Inside Retail

JANUARY 8, 2025

Christmas and end-of-year sales are big business for retailers but they also drive enormous returns. The high volumes of unwanted gifts and remorseful sale purchases have implications beyond the bottom line the environmental impact of emissions, repackaging and damaged goods is becoming excessive. The Australia Institute projected an estimated $1 billion worth of unwanted Christmas gift waste in 2024, with 27 per cent of Australians expected to receive gifts they will not use.

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Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 8, 2025

Ulta Beauty has teamed up with Instacart to offer same-day delivery from its more than 1,400 stores acrossthe U.S. in as fast as one hour. Instacart customers can now shop a wide selection of skin care, hair care, cosmetics, fragrances and wellness products from Ulta. The partnership also integrates Ulta Beauty Rewards into the Instacart app , allowing members to earn points on every Ulta Beauty purchase made via Instacart by linking their accounts through Ulta Beauty’s storefront.

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Retail Wire

JANUARY 8, 2025

Cracker Barrel is heating up this winter with delicious new menu offerings.

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Retail Focus

JANUARY 7, 2025

Aldi is set to continue its expansion in Scotland, confirming today it plans to invest more than 40m over the next two years, opening three new stores in Arbroath, Baillieston and Kirkintilloch in 2025. The investment supports the retailers growth ambitions north of the border and will allow it to keep up with growing consumer demand. In 2024, Aldi celebrated 30 years in Scotland, having opened its first store in Kilmarnock in 1994.

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Consumer

Retail Gazette

JANUARY 8, 2025

Home Bargains billionaire owner has paid himself more than 1bn as the discount chains sales topped 4.2bn. Tom Morris, who owns 98% of TJ Morris, the firm behind the retailer, received the majority of the 1.22bn in dividends and asset distributions last year, CityAM reported. The payout came as pre-tax profits for Home Bargains surged 35% to 454.8m in the year to 30 June, up from 336.5m.

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Inside Retail

JANUARY 10, 2025

As head of digital at Metcash’s Independent Hardware Group (IHG), the $2.1 billion business behind Mitre 10 and Home Hardware, Anna Kismet is a firm believer in using technology to solve unique business problems. One problem she has been working on since joining IHG in 2022 is how to manage the backend systems and processes for a business, Mitre 10, with over 500 stores that are all individually owned and operated. “From a technology point of view, you have multiple point-of-sale sys

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Retail Wire

JANUARY 6, 2025

Trader Joe's continues to expand its footprint.

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Retail Focus

JANUARY 6, 2025

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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Retail Gazette

JANUARY 6, 2025

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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Inside Retail

JANUARY 6, 2025

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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Speaker: Becky Parisotto

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Fulfillment

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 6, 2025

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

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Retail Wire

JANUARY 6, 2025

Costco's Kirkland Signature brand "Severe Cold and Flu Plus Congestion" medication may contain foreign material.

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Retail Focus

JANUARY 8, 2025

This Christmas, UK shoppers showed a clear shift towards sensible spending, prioritising useful, practical gifts over luxury and indulgence. New data from leading eCommerce provider Visualsoft saw that while overall Christmas revenue dropped by 4% compared to 2023, average order value (AOV) rose by 21%, reflecting the growing impact of thoughtful shopping and retailer incentives.

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Retail Dive

JANUARY 7, 2025

The stores are being shuttered as part of “routine store location evaluation and optimization,” according to a company spokesperson.

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Location 138

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Customer Experience

Inside Retail

JANUARY 8, 2025

Australian retail sales saw significant year-on-year increase in November, largely attributed to the Black Friday sales. “Black Friday sales events proved once again to be a big hit, with widespread discounting and higher spending across all retail industries,” said Robert Ewing, head of business statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). “The popularity of Black Friday sales continues to grow with promotional activity now stretching across the entire month of Nov

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Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 9, 2025

Want to enjoy the best of the outdoors without, you know, actually going outside? Then the recently opened London flagship of The North Face is the place for you. The retailer, working with Mood Media , has created an experiential retail location equipped with a large-scale LED visual wall displaying curated content, carefully chosen music and even a custom fragrance, White Pepperwood, carrying the scent of the outdoors through the air.

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Retail Wire

JANUARY 11, 2025

Is Wendy's really giving Girl Scout cookie lovers what they want?

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Retail Focus

JANUARY 8, 2025

Ghalia BOUSTANI. Retail Consultant | Published author | Visiting lecturer Mass brand premiumisation has emerged as a pivotal trend in recent years, with brands striving to secure higher-value market segments while retaining their broad consumer appeal. This approach enables brands to boost profitability, elevate their image, and sustain growth in fiercely competitive markets.

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Retail Dive

JANUARY 6, 2025

By generation, millennials took on the most, while baby boomers took on the least, according to a recent LendingTree survey.

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Inside Retail

JANUARY 6, 2025

Shein is scaling its adoption of Cool Transfer Denim Printing technology by 90 per cent to boost sustainability in denim production. This method implemented in 2021 in partnership with NTX significantly reduces water and energy consumption while streamlining the manufacturing process. Last year, approximately 380,000 pieces of Shein denim apparel were made using Cool Transfer Denim Printing, saving more than 10,000 metric tonnes of water compared to traditional production methods.

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Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 7, 2025

With the holiday season out of the way, next to come is a wave of returns that will stretch into the new year. Given the heightened focus on return policies during this period, it is an opportune time for customer fulfillment leaders to raise awareness within their organizations about a persistent challenge confronting retailers: the rise in retail returns fraud.

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Retail Wire

JANUARY 8, 2025

The 2024 holiday shopping season broke sales records thanks to AI.

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Shopping 264

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Accounting

Retail Focus

JANUARY 11, 2025

Not only is the Super Bowl an important game for American fans, its one of the most significant sporting events of all. Across the world, close to 100 million people tune in for the final game of the NFL season, and to enjoy all the drama of this showpiece occasion. Like most major events, the Super Bowl brings certain benefits to the retail sector.

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Retail Gazette

JANUARY 10, 2025

Sainsbury’s is set to increase staff pay this year as it revealed it won grocery market share for the fifth consecutive Christmas. The supermarket giant will split a 5% pay rise for its hourly-paid staff into two separate rises in March and August, which it said will “allow us to navigate a challenging cost environment” It comes as Sainsbury’s enjoyed its “biggest-ever Christmas” as sales rose3.7% for the 16 weeks to 4 January, and 3.8% for the festive period

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Inside Retail

JANUARY 10, 2025

M&M’s has launched its first store in Australia after announcing the opening last month. The location, opening from January 6 to January 26 in Melbourne, features M&Ms chocolate wall and products made in Ballarat. M&M’s Melbourne, part of the partnership with the Australian Open, is the brand’s unofficial eighth store worldwide and the first in the Southern Hemisphere, drawing inspiration from M&Ms New York, London, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Berlin, Disney Springs, a

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Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 7, 2025

Ulta Beauty CEO Dave Kimbell will retire as CEO after 11 years with the company. Kecia Steelman, current President and COO, has been named as his successor, effective immediately. Steelman will now serve as President and CEO as well as joining the beauty retailers board, with Kimbell staying on in an advisory role through June 28, 2025. Kimbell became CEO of Ulta Beauty in 2021 after serving in executive roles with the company since 2014.

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Advertiser: ZoomInfo

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Planning

Retail Wire

JANUARY 9, 2025

Delta Air Lines is partnering with Uber and Google, while also launching its Delta Concierge AI assistant.

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Retail Focus

JANUARY 6, 2025

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.

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Retail Gazette

JANUARY 10, 2025

Tesco and Sainsburys have been crowned the winners of Christmas by Kantar as the pair outperformed the rest of the grocery market. Sales at Tesco rose 2.8% in the 13 weeks to 23 November, rising 3.8% in the six weeks to 4 January. It’s hold on the market rose to 28.5% – the highest of any supermarket – boosted by growth across its convenience, superstore and online channels.

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Inside Retail

JANUARY 7, 2025

Midas, Supre, and Sage & Clare have ranked the highest for Customer Service Experience in the Online CX Index , Australias first and only online retailer performance platform powered by real data. The Online CX Index, a partnership between Inside Retail and Humii, covered the customer service experience in December on metrics such as the availability of self-service support options, quality of on-site FAQs, live chat, email support, support responsiveness, resolution times, and overall quali

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Advertiser: Experience Retail Today

I’m getting in touch with the news that fashion retailer, Gina Trictot, has achieved 98% inventory accuracy thanks to its partnership with SML RFID. Please see the full press release below, including exclusive quotes.

Fashion