In order to further reduce its debts, French retail group Casino is selling six Géant hypermarkets and quite some real estate.

Irish fashion discounter Primark has seen its turnover grow 4 % in the fourth quarter as Christmas sales went surprisingly well.

Zalando may have found a new trick to limit the number of returns: an oversized tag should prevent people from wearing the clothes and then sending them back. Returns will only be accepted if the tag is still attached.

Vente-Unique, a discount platform for furniture, saw its turnover rise 14 %last year. It is the seventh time in a row they manage a double figure growth.

British fashion chain River Island River Island has announced it will close all its stores in Belgium and the Netherlands. All the stores would already close their doors this spring.

The award-winning book, written by RetailDetail's very own Jorg Snoeck and Pauline Neerman, continues its conquest. Following the successes of the Dutch, English and French version, there is now also a translation in Chinese.

Driverless 'supermarket cars' will start bringing groceries at home for American Ahold Delhaize subsidiary Stop & Shop. The proximity chain will be sending out mini-supermarkets on wheels around Boston.

With the departure of both River Island and New Look from the Meir, the future for Antwerp's main shopping street may look bleak. But the retailers aim to strike back: the shopping street of the future will offer more than just shops.

In order to safeguard our health and the planet's future, our eating patterns need to change drastically. New scientific advice makes a case for the limitation of using animal products once more.

After the departure of River Island, New Look is the latest fashion chain to leave Belgium. The British company has filed for bankruptcy for its Belgian activities. New Look only has six stores left in the country.

H&M is pulling the plug on Nyden, a Los Angeles-based subsidiary brand that was created to appeal to young people by working with influencers and celebrities. The brand barely lasted for a year. Meanwhile, the group is investing in innovative store concepts.

Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize is homing in on e-commerce: the chain partners with its online sibling Bol.com and makes it possible for affiliated entrepreneurs to offer their own webshop.

Amazon is fighting back against the reproaches they received concerning the destruction of millions of unsold goods. The French VAT regulation forces them and their suppliers to destroy the items, the company says.

After a week of protests, clothing manufacturers in Bangladesh have agreed to increase the wages of their employees. This was announced by the Bangladeshi Commerce Minister, who is appealing to the workers to return to their jobs after the intense period of protests. Except for at least a few hundred that is, who have been sacked for going on strike.

Hvisk, a brand that sells purses and accessories, has its eye on the Benelux. The colourful Danish brand wants to expand further into Europe and is working on that in Belgium, with the Netherlands to follow.

Ahold Delhaize has employed 500 robots in the United States: in its Giant, Martin’s and Stop & Shop stores, a robot by the name of Marty will be checking the floors to see if there is a fall hazard. Marty will also be scanning the store shelves for erroneous price tags and sold-out products.

At the beginning of the new year, RetailDetail has published some excellent results. While all the branches are growing, 2019 appears to be very promising.

Every year, Amazon destroys about three million unused products in France alone. Unsold goods that have spent too much time in the distribution centres are thrown away.

AB InBev is looking for money to settle its substantial debts: the world's largest brewing company has managed to raise 13.5 billion euros with a new bond offering and is also considering to float its Asian branch.

Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn will not leave Belgium, but rather double its number of stores. After the merger with Belgian chain Delhaize there was speculation that owner Ahold Delhaize would choose between its two chains, but instead they will both expand heavily in Belgium.

Ceconomy, parent company of MediaMarkt and Saturn, is putting its alliance with Fnac Darty on hold for now. The company wants to find a solution for its ongoing poor performance and financial troubles first.

Dutch online supermarket Picnic has seen its losses go from 5.8 million euro in 2016 to 45.5 million a year later, due to 100 million euros of investments that allowed it to double its turnover to 200 million euros.

Amazon's Dash buttons, which allow customers to order toilet paper or powder detergent at the push of a button, are illegal in Germany. This is the verdict of a German court, but Amazon refuses to leave it at that.

Amazon is introducing Continental Europe to its organic food label Whole Foods, at first to visitors to Amazon's sites in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

French supermarket chain Monoprix announces that from now on its paper flyers belong to the past. The retailer wants to reduce its ecological footprint and therefore focuses on digital communication.

Eddie Lampert refuses to give up: the investor and president of the board of directors at endangered department store chain Sears is making a new 5-billion dollar (4.3 billion euros) takeover offer to save the chain from bankruptcy.

Meal delivery service Takeaway.com has had another great year: in the fourth quarter, the number of orders rose by more than half compared to the previous year, ending 2018 with a total growth of 38 %.

Department stores shouldn’t be afraid of the digital world, they should embrace it. At the same time, it is all about maintaining the right focus: luxury, emotion, entertainment and service are more important than price.

The textile workers' protests in Bangladesh have led to a fatal casualty. The labourers have been protesting for days to demand higher minimum wages, but they also fear their working conditions may get worse now that the government wants to eliminate foreign monitoring, which has been going on since the Rana Plaza disaster.

Belgian investment fund Indufin is looking for a new financial partner for its Veritas chain, after a string of disappointing results and an international expansion that is a lot slower than expected.

Microsoft's retail ambitions are shaping up: American chain Kroger is testing its digital shelves and artificial intelligence in two stores. In addition, it wants to sell the technology to other retailers.

A hard Brexit might lead to a serious disruption of e-commerce across the borders: the industry therefore insists that Europe and the UK reach a deal quickly.