General
Department store chain Galeria Inno, the Belgian division of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, wants to thoroughly renew all 16 branches over the next three years. The branch in Schoten near Antwerp is the first to be given a new look. The retailer is also innovating online.
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When it comes to digitisation, the Chinese are well ahead of the West. The Chinese are also one step ahead when it comes to containing the coronavirus. It is no surprise then that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has a few tips ready for 2021.
Fashion
It was an exceptional third quarter for Zalando: the online clothing retailer saw sales rise with 29.9%. The platform aims to digitise more physical merchants. Also in Belgium, where fashion chain LolaLiza joins as a new partner.
Electronics
Electronics retailer Fnac Darty reinforces its omni-channel model and focuses on additional services and new product groups. This led to good revenue growth in the third quarter, with strong online sales.
Furniture
French decoration chain Maisons du Monde has opened its 23rd Belgian store, in the centre of Antwerp. The retailer adds more services and brings the online world to the physical store.
The online shift caused by the corona crisis is being exaggerated, according to a report by GlobalData. Consumers still buy the most in the physical store, even during the lockdown. E-commerce needs the brick and mortar store very badly.
Food
Amazon is attacking the supermarket landscape with several concepts at the same time: after the growth of home delivery during the corona crisis, the cash-less Amazon Go concept is expanding further, while "regular" supermarkets are also being added.
The coronavirus crisis will have an impact for a long time to come in the retail sector. This may be a threat, but it also offers new perspectives: many companies see opportunities to adjust their business model. Resilience is high, 'back to normal' is no option.
Hema is experimenting with self-checkouts and online ordering from the shop floor: the chain of department stores has developed a 'shelf scanner', so that customers can scan their own products and pay for them using contactless payments.
French Maisons du Monde has announced some ambitious plans: by 2024, the furniture and decoration chain intends to double its turnover, reaching two billion euros.
Increasing purchasing power, higher real estate prices, online growth and growing economic insecurity: conflicting factors are influencing the growth prospects for brick-and-mortar retailers in Europe, according to GfK.
A car dealer in the middle of the city? In a Parisian shopping centre, even? This unusual idea comes from Nissan, which has opened the first Nissan City Hub in the Vélizy 2 shopping centre in Paris. The hub is centred on e-commerce and electric cars.
Carrefour is showing its ambition in the digital world by opening a Digital Hub in Paris. In a partnership with Google, the retailer wants to develop new solutions based on artificial intelligence.
Belgo-Dutch retail group Ahold Delhaize is raising its online ambitions: the goal is now a turnover of seven billion euros by 2021, rather than the current target of five billion. The retailer will be heavily investing in stores and technology, while cutting costs at the same time.
Retailers often make their omnichannel models needlessly complicated and expensive. The problem is they start from the wrong assumptions. In his newest book, retail professor Gino Van Ossel makes a case for pragmatism.
Amazon has launched yet another new physical store concept in New York. Amazon 4-star's is a curated non-food store, where the online retailer sells only the highest-rated products.
