Seven months after launching in the US, Lidl is slowing its store-opening program dramatically. This year, it will open just 20 US new stores, according to a January 18 report by German trade publication Manager Magazin. Klaus Gehrig, the CEO… Continue Reading
Walmart versus Amazon is perhaps the biggest retail battle of our times—and Amazon’s encroachment into brick-and-mortar grocery retailing with its Whole Foods Market acquisition has only heightened the competition. Coincidentally, both of these retail giants have recently made the unusual… Continue Reading
Retail giant Toys “R” Us filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada this week, and the news furthered the popular narrative of a “retail apocalypse” in the US. The bankruptcy proceedings do not affect the… Continue Reading
Amazon Pushes Further into Fashion in Europe This week, Amazon officially launched its first fashion private label that is designed in Europe specifically for European shoppers. The Find brand launched with a flurry of press coverage as well as an… Continue Reading
The past week brought news that Walmart and JD.com, China’s largest e-commerce company by revenue, are expanding the strategic partnership they formed last year. One element of this is the launch of a new shopping event—the JD-Walmart 8/8 omnichannel shopping… Continue Reading
Economic conditions look good for back-to-school spending this year—unemployment is low, consumer confidence is at a 16-year high, housing prices have risen and gas prices remain low—leading to healthy forecasts for shopping this season. Fung Global Retail & Technology expects… Continue Reading
We recently attended the Rise 2017 Conference in Hong Kong, which is one of the largest technology conferences in Asia. The event featured a talk by Stephen Wang from Tencent, which owns the WeChat mobile app. Wang gave an overview… Continue Reading
The Chinese shopper is coming, and big opportunities await retailers worldwide. That is the message from our newly published report, Global Chinese Shoppers: The $200 Billion Opportunity, a major study that we coproduced with consultancy firm China Luxury Advisors. Chinese… Continue Reading