Stefan De Loecker, currently the second in command at Beiersdorf, will become CEO of Nivea’s parent company as from December. Previously, the Belgian had worked at Nestlé for twenty years.

The first two branches of Jack's, the new discount formula by Tesco, have opened their doors. The English retail giant aims to offer prices that are lower than those at Aldi and Lidl.

According to Bloomberg news agency, Uber is conducting exploratory talks with meal delivery company Deliveroo. Should it indeed come to an acquisition, then it would be a billion-dollar deal.

Jack Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is withdrawing his promise of creating a million jobs in the United States. Ma is doing this to respond to the escalating trade war between China and the US, which is entering a new phase next week.

The rumour has been around for a while and now Orchestra's top executive Pierre Mestre has confirmed it: he intends to take over the French branch of toy chain Toys'R'Us and become France's absolute number 1 on the children's market.

Amazon is planning to open 3000 cash-free supermarkets in the following years. This would immediately make the e-commerce giant one of the largest supermarket chains in the United States.

Is Amazon getting an unjust advantage from the data of online retailers selling through its marketplace? The European Committee has started a preliminary investigation to find out, according to European commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

French windows discounter Tryba has added Belgium to the list of countries in which it is active, following France, Germany, italy and Switzerland. The company aims to add five stores per year in Belgium, gradually expanding tot thirty Belgian stores.

Scandinavian home improvement chain JYSK has achieved a record turnover of 2.16 billion euro: CEO Jan Bøgh is particularly happy with the strong growth in the number of customers.

French supermarket chain Monoprix is now also delivering through Amazon's Prime Now. The orders, only in the North of Paris, are prepared in Monoprix' stores.

The name or photograph of a Michelin chef on a prepared meal in a supermarket does not guarantee a balanced diet. In France, certain ready-made meals by well-known chefs do not meet their image in terms of quality and are sometimes downright misleading.

French chain Carrefour has removed almost all A-brands products from the shelves in four stores, in order to test the consumers’ willingness to buy only private labels.

Since announcing a new store concept last March, Aldi has already remodelled 100 Belgian stores, with 60 more to come before the end of the year.

German retail giant Metro is looking to sell its hypermarket chain Real, in order to continue narrowing its focus on wholesale. Amazon is named as one of the potential buyers.

Spanish fashion giant Inditex reached a new record turnover in the first half of 2018, breaking the 12 billion euro limit for the first time. Profit too rose to a record high, but estimates for the second half of the year differ greatly.

Nutritional labels are often unclear to consumers, but Nutri-score does help people to reduce the portions of less healthy products, a recent scientific study claims.

Carrefour Belgium has introduced a lowest price guarantee on organic products on its private label: a first visible result of the application of its new Act For Food programme to Belgium. The goal: letting Belgians eat better again.

Belgian lingerie producer Van de Velde sees its financial director Bart Rabaey leave the company after a series of struggling quarters. Meanwhile, the manufacturer of Prima Donna and Marie-Jo did get approval to work weekends and nights.

Following shops that only exist online, virtual restaurants are now emerging too. These places are not open for customers to go and eat, but they can order for home delivery via services such as Deliveroo and Takeaway.com. Niche players still, they are increasingly appearing in the Benelux.

Swiss luxury goods producer Richemont has appointed Jérôme Lambert as its CEO, not even two years after the position was abolished to give each brand its own boss.

Blabla Belgium, a new Belgian label with humorous slogans in French, has expressed plans to be present in physical stores and even expand abroad, after the successful start of their online store.

Belgian organic chain Sequoia celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with the opening of its eighth store in the Brussels area and the promise of more to come.

British fashion brand Burberry has pledged to stop destroying clothes that were not sold, and - at the same time - also stop using fur. Contemporary luxury must be socially and ecologically responsible, they say.

After making his company one of the largest retailers in the world, Alibaba founder Jack Ma will step down on the 20th anniversary of his company next year. He wants to dedicate himself to improving education and has appointed his pupil Daniel Zhang as his successor.

The German department store chains Karstadt and Kaufhof have finally tied the knot. After months of negotiations, the banks have given their blessing. However, there is no question of a romantic honeymoon: 5 000 jobs will be cut.

With margins under pressure in the stagnating food market, Nestlé is investing heavily in healthy food. In Japan, the food multinational is even testing the possibilities of a diet plan based on genetic information.

"If we want to remain able to offer our customers good quality and sustainable coffee, we need to work closely with coffee farmers around the world," says Nespresso BeLux' managing director Brema Drohan.

Despite a weak first half of the year, the warm summer earned Belgian water producer Spadel (best know for its brands Spa and Bru) a profit growth for the entire year.

Spanish fashion group Inditex wants to sell all of its brands in every country in the world by 2020, even in countries where Zara's owner has no physical stores.

Belgian foam rubber manufacturer Recticel is looking into plans to sell its own mattresses online to consumers. The web shop "can be operational in six months' time", even if the official decision has not yet been taken.

A new e-commerce network, Cross-Border Commerce Europe, has been founded with the goal to provide information on cross-border e-commerce and omnichannel. Founder Carine Moitier, former general manager of similar Belgian BeCommerce, has immediately been greeted with support by some large players.