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Last updated: Tuesday, 13 October 2026
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Żabka Built the Retail System AI Needs Before AI Arrived
Żabka Group has grown from a traditional Polish convenience chain into a network of more than 13,000 stores, digital businesses and AI-powered operating tools. At NRF Europe in Paris, incoming CEO Tomasz Blicharski explained why the transformation started not with generative AI, but with stores, data, people and thousands of small operational decisions. Now, with Alimentation Couche-Tard pursuing control of the business, the capabilities built along the way are taking on even greater strategic significance.
Read moreM&S and Sephora Plan 100 UK Beauty Shop-in-Shops
M&S and Sephora plan to bring Sephora at M&S to 100 UK locations, starting in spring 2027, with a broader range online and in-store beauty advice.
Read moreDebenhams CEO Dan Finley on Rewriting Department Store Economics
Debenhams Group CEO Dan Finley says the retailer will not return to the British high street. Instead, the 248-year-old name is being rebuilt as a digital marketplace where stock risk sits with brands, AI powers decisions behind the scenes and almost unlimited choice replaces the constraints of the physical department store. At NRF Europe in Paris, Finley explained why he believes that model can become the blueprint for the wider Group.
Read moreRetail Expansion: What JOE & THE JUICE and L'Osteria Won't Change
Growth leaders from JOE & THE JUICE, Granado and L'Osteria explained at NRF Europe in Paris why scale and brand consistency matter more than country count.
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Amazon Alexa+ Tablets Run Android, Sell at Target and Best Buy
Amazon is giving up some control of its tablet ecosystem by running Android with Google Play. In return, Alexa+ reaches more screens, including through rival retailers Best Buy and Target. Amazon's announcement makes no shopping claims, so any commerce effect is a question to watch, not a reported result.
Westwing's Next Act: Building a Premium Design Super Brand
Westwing is turning from an online shopping club into a premium design brand. Its own collection now drives about 65% of sales and over 90% of margins, while ten carefully paced stores lift online sales nearby.
Al-Futtaim's One Commerce Backbone Is Built for Agentic Retail
At NRF Europe in Paris, Al-Futtaim's Eric Meulien explained how one shared commerce architecture supports around 30 brand experiences, launches new sites in weeks, has never needed replatforming and is being reshaped for AI agents and 15-minute delivery.
Continente Sees Shopping Missions, Not Online and Offline
At NRF Europe in Paris, Continente's Guilherme Cardoso explained how Portugal's grocery leader serves three shopping missions through one store-based workflow, prices quick commerce for speed, uses picking data to fix stockouts and is preparing to let customers shop through AI agents.
ARKET and Aroma-Zone: Stores Built on Trust, Not Spectacle
At NRF Europe, ARKET's Jesper Magnusson and Aroma-Zone's Laure Kruithof argued that physical retail should stop chasing spectacle and focus on trust, expertise and relationships that bring customers back.
Żabka Built the Retail System AI Needs Before AI Arrived
Żabka spent a decade modernising stores, building data infrastructure and equipping franchisees before generative AI arrived, and incoming CEO Tomasz Blicharski says that sequence is why AI now works across its 13,000-plus stores.
M&S and Sephora Plan 100 UK Beauty Shop-in-Shops
Sephora at M&S is planned for selected UK stores and M&S.com from spring 2027. The partners aim for 100 locations but have not announced the first stores, brands or a completion date.
Debenhams CEO Dan Finley on Rewriting Department Store Economics
Debenhams will not return to the British high street. CEO Dan Finley is rebuilding the 248-year-old brand as a stock-lite digital marketplace of around 30,000 brands and partners, using AI for pricing, product content and discovery, and wants marketplace to become the organising model for the whole Group.
Retail Expansion: What JOE & THE JUICE and L'Osteria Won't Change
At NRF Europe, JOE & THE JUICE, Granado and L'Osteria argued that international expansion succeeds through market density, well-chosen partners and disciplined limits on local adaptation, not by planting flags in as many countries as possible.
Lagardère Travel Retail's Real Growth Problem: Orchestration
Lagardère Travel Retail's Charlotte Delmas told NRF Europe that growth created complexity, so the group set up a dedicated openings team, cleaned up its processes and adopted Asana to manage the dependencies behind every launch.
Groceryshop 2026: Value, GLP-1s and the New Grocery Shopper
At Groceryshop 2026 in Las Vegas, NielsenIQ, Sam's Club and Chobani described a grocery shopper transformed by stretched budgets and GLP-1 medications, with value now assembled trip by trip rather than found on a shelf tag.
Groceryshop 2026: AI Agents Are Now Building the Grocery Basket
At Groceryshop 2026 in Las Vegas, Instacart, DoorDash and Kroger showed AI agents that assemble entire grocery baskets, while value-seeking shoppers, GLP-1 medications and in-store retail media are reshaping what goes into the basket and who influences it.
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Department Store
More Department Store
Debenhams CEO Dan Finley on Rewriting Department Store Economics
Debenhams will not return to the British high street. CEO Dan Finley is rebuilding the 248-year-old brand as a stock-lite digital marketplace of around 30,000 brands and partners, using AI for pricing, product content and discovery, and wants marketplace to become the organising model for the whole Group.
John Lewis Is Turning Its Christmas Storytelling Machine Into an Always-On Content Studio
John Lewis has built a permanent content studio inside its Oxford Street flagship to produce social video, reviews and creator collaborations all year round. The Box Studio extends the storytelling behind its famous Christmas adverts into an everyday retail capability, starting with Gift List, a vodcast hosted by Angela Scanlon with Louis Theroux as first guest.
Ingka Centres: "We Are a Meeting Place, Not a Shopping Centre"
At Shoptalk Europe 2026, Ingka Centres' Kajsa Gihan argued the future of physical retail is not shopping - it is meeting places people actively choose to spend time in, backed by 37 locations, 320 million annual visitors and a China rollout that drew 24 million visits.
Why 5 Million People Still Visit SM Supermalls Every Day Despite the Rise of E-commerce
SM Supermalls draws about 5 million shoppers a day across 90 Philippine and 10 Chinese malls. President Steven Tan credits customer-first innovation, community-focused design and inclusivity for double-digit 2025 growth despite e-commerce headwinds.
Peter Ruis: John Lewis Is Betting on AI, Resale and Expert Service
Speaking on the Headliner Stage at Shoptalk Europe 2026 in Barcelona, John Lewis Managing Director Peter Ruis said the biggest threat to the retailer is no longer another department store. Instead it is competing with specialist brands, social platforms, AI search engines, marketplaces and technology giants, and is responding with AI-led discovery paired with human product expertise across stores, web and contact centres.
Frasers Group & Microsoft Tackle AI-Native Retail
Retailers must adapt to AI-native shoppers now, as conversational AI will drive trillions in commerce by 2030, necessitating richer data and strategic partnerships for product visibility.
How Macy’s is Reinventing Private Brands
Under CEO Tony Spring, Macy's is reinventing its 25+ private brands, launching three new lines like 'On 34th' and 'Mode of One' to boost differentiation and capture evolving consumer trends.
Global Expansion Strategies of Valentino and Victoria's Secrets
Valentino and Victoria's Secret drive global expansion by tailoring strategies to regional differences, leveraging diverse business models, and achieving significant digital commerce success, such as Victoria's Secret moving 100,000 bras via livestream in China.
Electronics
More Electronics
Alex Baldock on Currys, AI and Retail's Industrial Revolution
Alex Baldock, then Currys CEO and now incoming Boots CEO, frames AI as a steam-power-scale shift and explains how 'home of AI' shows up in colleague tools, SMB services and a 75% UK market share in AI laptops.
SharkNinja, Currys, and DoorDash Show How AI Is Becoming Retail's Operating System
SharkNinja, Currys, and DoorDash are moving AI from experimentation to execution - embedding it into product development, operations, logistics, and search as a quiet but powerful force reshaping how retail works.
Best Buy's Supply Chain Transformation: Data, Culture and AI at Scale
Best Buy, a $42 billion electronics retailer, transformed its supply chain by leveraging a digital twin and "adolescent AI" to reduce costs and deliver 60% of online orders within one day.
How SharkNinja Is Winning the Small Appliance Market Through Relentless Innovation
SharkNinja achieved a 21% CAGR over 17 years in the 1% annual growth small appliance market by driving innovation from unmet consumer needs, rigorous testing, and a viral product development framework.
How Amazon is Now in the Sustainable Retail Game
Amazon opened its first physical "Second Chance Store" in London, selling returned and open-box items at up to 50% discount, aligning with growing consumer demand for sustainable and cost-effective shopping.
Frasers Group Widens Retail Holdings with Stakes in Currys and Boohoo
Frasers Group expanded its retail portfolio with an 8.9% stake in Currys and a 5% stake in Boohoo, reinforcing its strategy of growth through strategic investments.
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Mango Style Club: Loyalty Becomes a European Growth Engine
Mango has expanded its Style Club loyalty programme into the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Beyond points and rewards, the three-tier programme recognises store visits, returns, collections, recycling and newsletter sign-ups, giving Mango a richer first-party view of its 42 million loyalty customers as it expands stores and e-commerce together.
Primark Bets on Home Delivery Without Abandoning the Store
Associated British Foods confirmed on 10 September 2026 that Primark will offer home delivery in Great Britain in the future, supported by a highly automated fulfilment facility in Sheffield. No launch date, delivery pricing or returns policy has been disclosed. The commercial test is whether delivery creates incremental demand or simply moves profitable store transactions into a costlier channel.
Pentland Brands Says Retail AI Success Depends on Business Value, Not Hype
Pentland Brands VP Ana Machado da Silva and Shopify Field CTO Peyman Naeini told Shoptalk Europe 2026 that retail AI wins come from ROI discipline, strong data foundations and enterprise-wide adoption, not tool count.
Why Christian Louboutin's CEO Hired Jaden Smith as Men's Creative Director
Christian Louboutin CEO Alexis Mourot told Shoptalk that radical innovation has to come from outside the house, which is why he hired Jaden Smith as the Maison's first Men's Creative Director. He explained how the Miss Z Pump became the brand's number one bestseller within a year, introduced the Everlasting Red sole, and detailed the five filters (joy, audacity, Parisian identity, authenticity and timelessness, partnership and craftsmanship) that decide every collaboration Christian Louboutin says yes or no to.
Zalando Co-CEO David Schröder: AI Is Rewriting Fashion Retail
Zalando co-CEO David Schröder says AI is already transforming fashion retail at scale, with 90% AI-generated Concept Store content, a 10% drop in returns from AI size recommendations, and 10 million users on its AI shopping assistant. He warns Europe risks ceding commerce infrastructure unless it fixes scaling, growth capital, and single-market conditions for technology companies.
UNIQLO's Clare Waight Keller on Fabric, Fit and the Future of Fashion
UNIQLO Creative Director Clare Waight Keller outlined a fabric-led, inclusive fashion philosophy now driving the Japanese retailer's global momentum, with half-year revenue up nearly 15 percent and net profit up nearly 20 percent.
Daniel Herrmann's Playbook for Building COS Into a Global Fashion Force
COS Managing Director Daniel Herrmann states that COS has achieved global fashion prominence through consistent execution and a clear strategy focused on disciplined product, robust brand positioning, and significant investment in both physical and digital customer experiences.
Marine Layer's Patch Bar Shows Why Customisation Is Becoming Core to Modern Retail
Marine Layer successfully piloted a "Patch Bar" experience in NYC, making customisation the core offering, which generated personalized products and highlighted a future retail model focused on co-creation.
Grocery
More GroceryContinente Sees Shopping Missions, Not Online and Offline
At NRF Europe in Paris, Continente's Guilherme Cardoso explained how Portugal's grocery leader serves three shopping missions through one store-based workflow, prices quick commerce for speed, uses picking data to fix stockouts and is preparing to let customers shop through AI agents.
Żabka Built the Retail System AI Needs Before AI Arrived
Żabka spent a decade modernising stores, building data infrastructure and equipping franchisees before generative AI arrived, and incoming CEO Tomasz Blicharski says that sequence is why AI now works across its 13,000-plus stores.
Groceryshop 2026: Value, GLP-1s and the New Grocery Shopper
At Groceryshop 2026 in Las Vegas, NielsenIQ, Sam's Club and Chobani described a grocery shopper transformed by stretched budgets and GLP-1 medications, with value now assembled trip by trip rather than found on a shelf tag.
Groceryshop 2026: AI Agents Are Now Building the Grocery Basket
At Groceryshop 2026 in Las Vegas, Instacart, DoorDash and Kroger showed AI agents that assemble entire grocery baskets, while value-seeking shoppers, GLP-1 medications and in-store retail media are reshaping what goes into the basket and who influences it.
M&S Food Put Its Entire Range on Machine Learning
At NRF Europe in Paris, M&S Food Head of Supply Chain Susan Massicot explained how the retailer moved its entire food operation onto RELEX machine learning over four years, why changing ways of working proved harder than the technology, and why AI across systems is the next step.
BM Is Rebuilding the Spanish Supermarket Shoppers Thought Lost
At its La Finca flagship in Madrid, BM combines the craft of a traditional Spanish market with modern retail technology, deep assortments, specialist fresh food counters and measured local sourcing to build a supermarket experience shoppers thought had disappeared.
Target and OpenAI Reveal How Retail Will Shift From "Using AI" to "Running on AI" in 2026
Target and OpenAI confirm that in 2026, retail is transitioning from "using AI" to "running on AI," with Target deploying AI to enhance productivity for 18,000 team members and revolutionize customer and vendor experiences.
How FairPrice Group Is Redefining Grocery Retail With AI and Omnichannel Innovation
FairPrice Group, Singapore's largest grocer with nearly 60% market share, leverages AI and omnichannel strategies to enhance profitability and customer experience while upholding its social mission.
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More retail intelligence from the archive
A rotating selection of our deeper reporting - refreshed daily.
- Is Groves $15M Investment Enough to Return To Debt Free Future
- NRF's Global Retail Revolution: Big Show Hits Europe
- Responsible AI: Boost Profits & Customer Trust
- PANGAIA: Pioneering Earth-Positive Fashion Through Science and Purpose
- How to Navigate the Future of Retail Supply Chains
- Global Expansion Strategies of Valentino and Victoria's Secrets
- Starbucks India, Pernod Ricard: AI's Long-Term Power
- Pandora Unlocks AI Magic: Crafting Delightful Customer Journeys
- The AI Revolution in Fashion Retail: Amazon's Innovative Approach
- How To Rejuvenate An 80-Year-Old Brand
- What Is the Retail Economic Outlook for APAC?
- How Zalando's AI Enhances Personalization
- Twilio at NRF APAC: Enhance Customer Engagement
- Transforming Fashion for the Digital Age
- Chalhoub, Holland & Barrett Ace Omnichannel at Shoptalk
- UNIQLO’s Digital Transformation Insights
- The Evolution of Retail: Insights from Steve Dennis at NRF Singapore
- How 7-Eleven’s CEO Is Leading the Way
- How WorkJam's CEO Is Transforming Retail Workforce Management (Podcast)
- ME+EM: Cultivating Customer Loyalty in E-Commerce
- Gen Z Attention: How Retail Can Conquer 47 Seconds
- Galeries Lafayette CEO Redefines Luxury Department Stores
- NRF APAC 2024: Nike, Domino's & Moët Visionaries
- Milani Cosmetics, A.K.A. Brands: Build Retail Communities
- AlixPartners' Matt Clark: Avoiding Disruption in 2024 Retail
- Carrefour's Strategic Vision for Inclusivity and Diversity
- Fabletics: Pioneering a Flexible Retail Model
- Myer's Strategic Revival: Pioneering Customer-Centric Retail Innovation
- The Secrets Behind Sephora's Success
- Amazon´s Retail Media Journey: A Conversation with Colleen Aubrey