Retail news

• Mango founder Isak Andic dies in mountain accident

  14-12-2024 19:23 via ft.com
  Turkey-born fashion retailer built global empire with annual sales of €3bn
  
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• Adidas appoints Birgit Kretschmer as new CFO

  31-07-2026 10:46
  
  Birgit Kretschmer has been named as the new adidas chief financial officer, effective from September 1 2026.
  She will be taking over from the current chief financial officer, Harm Ohlmeyer, who has decided not to extend his executive board mandate.
  Kretschmer has over 30 years of experience in finance and is returning to the firm from fashion retailer C&A to take this position. She previously spent 25 years at the company, in various positions including CFO of adidas International BV, senior
  
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• Sainsbury’s to sell Argos to Swift Partners in £120m deal

  31-07-2026 10:14 via theretailbulletin.com
  Sainsbury’s is to sell Argos to Swift Partners in a £120 million deal as it looks to focus on its food business. Swift is a new…
  
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• Majestic unveils new Trowbridge store as part of £4m expansion

  31-07-2026 10:12 via theretailbulletin.com
  Majestic has unveiled the first new store of its current financial year as part of a £4 million investment in new sites. The branch on Trowbridge’s…
  
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• Retail sales growth stalls in second half of July

  31-07-2026 09:52
  
  UK retail sales growth slowed sharply during the final two weeks of July as cautious consumers pulled back on discretionary spending.
  Total like-for-like sales across fashion, lifestyle and homeware rose 2.7 per cent compared with July 2025, according to BDO’s latest High Street Sales Tracker.
  However, BDO said growth was only slightly above inflation, indicating that the volume of goods sold increased marginally year on year.
  In-store sales climbed 3.8 per cent, marking their strongest pe
  
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• Sainsbury’s strikes deal to sell Argos for £120mn to Swift Partners

  31-07-2026 09:48 via ft.com
  Sale marks UK retailer’s second attempt to offload general merchandise chain as it focuses on its core food business
  
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• TikTok Shop hits 300,000 UK small business sellers as live sales surge

  31-07-2026 09:24
  
  More than 300,000 UK small businesses are now selling through TikTok Shop, the company has confirmed.
  TikTok Shop said the number of new sellers joining had increased 200 per cent year on year, while sales generated through TikTok Shop Live sessions rose 55 per cent.
  More than 6,000 live shopping broadcasts now take place on the platform in the UK each day.
  TikTok Shop said independent retailers were increasingly using live commerce to reach shoppers beyond their local communities, answer produc
  
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• Sainsbury’s agrees £120m Argos sale as Usdaw vows to protect jobs

  31-07-2026 09:10
  
  Sainsbury’s has agreed to sell Argos to newly formed investment company Swift Partners for at least £120m.
  Swift Partners was established for the acquisition by former Co-op boss Richard Pennycook, former Morrisons finance chief Trevor Strain and True Capital co-founder Matt Truman.
  The deal includes Argos’ standalone shops, stores inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets, sales channels, brands and logistics network, as well as Argos Care and Argos Pet Insurance.
  Swift will also
  
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• Waitrose accelerates refrigeration investment to combat heatwaves

  31-07-2026 08:45 via theretailbulletin.com
  Waitrose is investing in new refrigeration technology as it looks to improve the availability of chilled products in-store during heatwaves. Following this summer’s extreme heat, the…
  
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• eBay completes acquisition of fashion marketplace Depop

  31-07-2026 08:30 via theretailbulletin.com
  eBay has completed its acquisition of Depop, the C2C fashion marketplace. As part of eBay, Depop will operate as a complementary business while retaining its own…
  
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• Hammerson snaps up £218m stake in Manchester Arndale

  31-07-2026 08:14
  
  Hammerson has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Manchester Arndale for £218m as the shopping centre owner expands its portfolio with its first major external acquisition in more than a decade.
  The deal, which completed on 29 July, values the entire shopping centre at around £436m and represents a topped-up net initial yield of 7.8 per cent.
  Hammerson said the acquisition would increase its scale and extend its geographic footprint into one of the UK’s largest retail markets.
  Manc
  
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• Amazon and Walmart AI ‘can spot false Made in USA claims but fail to flag them’

  31-07-2026 08:09
  
  Amazon and Walmart’s AI shopping assistants can detect potentially fraudulent “Made in USA” product claims but are not being used to flag the listings, a new study has found.
  Research from Columbia Law School’s Center for Law and the Economy found that Amazon’s Alexa for Shopping and Walmart’s Sparky could identify discrepancies between products marketed as American-made and information showing they were imported or originated elsewhere.
  However, the study cla
  
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• Poundland owner joins race to buy Harvey Nichols

  31-07-2026 08:05
  
  Poundland owner Gordon Brothers has submitted a bid for Harvey Nichols as competition intensifies to acquire the loss-making luxury department store chain.
  The US investment firm tabled an offer ahead of a deadline this week, joining Frasers Group and Next in the race to buy the retailer from its long-standing owner Sir Dickson Poon.
  Frasers and Next are understood to be the leading contenders, although Dubai-based luxury retail group Chalhoub and India’s Reliance Retail are among the inte
  
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• Tesco hits 600-store milestone in cleaning robot rollout

  31-07-2026 07:59
  
  Tesco has completed the initial phase of a major automation programme that has introduced autonomous cleaning robots across 600 of its Express stores.
  It partnered with industrial cleaning equipment specialist ICE to deploy the machines, in what the companies claim is the first rollout of its size within the UK convenience sector.
  The robots have been designed as “co-bots”, working alongside Tesco employees rather than replacing them.
  By carrying out routine floor cleaning, the machi
  
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• Hugo Boss investors snub Frasers’ £1.7bn takeover bid

  31-07-2026 07:52
  
  Hugo Boss shareholders have largely rejected Frasers Group’s £1.7bn takeover offer, despite the company tightening its grip on the German fashion brand.
  Just 7.3 per cent of Hugo Boss shares were tendered during the initial acceptance period, which closed on Monday 27 July.
  Frasers received acceptances covering 5.04m shares, taking its total holding and accepted shares to 37.58 per cent of Hugo Boss’ share capital and voting rights.
  The retail group directly owned a 30.28 per c
  
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• Is Wetherspoons too cheap to thrive in high-cost UK?

  31-07-2026 06:00 via ft.com
  Discounting pricing model that has underpinned Tim Martin’s pub empire is under increasing strain
  
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• Garmin watches are ugly. Why do runners love them so much?

  31-07-2026 06:00 via ft.com
  The clunky GPS timepiece remains the industry standard when it comes to durability, wearability and reliability
  
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• Opinion: how wellness is shaping the next-generation of retail destinations

  30-07-2026 17:57
  
  Wellness is no longer a seasonal trend. It has become a defining driver of consumer behaviour, reshaping how Londoners live, shop and spend their time, writes Harriett Renny, director of commercial leasing at Battersea Power Station.
  Across the capital, appetite for fitness studios, health clinics and athleisure brands has accelerated rapidly – signalling a clear shift in what people now expect from retail destinations.
  According to the latest Global Wellness Institute (GWI) research, the
  
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• Shark Beauty supports cancer charity Look Good Feel Better

  30-07-2026 17:42
  
  Shark Beauty has signed a long-term UK charity partnership with Look Good Feel Better, as the electrical beauty brand looks to support people affected by cancer through fundraising, volunteering and awareness activity.
  The SharkNinja-owned brand said the tie-up would focus on helping people manage the visible side effects of cancer treatment.
  Employee and customer campaigns are planned, alongside workshops and product sale donation initiatives later this year.
  Carolyn Anderson, VP marketing at S
  
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• Romeo Beckham stars in new Tommy Hilfiger denim campaign

  30-07-2026 17:11
  
  Tommy Hilfiger has unveiled its new Denim autumn 2026 campaign, starring Romeo Beckham.
  The campaign is set in The Mark Hotel in New York and shows Beckham playing host to a “new generation of fashion insiders”. Also featured in the campaign is Dutch tastemaker Yasmin Wijnaldum.
  It aims to continue on from past campaigns such as the fashion retailer’s TOMMY JEAN 2016 capsule collection campaign starring Lucky Blue Smith and Hailey Bieber, and its 2021 collaboration with the Rol
  
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• Rituals to launch new store at Springfields Designer Outlet

  30-07-2026 16:07
  
  Rituals Cosmetics is opening a new store at Springfields Designer Outlet.
  The news comes after Pizza Express opened a new site at the outlet a few weeks ago, which is “trading significantly ahead of targets” according to the business. 
  The new signings at Springfields Designer Outlet represent “another significant step” in the “continued growth” of its premium brand portfolio, the outlet said. 
  The launches come after the SLR-operated designer outlet
  
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• New Balance unveils first-ever factory garden

  30-07-2026 15:55
  
  Sportswear brand New Balance have presented its first-ever garden at its Made in UK factory in Flimby, Cumbria.
  It was devised in partnership with London-based jewellery designer Bleue Burnham and is a space for workers to rest and reflect. According to New Balance, the project is a celebration of its workers.
  The garden was designed by Bleue Wickham-Burnahm with the Lake District in mind, and features wildflowers, “undulating” flower beds and flowering cherry trees.
  The pair have al
  
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• The next Clubcard moment? How agentic AI is already revolutionising retail

  30-07-2026 15:51
  
  By former Asda Pricing lead, HyperFinity CCO and co-founder Thomas Hill.
   More than 30 years ago, Tesco launched its Clubcard. It was a revolutionary example of a retailer collecting data from consumers on a huge scale to offer personalised discounts and loyalty benefits. The scheme has been widely replicated across most retail outlets, but, decades later, Clubcard still reigns as the most-valued loyalty scheme.
  The ability for Tesco to intricately understand how consumers spend their money
  
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• Farmers need reliable water supplies to protect food production, NFU warns

  30-07-2026 15:38
  
  Farmers and growers need more reliable access to water as drought and extreme weather continues to put pressure on UK food production, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has warned.
  The call comes as drought has been declared in parts of the country following a third heatwave, with the UK also marking 50 years since the drought of 1976.
  The NFU said farmers are facing more periods of extreme weather with data from 10-year survey finding that 70 per cent of farmers had seen an increase in he
  
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• 5 ways retailers are tackling the UK’s growing tech waste problem

  30-07-2026 15:37
  
  Retailers across the UK are taking a bigger role in what happens to unwanted phones, laptops, cables and electrical goods once customers decide they have had enough of them.
  The approaches of different retailers vary. For example, some brands are offering cash or discounts for old devices, while others are taking unwanted electricals for recycling.
  The launch of different schemes has come at an important moment in the tech sector. Research commissioned by Currys found that UK households are sitt
  
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• Liberty’s retail manager on the return of the fabric department and the retailer’s next chapter

  30-07-2026 15:34
  
  This month, Liberty is putting one of its oldest categories at the centre of its retail strategy, with the relaunch of its fabrics department. The designer department store has seen customers returning to sewing, dressmaking and making things for themselves.
  The new department, which opened on July 20, has increased by a 140 per cent from 1,927 sq ft to 4,630 sq ft, bringing more than 2,500 fabrics together with private consultation areas, new collections, artist installations and plans for work
  
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• Burberry appoints former Pandora CEO Alexander Lacik as non-executive director

  30-07-2026 15:21 via theretailbulletin.com
  Burberry has appointed former Pandora chief executive Alexander Lacik as a non-executive director, with effect from 1 September. He will also join the nomination committee. Lacik…
  
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• Pets at Home appoints former M&S chief people officer

  30-07-2026 14:40
  
  Pets at Home has appointed Sarah Findlater as chief people officer for the wider Pets Group, covering Pets at Home, Vets for Pets and Pets Insurance.
  Findlater joins the retailer following a 27-year career at Marks & Spencer, where she most recently served as chief people officer.
  In the role, she was responsible for shaping the retailer’s culture, leadership and organisational performance.
  Pets at Home chief executive James Bailey said: “I am delighted that Sarah is joining us t
  
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• Majestic kicks off £4m investment in bricks and mortar with Trowbridge launch

  30-07-2026 13:04
  
  Majestic Wine has started a fresh investment in its store portfolio by unveiling its newest branch in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.  
  The launch, which forms the first opening of the wine retailer’s financial year, forms part of its commitment to invest £4m in its bricks and mortar estate during 2026/27. 
  Its plan includes the launch of at least four new stores and a comprehensive programme of improvements to its existing shops across the UK.    
  The Trowb
  
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• Amazon finds cases of AI causing runaway spending on tech projects

  30-07-2026 12:00 via ft.com
  E-commerce giant’s staff said the new technology had caused budget overruns that sometimes took months to detect
  
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