective implementation due to hurdles in communication and collaboration across teams and partners, and more. In this guide, we outline five essential strategies for success in 2025 that will touch on all the essential pieces of a successful strategy and implementation.

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TGI Fridays announces range of vegan dishes ahead of Veganuary and new Bubble Tea Mocktails

Retail Times

Retail Times publishes international & UK retail news covering products, data, tech, packaging, people, research, comment and more besides! TGI FridaysTM, the original American cocktail bar and restaurant, is kicking off 2025 with a deliciously meat-free twist perfect forVeganuary.The menu will make it easier for anyone to go vegan with their exciting lineup of indulgent dishes perfect for vegans, vegetarians, and the simply curious.

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Guess to launch popup beach club in Queensland

Inside Retail

Guess, in partnership with La Luna Beach Club, will open the brand’s first ‘floating beach club’ in Australia, in Queensland. The event will take over the space to feature Guess items, including beach towels, sun lounges, cushions, umbrellas, and bar accessories at the popup beach club from January 23 to 31. It will showcase the items in shades of burnt orange and sunset yellow colour palette for a full Guess experience.

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Boots Hearingcare launches The Great Big Hearing Test awareness month to help the nation hear better

Retail Times

Retail Times publishes international & UK retail news covering products, data, tech, packaging, people, research, comment and more besides! Boots Hearingcarehas launched its own awareness month The Great Big Hearing Test as one in six Brits withhearing lossreveal it took them over 10 years to get their hearing tested, after first noticing issues with their ears.

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Woolworths seeks clearance to buy Beak & Johnston

Inside Retail

Woolworths has filed with New Zealand’s competition regulator, the Commerce Commission, for clearance to take over the New Zealand arm of small goods and ready-meals supplier Beak & Johnston. Beak & Johnson manufactures chilled and frozen ready-to-eat meals, soups and cooked meats under the Pitango, Artisano, Ready Chef, Beak & Sons, Strength Meals and home label brands.

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Cut Costs & Complexity: Smarter Fulfillment for Home, Furniture & DIY Brands

Late deliveries. Split shipments. Spiraling freight costs. For home, furniture, and DIY brands, fulfillment has never been more complex—or more critical. This report outlines how a smarter, AI-ready order management system (OMS) helps you reduce shipping costs, streamline project-based fulfillment, and ensure accurate inventory across every channel.