Everything we find normal online today, we owe to Amazon. But to become even more successful, the empire of Jeff Bezos will also have to break through in fashion and food. That cannot happen without physical stores, says retail expert Natalie Berg of NBK Retail.

The end of this month will also spell the end for Belgian fashion brand A.F. Vandevorst, the life-long dream of An Vandevorst en Filip Arickx - both former assistants to members of the Antwerp Six.

Swiss food group Nestlé saw its turnover go up in 2019, with pet foot brand Purina as strongest link in the chain. Bottled water, however, is a completely different story.

(advertorial) Tavola, the biennial trade fair for food professionals with a passion for taste, will take place from March 15 to 17 in Kortrijk Xpo this year. 500 strong market leaders and artisan producers will present a unique range of strictly selected delicatessen and delicious high-end products. 

Meal delivery company Takeaway.com has achieved a strong turnover growth last year, assisted by the acquisition of Delivery Hero in Germany. For the first time since the IPO in 2016, the company recorded a positive gross operating result.

Dutch retailer Hema plans to cross the Atlantic and conquer America: this year its first ten stores in Mexico are planned to open. There is even potential for 200 shops in Mexico, the Amsterdam-based company believes.

French luxury group Kering, owner of brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, has once again experienced a year of strong growth. However, the precarious situation in China is causing the French group significant headaches.

Luxembourg is joining the group of countries that have embraced the Nutri-Score food label, like France and Belgium. Nevertheless, the objective remains European harmonisation.

In the difficult Belgian market, Delhaize is struggling to grow but manages to increase its market share. Ahold Delhaize CEO Frans Muller has reservations about the increasing competition, saying "This can not go on."

2019 restored hope for French sports chain Decathlon, after a disappointing 2018: turnover increased by 9 % to 12.4 billion euros. However, there is no mention of the profit (which had deteriorated enormously in 2018).

As of September, Jon Abrahamsson Ring will be the CEO of Inter Ikea, the company that manages the intellectual property of the Swedish furniture chain. He has been a close associate of founder Ingvar Kamprad for four years.

In July, Jean-François van Boxmeer will step down as Heineken CEO after fifteen years at the helm. He is passing the torch on to Dutchman Dolf van den Brink, saying it is time to make way for the younger generation.

Bol.com is a superpower in the Benelux e-commerce sector, but its exact figures have long been a well-kept secret. In order to support its own share price, owner Ahold Delhaize has been considering more openness about the figures in recent months, but for fear of Amazon's expansion to the Netherlands, this plan has been abandoned.

Secretary-general Geoffroy Gersdorff has left Carrefour Belgium to take up a new position at the global headquarters of the retailer in Massy (near Paris). He becomes director of goods and purchasing food, with immediate effect.

(update) Dutch chain De Bijenkorf has confirmed it will create a French language version of its web shop to cater to France and the southern part of Belgium. Moreover, the company's German web shop will start delivering to Austria as well.

Belgian supermarket chain Colruyt is taking a stand against one of its biggest suppliers: empty spaces on the beverage shelves are appearing where products from Coca-Cola used to be. This is the result of an escalating conflict between the soft drinks producer and European purchasing alliance Agecore. What is going on in the background?

Swiss retailer Migros has sold its department store chain Globus to a joint venture of Austrian Signa and the Central Group from Thailand. The Austrians are building a department store empire throughout Europe, after acquiring (amongst others) Kaufhaus and Karstadt.

The European purchasing alliance Agecore is increasing the pressure on soft drink producer Coca-Cola. After Intermarché and Netto in France and Edeka in Germany, Belgian Colruyt is now also joining the boycott.

Zalando has expanded its loyalty program Zalando Plus to French consumers. Initially, however, the service is only available in Paris.

The collaboration between Dutch chains Jumbo and Hema, which they had already announced in November last year, started this morning with a festive ceremony in the Jumbo Food Market in Breda. Other stores in the Netherlands and Belgium will follow soon.

Lidl is rolling out its Lidl Plus loyalty app to Belgium. The programme provides customers with extra benefits, such as promotions via digital coupons. A payment option is in the pipeline.

Organic food chain Sequoia, owned by the French BBG group since last year, has been certified as a carbon-neutral company. The chain says this is a Belgian first.

FMCG giant Unilever continues to invest in ways to sell its ice cream brands Ben & Jerry's and Magnum directly to consumers. To this end, it is setting up a logistics network of around a thousand locations. The multinational also wants to explore the possibility of delivery by drone.

Felipe Dutra, CFO at the world's biggest brewery group AB InBev and trusted deputy of CEO Carlos Brito for the last fifteen years, has stepped down. The departure does not come as a surprise and is part of a wider restructuring at the top of the beer giant.

German supermarket chains such as Edeka and Rewe have achieved stronger growth figures in 2019 than hard discounters Aldi and Lidl. Which lessons are there to learn from this remarkable feat?

In France, dozens of companies (including giants like Carrefour and Danone) have signed a pact to change their approach to expiry dates. The initiative came from the Danish app Too Good To Go, which aims to combat food waste.

The very first event that RetailDetail organises at its new headquarters in Antwerp's Stadsfeestzaal shopping centre, has turned out to be an instant hit: all available tickets have been sold out.

The owner of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange, has issued a bid of thirty billion dollars for eBay. It is not the first time that the stock exchange company has shown interest in the bidding site.

Even Ikea is having a hard time in the declining British market: in Coventry, in the centre of England, Ikea is forced to permanently close its store. 352 employees lose their jobs.

Eyewear brand Ace & Tate has opened a store on Antwerp's luxury shopping street Schuttershofstraat. The interior has been decorated with recycled plastic waste, in an attempt to lower its carbon footprint.

French payment solution provider Worldline has acquired its compatriot and competitor Ingenico for 7.8 billion euros to form the world's fourth company in the field. The deal is partly paid in shares.

Owner JAB wants to float Jacobs Douwe Egberts to the stock exchange this spring, and has asked two banks to guide the process.