General

Next week, some easing of Covid measures will go into effect for non-essential German stores. In the UK, retailers will have to wait until 12 April.

King Jouet is now also taking over the six Swiss Maxi Toys stores. Last summer, the French chain already bought the Belgian and French operations of Maxi Toys, which would already have brought growth to the chain.

Chinese software company AiFi has opened the world' largest autonomous supermarket in Shanghai. AiFi has no ambitions as a retailer but wants to demonstrate its technology to interested parties. One of those parties has already jumped at the chance: Dutch company Wundermart, which is also active in Brussels. Albert Heijn also makes use of the technology. 

Speculations about an imminent departure of beer giant AB InBev's chief executive, Carlos Brito, are on the rise again. Brito declared in October that he would ''not be gone yet'', but in the run-up to the annual general meeting in April, the name of his potential successor sounds a bit louder.

American department store icon Macy's has come through the fourth quarter on top of its game. The group's figures did not fall as badly as feared. For 2021, the company is aiming for results that could exceed market expectations, although the group is still cautious.

Almost a third of the world's population is already shopping online. This is partly thanks to the Dutch, who are the most avid online shoppers in Europe. The Netherlands even has the second-best e-commerce climate in the world.

More than 70 Amazon investors are backing warehouse workers who want to form a trade union in the US. The e-commerce giant is trying to thwart these plans, but investors stood up against Amazon.