What: ChatGPT users can now upload a selfie or full-body photo to try on clothing and accessories from shopping results, and save products to a Library.

Why it is important: ChatGPT is taking on fashion visualisation and wishlisting, two functions retailers have built into their own apps.

OpenAI has launched virtual try-on and Favorites in ChatGPT worldwide. Both run on the new Images 2.5 model, which the company says improves lighting, textures, editing accuracy and speed.

A Try On button in shopping results lets users upload a selfie or full-body photo and see how a garment or accessory looks on them. Users can also upload an item image, such as a web screenshot, and ask ChatGPT to try it on. Favorites saves products to a Library in the app, next to try-on images.

ChatGPT can also assemble a look from a described style by finding the missing pieces, or identify purchasable items from photos of celebrity outfits. That puts it in fashion inspiration and discovery, where Pinterest and Google have led. Google launched its own virtual try-on last year, so it is unclear that shoppers will make ChatGPT their first stop.

The launch follows OpenAI's retreat from instant checkout, which performed poorly.

IADS Notes: Asos (Retail Week, May 2026) and Sephora (Fashion Network, March 2026) already run their own apps inside ChatGPT, with Sephora planning in-app purchases. OpenAI had earlier dropped native payments in favour of redirecting shoppers to retailers (Fashion Network, March 2026), which leaves discovery and visualisation as its focus. Retailers are building try-on into their own channels: Breuninger uses Google Cloud's Virtual Try On in its app (Press Release, March 2026), and Macy's pairs try-on with its Gemini-powered assistant, whose users spend nearly 400% more than non-users (Fortune, March 2026).

ChatGPT adds virtual try-on and Favorites to its shopping features

What: Walmart, Ulta Beauty and Amazon are each expanding their wellness offers in the U.S., a market where consumers spend more than $500 billion a year on wellness.

Why it is important: Amazon's AI-led storefronts build larger baskets by linking needs across health, beauty and wellness, which pushes physical retailers to answer with solution-based merchandising rather than separate category aisles.

Americans spend more than $500 billion a year on wellness, according to McKinsey, and 84% of U.S. consumers say it is a top or important priority. Retailers are responding by merging supplements, medications, fitness, grooming and beauty into one proposition, since shoppers buy wellness by solution rather than by category.

Amazon builds specialised digital storefronts around the outcomes shoppers want to achieve, which lets it link items such as weights or supplements to a search for healthy ageing. Its Alexa for Shopping assistant combines Rufus and Alexa+ and can compare items, review past orders and buy from other retailers through Buy for Me.

Walmart relies on its roughly 4,600 pharmacists to connect wellness and beauty, notably for the launch of La Roche-Posay, backed by L'Oréal training programmes. It staged a Wellness Day in July and is introducing Wellness Minis, priced from $2, in about 2,000 stores and online.

Ulta Beauty made wellness its first new merchandise category in over three decades. Its 500-square-foot Wellness by Ulta Beauty boutiques, piloted in four stores, carry 58 brands and dedicated advisors. Eight in 10 of its 47 million rewards members view wellness holistically.

IADS Notes:  The article's U.S. examples have counterparts among department stores moving toward goal-led wellness offers. John Lewis is rolling out Sports & Wellness departments of around 5,000 sq ft in four stores, organised around activities such as running and training rather than product categories, with gait analysis, AI-powered fitness mirrors and run clubs (John Lewis press release, August 2026), which mirrors the solution-based merchandising described at Walmart and Ulta. Harvey Nichols went further by dedicating its entire Knightsbridge fourth floor to Pilates, aesthetic and therapeutic clinics and functional nutrition (WWD, May 2026). Staff expertise is the other common thread. John Lewis is more than doubling Randox Health's in-store clinics offering blood testing and wellness assessments, on the premise that advisory services cannot be replicated online (Drapers, September 2026), while M&S is bringing Sephora's specialist beauty advisors into 100 UK stores from spring 2027 rather than building the offer alone (Retail Week, September 2026). In beauty, Shinsegae is entering the U.S. market against Sephora, Ulta and Olive Young by competing on early discovery and curation rather than scale (WWD, September 2026).

How Walmart, Ulta Beauty and Amazon are growing in U.S. wellness

What: Grupo Falabella is reorganising part of its real estate portfolio under Mallplaza through a Chilean joint venture valued at about US$200 million and a joint mixed-use development in Lima's San Isidro district.

Why it is important: The reorganisation shows department store groups treating real estate as an actively managed growth asset, entrusted to a specialist operator rather than held passively.

Grupo Falabella and its subsidiary Mallplaza have signed two non-binding Memoranda of Understanding to boost the development and profitability of part of the Group's real estate assets, simplify the structure of this business and consolidate Mallplaza as its sole shopping-centre operator and developer.

In Chile, following due diligence and a framework agreement, a joint venture will consolidate six assets currently managed by Falabella Inmobiliario: Open Plaza Rancagua, Santa Julia in Viña del Mar, Chillán, La Calera, Ovalle and a property in Valdivia. Valued at UF 4,857,500 (approximately US$200 million), they total around 140,000 square metres of gross leasable area. Mallplaza will enter through a capital increase, mainly to finance expansion and transformation projects, and will control and operate the assets with a stake of at least 51%.

In Peru, Falabella SA and Mallplaza will jointly develop a greenfield shopping centre and mixed-use project in Lima's San Isidro district, owned by subsidiary Inmobiliaria SIC SA (ISIC). Once permits are obtained, ISIC will carry out a capital increase subscribed by both parties, and Mallplaza will acquire a 51% stake upon completion.

Both boards approved the MOUs, supported by independent valuations. Binding agreements, due diligence and permits remain pending.

IADS Notes: Consolidating six Chilean assets and the San Isidro project under Mallplaza strengthens a shopping-centre platform that is already performing within the Group. Falabella's record second-quarter profit of US$242 million came with Mallplaza EBITDA up 10% and more than 95 million visits (Press Release, September 2026). Mallplaza's role as the Group's growth vehicle was also visible in its evaluation of an entry into Mexico through acquisitions of existing malls, building on its expansion model in Peru and Colombia (Perú Retail, April 2026). The plan to add new uses, services and experiences to secondary-city assets mirrors developments in Thailand. There, leading retail and property groups are investing heavily to reposition ageing malls as mixed-use lifestyle, food, wellness and community destinations that anchor entire districts and raise surrounding land values (The Nation, July 2026). In the department store sector, Frasers' acquisition of Harvey Nichols has similarly prompted a reading of large physical footprints as strategic assets, provided they are put to work for services, discovery and experience rather than product breadth alone (Financial Times, August 2026).

Falabella Group and Mallplaza reorganise real estate assets to boost growth

What: AI shopping assistants threaten marketplaces' advertising and commission profits by taking over purchase decisions, without needing to replicate their fulfilment networks.

Why it is important: Department stores building retail media revenue face the same exposure as Amazon: if agents intercept the purchase decision, sponsored placement loses its value before sales do.

Marketplaces earned their customer relationships through operational reliability, and those habits now underpin advertising businesses. In 2025, Amazon generated $69 billion in advertising revenue against $34 billion in operating income excluding AWS; at an assumed 70% contribution margin, advertising contributed more than reported operating income. The same holds for DoorDash and Instacart, while Alphabet and Meta took nearly $500 billion in advertising revenue.

Assistants cannot rebuild those networks, but they can compare providers and route orders among them. Whether a platform welcomes that depends on two variables: how much incremental demand an agent brings, and how much operating income rests on commissions and advertising. Instacart, with room to win new grocery baskets, integrated Muse; Amazon, whose breadth makes any assistant that cannot buy from it less useful, blocked it. Shopify, Toast and Square lean in because they earn software and payments revenue without an ad business to defend.

The unresolved question is whether agents create enough new purchases to offset lower margin on orders that would have happened anyway. Airbnb's differentiated inventory gives it leverage, whereas Expedia may swap one acquisition cost for another, and a booking won through an assistant must be won again next time.

IADS Notes: The contest the article describes, over discovery rather than fulfilment, is already measurable at department-store level: at John Lewis, searches originating from AI agents grew from 0.3% to 2.5% of the total in a year, prompting investment in the influencer and video content that AI systems draw on (Reuters, September 2026). The profit pool at stake is the one retailers have been building most aggressively, with retail media now a major earnings engine for thin-margin players and, as a result, exposed to the warning that it risks becoming a money grab if ad revenue outweighs shopper relevance (The Robin Report, August 2026). Sponsored placement also loses its grip when the shopper is an algorithm: research shows only ratings and competitive pricing consistently influence AI-driven choices, while scarcity cues, countdown timers and strike-through pricing are ineffective or counterproductive (Harvard Business Review, May 2026). The bargaining dynamics the article sketches have precedent on both sides: OpenAI's withdrawal of Instant Checkout showed that consumers still prefer retailer-controlled environments for transactions, making data ownership and direct customer relationships the decisive lever as AI platforms mediate the path to purchase (Journal du Net, March 2026), while the 4% fee on OpenAI-powered checkouts for Shopify merchants was judged steep by some yet cheaper than Amazon's 8–15% referral fees by others, provided AI checkout lifts conversion and lowers acquisition costs (Internet Retailing, January 2026).

Who gets paid when AI does the shopping?

What: U.S. luxury store openings fell 46% in the first half of 2026, as brands split their networks between compact jewelry and watch boutiques and larger flagships built for hospitality, events and private clients.

Why it is important: Luxury brands are redirecting capital from network reach to fewer, larger flagships that compete with department stores for the same top clients, hospitality spend and dwell time.

U.S. luxury store openings totaled approximately 123,000 square feet in the first half of 2026, down 46% year on year, according to JLL's Luxury Retail 2026 report, while global monobrand openings remain 15% to 20% below 2022 levels. Nearly half of tracked openings were under 2,500 square feet, with jewelry and watch brands accounting for 33.7% of new U.S. luxury openings. Flagships are growing: Dior's 52,000 square foot store made Madison Avenue the leading corridor by total square footage, Beverly Hills' three recent openings averaged close to 20,000 square feet, and Miami's Design District led with eight openings.

Citing Bain, JLL notes that luxury consumers fell from roughly 400 million in 2022 to 330 million in 2025, while clients spending at least €20,000 a year now generate 46% of sales, up from 30% in 2019. Experiences grew 3% in 2025 as luxury products declined 1%, pushing flagships to add restaurants, galleries and private client areas, with added requirements for ventilation, entrances and floor loading.

Vancouver recorded 30 luxury openings, nearly all at the Oakridge Park mixed-use development. The first-half decline is not a full-year forecast, as openings typically accelerate in the second half.

IADS Notes: The contraction measured by JLL follows a customer erosion already documented by BoF in May 2026, which traced the loss of 50 million luxury customers since 2022 to aggressive price increases and declining perceived quality, with the top 2% of spenders accounting for 45% of purchases. Selectivity on location was already visible on Madison Avenue, where BoF reported in July 2026 that vacancy fell from 16% in 2021 to under 5% as brands moved closer to affluent domestic customers, with Thom Sweeney recording sales per square foot 40% higher after relocating its New York flagship from SoHo. The expansion of flagships into hospitality and private client space mirrors Prada's eight-floor Milan Galleria complex, which combines a public store, exhibition spaces and a private client floor now being replicated in 25 cities, as the Wall Street Journal reported in September 2026. Department stores are competing for the same visits with similar tools: The Retail Bulletin in July 2026 described Selfridges, John Lewis, Liberty and Harrods adding cinemas, workshops, restaurants and hospitality to increase dwell time. The same concentration logic is reshaping department store networks, as The Chosun Daily reported in September 2026 that Lotte and Hanwha Galleria are closing underperforming branches to fund flagship investments, including a rebuild of Galleria's Apgujeong Luxury Hall to 68,892 square meters, while the top 10 of Korea's 65 major department stores already generate 49.8% of sales.

U.S. luxury store openings fall 46% as flagships get bigger

What: Terry Lundgren, former CEO of Macy's, Inc. and Neiman Marcus, credited Macy's rise to fourth among US online retailers to an early, sustained e-commerce commitment, an approach he says should now guide AI adoption.

Why it is important: Macy's experience shows that a first-mover advantage erodes once bigger competitors acquire the talent they lack, a risk department stores now face again with AI.

Terry Lundgren, former CEO of Macy's, Inc. and Neiman Marcus, told the Thirty Minute Mentors podcast that Macy's launched its website in 1994, prompted by its Northern California division. The company kept investing through the 2000 dot-com collapse despite losses, and by his retirement ranked as the fourth-largest US online retailer, behind Amazon, Walmart and eBay but ahead of Costco and Target.

Lundgren attributes the erosion of that lead to two factors. Competitors caught up, notably Walmart, whose $4 billion acquisition of Jet.com he describes as a purchase of talent it lacked. COVID-19 then shut non-essential retailers such as Macy's while essential-goods rivals kept trading. He estimates digital now represents over 20% of sales at Macy's and Bloomingdale's, and argues AI calls for the same approach: identify who understands it best and hire or partner with that talent.

He also recalls using the 2009 financial crisis to consolidate divisions and overhaul the company's structure, followed by over $1 billion in annual sales growth for five years with fewer stores. At Neiman Marcus, a public endorsement from Stanley Marcus cut the rollout of his strategy from an estimated two years to about four months.

IADS Notes: Lundgren's account of how Macy's lost its early online lead sits against a turnaround that now shows measurable traction. The group posted a fifth consecutive quarter of comparable-sales growth in Q2 2026, led by Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury, a run analysts read as the end of a long decline (Inside Retail, September 2026). CEO Tony Spring credits simultaneous changes in merchandising, fitting rooms and staffing under the "Bold New Chapter" plan, with reimagined stores growing in nine of the last ten quarters (WWD, September 2026). The posture Lundgren advocates for new technologies, moving early and bringing in outside expertise where it is lacking internally, finds a current parallel in Macy's decision to take an AI forecasting overlay from pilot to broad deployment, a step Target, Lowe's and Kohl's are also taking (Supply Chain Dive, September 2026). The stakes may be higher than in the e-commerce era, as AI is expected to favour scale giants and data-rich direct-to-consumer brands, leaving department stores exposed unless they sharpen category authority and customer relationships (Forbes, July 2026). At Neiman Marcus, the downtown Dallas flagship whose Zodiac Room hosted the lunch with Stanley Marcus that Lundgren recounts was scheduled to close in September 2026 as Saks Global restructured its portfolio (Dallas News, June 2026).

Terry Lundgren on Macy's early e-commerce bet and the lessons for AI

What: Shein's shares fell as much as 14% to a record low after its first post-IPO results showed a 67% drop in quarterly profit.

Why it is important: Shein's margin collapse shows how exposed low-price cross-border models are to freight costs and EU trade rules, and the November handling fee will add to that pressure.

Shares of Shein fell as much as 14% on Tuesday after the company reported a 67% drop in quarterly profit in its first post-IPO results, fuelling investor concerns over margin pressure and slowing growth. The stock was down 10.9% at HK$31.44 by midday, leaving a market value of about $17 billion, down from roughly $26 billion at listing on September 1. Jefferies estimated that earnings for the quarter ended June 30 came in more than 10% below the low end of the range implied by the prospectus.

Adjusted net profit was $228 million for the second quarter, with the margin squeezed to 2.1% from 6.2% a year earlier as conflict in the Middle East pushed up jet fuel and freight costs for a retailer that ships clothes by air. Sales in Europe dropped sharply after Shein raised prices and cut advertising ahead of the €3 fees the EU imposed on low-value parcels from July 1. Shein has said these fees could have a bigger impact than the end of de minimis in the US. CEO and Chair Yangtian Xu said increasing European inventory is a key priority, and the company plans to push into higher-priced clothes to lift profitability.

IADS Notes: Shein's first post-IPO results follow through on pressures visible since its listing: at its debut, the company was valued at about $26.3 billion, roughly a quarter of its 2022 peak, and shares fell as investors weighed slowing growth, a first-quarter net loss, and tariff and compliance costs (WWD, September 2026). Both cost drivers cited in the article had been building for months. Higher shipping and insurance costs linked to the Iran war were already stalling the overseas expansion of Chinese platforms such as Shein and Temu (Reuters, June 2026). The EU's €3 fee on low-value parcels, approved in late 2025 and aimed squarely at Shein and Temu, was expected to weigh most on platforms that split orders into multiple shipments (WWD, December 2025). That fee took effect on July 1, 2026 as the first milestone of the EU customs reform. Mandatory product identifiers and a further handling fee, expected between €2 and €4, follow on November 1, 2026, which points to more compliance costs for cross-border sellers in Europe (Ecommerce Europe, August 2026).

Shein shares plunge 14% to record low after profit slides

What: M&S is bringing Sephora's beauty range and specialist advisors into 100 UK stores and its online platform from spring 2027, with the final brand lineup to be announced closer to launch.

Why it is important: M&S is handing its beauty offer to a specialist rather than building it alone, confirming that curated, advisor-led beauty is now a traffic driver that department-store-style retailers want to own or partner for.

Marks & Spencer and Sephora have entered a major partnership to create a new beauty destination across selected stores. "Sephora at M&S" will launch in selected M&S stores and online in spring 2027, and will be rolled out to 100 high street stores and retail parks across the UK. The aim is to attract new customers and give existing ones more reasons to shop there, while marking the next step in Sephora's UK growth plans by making it accessible to more communities.

The partnership combines Sephora's beauty expertise, brand relationships and discovery with M&S's brand heritage, trust, national presence and omnichannel platform. Customers can expect a curated range of beauty favourites, emerging brands and exclusive products across skincare, makeup, fragrance, haircare and bodycare, alongside access to specialist beauty teams. Online, a broader range will be available with home delivery and click and collect. The final brand lineup will be announced closer to launch.

M&S's John Lyttle said Sephora will sit at the heart of its future beauty offer, while M&S continues investing in its own-label beauty categories. Sephora UK's Sarah Boyd said the partnership will bring its beauty advisors to stores in communities where customers already shop.

IADS Notes: M&S's tie-up with Sephora extends a store-led beauty push already visible at its Pantheon flagship, where an expanded, curated beauty offer including Sunday Riley, Biodance, Nuxe and Clinique was presented as part of M&S's first full-line R&D store for fashion, home and beauty (WWD, July 2026). It also fits M&S's use of capital-light partnerships to expand, as in its Zalando logistics tie-up, which covers 22 European countries and has cut delivery costs by up to 58% (Retail Week, August 2026). For Sephora, the 100-store rollout adds physical reach at a time when its stores are proving their value: in China, it has recorded 21 consecutive months of offline traffic growth by turning stores into destinations for curation, services and community (WWD, July 2026). The same logic is visible elsewhere in beauty. Falabella is treating beauty as a traffic-driving category for younger consumers and taking its format beyond department-store spaces (Perú Retail, July 2026), while Shinsegae is challenging Sephora, Ulta and Olive Young in the U.S. through early discovery and curation rather than scale (WWD, September 2026).

M&S and Sephora enter partnership to bring new beauty destination to the high street

What: Selfridges' operating profit rose 88% to £79.7m on a 7% rise in revenue to £830.8m, and its CEO is urging the government to bring back tax-free shopping for international visitors.

Why it is important: Selfridges' recovery came with a longer trading period and a fall in digital sales, yet its CEO still frames the absence of tax-free shopping as a policy headwind, which shows how much UK luxury department stores tie their outlook to tourist spending.

Selfridges posted an operating profit of £79.7m in the 13 months to January 3, up 88% from £42.2m a year earlier. Accounts filed at Companies House, first seen by The Times, show the result was helped by a longer 52-week financial period, against 48 weeks the year before. Revenue rose 7% to £830.8m, with strong footfall across the store estate offsetting a decline in digital sales. Pre-tax profit was £13m, against a £15.9m loss a year earlier, but operating profit drove the improvement.

Chief executive André Maeder said the growth came despite a difficult retail and macroeconomic backdrop, and that policy choices, including the abolition of tax-free shopping for international visitors, had made conditions harder. He is encouraged to see the issue back on the political agenda and urged the government, under new prime minister Andy Burnham, to restore it, arguing it would boost high streets and unlock growth across the UK.

Burberry and Mulberry are among other brands calling for the restoration of tax-free shopping. Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has said she would bring it back, warning that retailers are closing shops and asking why shoppers should be sent to France or Italy.

IADS Notes: Selfridges' rebound comes after a period in which the loss of tax-free shopping weighed heavily on UK luxury retail. Retail Week (February 2026) estimated that its removal cost the UK more than £1bn in lost retail spending, with cities such as Oslo and Paris gaining ground. BoF (April 2026) linked the shift of international shoppers to Paris and Milan to a 7% drop in Selfridges' revenues in 2024, and reported that the retailer responded with 40 Duke, a private club for customers spending at least £20,000 a year. Selfridges has since leaned further into experience-led trading: WWD (August 2026) described a strategy built on more than 400 pop-ups and 650 events last year, with CEO André Maeder saying the store now competes with restaurants, culture and leisure spending as well as other department stores. Harrods offers a comparison: Fashion Network (August 2026) reported a return to a £84.9m pre-tax profit, while operating profit slipped to £172.3m, and noted that London's luxury department stores continue to cite the absence of tax-free shopping and higher National Insurance costs as headwinds.

Selfridges profits soar as it calls for tax-free shopping return

What: Le Bon Marché has partnered with Van Cleef & Arpels Prize winner Edgar Jayet to redesign Salon Aristide, founder Aristide Boucicaut's former office, as a VIC space where every piece is available to buy or commission. 

Why it is important: Salon Aristide extends Le Bon Marché's VIC offer into collectible design, following Bergdorf Goodman's shoppable design residency and Selfridges' private shopping suites in using exclusive, lived-in environments to deepen ties with top clients.

Le Bon Marché has transformed Salon Aristide, the room reputed to be founder Aristide Boucicaut's former office, into a collectible design space for VIC clients. The room is the centrepiece of the store's Salons Particuliers, a series of private apartment-like spaces opened in 2019, and retains its original mahogany panelling, gold-leaf details, engraved glass and alabaster lighting.

Rather than a period reconstruction, designer Edgar Jayet was asked to create a dialogue between the existing architecture and his own work. His pieces are all for sale, and clients can commission customised dimensions, materials and typologies from his studio. The collection, first shown at Design Miami, includes a cashmere daybed made by a Parisian seat-maker and moiré-covered trunks evoking White Star Line first-class cabins. It is complemented by an Andrée Putman carpet, a Maïon sculpture and Delisle chandeliers.

Jayet, who founded his studio at 23 after winning the Van Cleef & Arpels Prize, says Le Bon Marché's clients seek small-scale, crafted pieces rather than mass production. Director of client relations and services Raphaël Lipszyc says the aim is for clients to encounter pieces within a fully realised interior rather than as isolated objects.

IADS Notes: Salon Aristide builds on a positioning already central to Le Bon Marché's strategy: QDE in July 2026 described the store as a highly selective Left Bank destination built around affluent local clients, curation, service and exclusivity, with a history of retail innovation, from fixed prices to returns, that gives it a strong heritage platform. That heritage already extends to culture, as Le Figaro reported in March 2026 in covering the store's annual carte blanche collaborations with renowned artists, part of a wider move by French department stores to blend commerce and culture into experiential destinations. The shoppable-interior format has a close precedent in New York, where WWD reported in April 2026 that Bergdorf Goodman turned its seventh floor into an immersive space blending showroom and interior, where clients can buy collectible furniture, vintage pieces and exclusive design collaborations. The emphasis on private service for top clients mirrors investments elsewhere in luxury retail: Selfridges opened 40 Duke, a members-only club combining private shopping suites, a restaurant and wellness treatments for clients spending at least £20,000 a year (BoF, April 2026), while Prada has added a private floor offering re-editions, tailoring and commissions in its Milan Galleria complex, reporting that top clients spend about €7 for every euro spent entertaining them (Wall Street Journal, September 2026).

Le Bon Marché brings collectable pieces into its luxury retail suite

What: Thailand is pivoting from mass tourism to high-spending visitors, while Japanese department stores have offset a more than 50% drop in Chinese arrivals by courting Korean and Southeast Asian shoppers.

Why it is important: In both markets, tourist-dependent retail now hinges on who the visitors are rather than how many, rewarding operators that build distinctive local assortments and spread their exposure across source markets.

Thailand has halved its visa-free entry allowance to 30 days for visitors from 93 countries as it seeks higher-spending tourists drawn to culture and wellness rather than beaches and bars. International arrivals fell a further 7% in 2025 and remain below pre-Covid levels, while Malaysia and Vietnam gain ground in mass-market tourism.

The Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2026, backed by Central Retail, Big C, Siam Piwat and CP Axtra, promotes Thai brands and craftsmanship over discounting and is set to run until the end of August, with the Tourism Authority of Thailand projecting a modest 700 million baht (US$22 million) in revenue. Retailers are urged to prioritise Thai design, silk, gemstones and T-beauty, experiential stores with multilingual staff, and better payment acceptance, since most 7-Eleven stores do not yet take QR payments and VAT refunds are handled mainly at airports. Weak infrastructure outside Bangkok remains a barrier for time-poor affluent travellers.

In Japan, Chinese arrivals have fallen more than 50% this year amid the dispute over Taiwan. A weak yen has drawn Korean and Southeast Asian shoppers, and retailers have turned to country-specific social media and a stronger emphasis on "Japan-ness", with Takashimaya largely maintaining duty-free sales.

IADS Notes: Thailand's bid for higher-spending visitors builds on moves already under way in its malls: Siam Piwat's alliance with four global luxury groups aims to draw high-net-worth tourists to experiential flagships that pair international standards with local cultural relevance (The Bangkok Insight, June 2026), while Bangkok's shopping centres have been repositioning as mixed-use destinations where wellness, food and culture sit alongside retail, with Central Pattana growing despite weak tourism (Monocle, July 2026). Japan shows what a sudden change in the visitor mix means for department stores. The Chinese boycott exposed their dependence on a single source market for luxury and duty-free sales (Financial Times, March 2026), yet duty-free sales were recovering by March, up 6.9% at Takashimaya and 10.3% at Daimaru Matsuzakaya, as South Korean and US visitors filled part of the gap (Japan Times, April 2026). Department stores have since broadened assortments and courted South Korean, Taiwanese and Southeast Asian shoppers alongside domestic customers (Inside Retail, June 2026).

Thailand pivots to the "high value" tourist

What: Indian developers are set to add about 51.1 million sq. ft. of mall space by 2031, lifting total stock to 143.2 million sq. ft., with large-format, experience-led malls making up around 56% of new supply.

Why it is important: Large-format, experience-led malls are set to define India's retail real estate, shifting tenant mix towards entertainment, F&B and services and concentrating premium space in the hands of fewer, larger developers.

Indian real estate developers are expected to add nearly 51.1 million sq. ft. of new shopping mall space over the next five years, lifting total stock to 143.2 million sq. ft. by the end of 2031, according to a JLL report. The expansion is driven by surging consumer demand, a strong influx of international brands and expansion by domestic brands.

India recorded gross leasing volumes of 6.3 million sq. ft. in the first half of 2026. Retail stock stood at 92.1 million sq. ft. across the top seven cities, with a vacancy rate of 11.2% as of June 2026. Nearly 56% of upcoming supply, around 28.7 million sq. ft., will be large-format malls built for experiential shopping, and over half of new supply is expected in Delhi NCR and Hyderabad.

Nearly one-third of upcoming supply is dedicated to entertainment, F&B and services. Large-format developments will allocate 30-35% of their space to these categories, or 9-10 million sq. ft.

The top three listed developers, holding about 14% of operational retail stock in Tier 1 markets in H1 2026, may reach nearly 21% by 2031, while the top ten are projected to hold 44% of total mall stock.

IADS Notes: The pipeline confirms a supply cycle that earlier coverage had flagged as a constraint. India Economic Times reported in March 2026 that demand for luxury was outpacing the availability of premium malls, creating a bottleneck for both domestic and international brands. Hyderabad, one of the two markets set to receive over half of the new supply, illustrates the gap: BoF noted in July 2026 that the city draws global luxury brands despite limited luxury mall infrastructure, leaving high-end retail concentrated in standalone boutiques, hotels and airports. Developers are already moving to capture this demand. India Economic Times reported in August 2026 that Phoenix Mills plans to grow from around 11.5 million to over 18 million sq ft by 2030, adding an F&B floor in Bengaluru and repositioning mature assets with premium and international brands. The experience-led model is also delivering results: India Economic Times noted in June 2026 that mall retailers recorded a 15-20% sales surge as malls evolve into hybrid destinations combining retail, entertainment and digital experiences.

Large malls to dominate India's retail pipeline; 51.1 million sq. ft. expansion likely by 2031

What: La Samaritaine brings accessible-premium brands such as Sézane, Fursac and Jonak into prime spaces once reserved for luxury houses, as part of its post-DFS repositioning.

Why it is important: La Samaritaine is betting that accessible-premium brands in prime positions can convert tourist footfall into sales and win back Parisian shoppers, which the DFS-era luxury model failed to do.

LVMH's La Samaritaine has begun the first phase of a spatial and merchandising overhaul, following the failure of the concept DFS launched in 2021 and ahead of its integration into the Le Bon Marché organisation. After a beauty strategy shared with its Left Bank sister store, the commercial team is now reworking the core fashion offer to turn casual visitors into buyers and loyal customers.

On the ground floor, a large leather-goods pop-up featuring DeMellier, Lemaire, Isabel Marant, A.P.C. and Ganni, alongside a Rimowa installation, occupies space previously held by major luxury houses. In the historic Pont Neuf building, Sézane, already a major success at Le Bon Marché, takes a vast central womenswear corner formerly held by Jacquemus, Acne Studios and JW Anderson, which have moved to adjacent spaces. Footfall at the heart of the building has surged as a result.

Menswear now features a commercial hub with Fursac, Boss, Octobre Éditions and Sandro, plus Herno as an exclusive, while Marni and Maison Margiela move into the Art Nouveau structure. In footwear, Jonak and Bobbies are staged prominently. The challenge for the 20,000-square-metre store is to balance luxury's international pull with the profitability of accessible premium.

IADS Notes: The repositioning follows LVMH's decision to take La Samaritaine out of DFS management and refocus it on individual shoppers rather than Chinese tour groups, after the store struggled to meet its targets following its 2021 reopening (Fashion Network, January 2025). The store was then placed with Le Bon Marché in a single division led by Patrice Wagner, with a mandate to broaden its customer base (WWD, March 2025). Beauty was the first category reworked under this model, with the two stores sharing market intelligence while keeping distinct assortments and exclusives (Fashion Network, June 2026). The governance model preserves each store's identity: Le Bon Marché serves an affluent local Left Bank clientele, while La Samaritaine is more closely tied to the Right Bank and tourism (QDE, July 2026). The move towards accessible premium also has a precedent in the Rivoli building, which introduced a Sneakers Lounge, K-Way and Rains pop-ups and a Levi's corner to attract a younger audience (Fashion United, October 2023). What is new in this phase is that accessible-premium brands now sit in the historic building's prime spaces.

La Samaritaine premium overhaul takes shape

What: The UK government is investing £210m to tackle vacant high street properties, with the largest share going to a Derelict Buildings Fund and the rest split across community rescue funding, rental auctions and a new co-operative development programme.

Why it is important: The package extends UK government policy focus on high street regeneration beyond the £5bn Pride in Place programme, directly targeting the long-term vacancy chains and property underuse that have weighed on town centre footfall and retail viability.

Andy Burnham's government has unveiled a £210m plan to redevelop abandoned high street buildings, turning empty shops and shopping centres into workspaces, cafes and community hubs. The largest share, £125m, comes through a new Derelict Buildings Fund, helping local authorities convert empty buildings into anything from health centres to civic spaces. A further £65m goes to communities across England to rescue and revamp buildings and businesses at risk of closure, such as pubs and sports clubs. That money builds on Pride in Place, the £5bn programme launched by Sir Keir Starmer's government in September 2025, which gives local boards in deprived neighbourhoods funding over a decade to decide how to revive their high streets, parks and community spaces.

The remaining £20m is split equally between High Street Rental Auctions, letting out properties left empty for 12 months or more, and a new Co-operative Development Programme to help mayors set up more co-operatives. The funding comes from Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government money already earmarked for high street support. Burnham said too many high streets had been "left to hollow out," while Angela Rayner, housing secretary, said the plan rested on trusting local communities to know their area best.

IADS Notes: The government's £210m package follows a pattern of policy attention to UK high streets, building directly on the £5bn Pride in Place programme announced in 2025, at a time when industry warned that a business rates hike could put over 100,000 retail jobs at risk (Retail Week, October 2025). This intervention lands against a backdrop of renewed but uneven high street activity: younger shoppers have been credited with reviving demand for prime locations and in-person retail experiences (Financial Times, April 2026), even as overall footfall fell sharply, down 10.7% year on year across all formats amid persistent consumer caution (Retail Insight Network, May 2026). The emphasis on unlocking long-vacant properties also echoes a wider consolidation of UK retail real estate, exemplified by Frasers Group's acquisition of two major outlet centres, which gave it control of more than a fifth of the UK outlet market and reinforced its dual role as both landlord and retailer (Drapers, May 2026).

UK government announces £210m plan to redevelop derelict high street buildings 

What: Walmart's CEO pledged not to use shoppers' personal data to set prices, as scrutiny of AI-driven pricing intensifies in Washington.

Why it is important: As the largest US retailer, Walmart's public stance sets a benchmark other retailers may be measured against as AI-driven pricing comes under mounting regulatory scrutiny.

In an open letter to customers, Walmart chief executive John Furner said the retailer would not use shoppers' income, shopping history or moment of need to charge them more, whether in stores or through Sparky, its AI shopping assistant. He also pledged that Sparky would not hide cheaper options from customers.

"We price the product, not the person," Furner wrote, adding that Walmart does not set different prices based on who a customer is or the time of day. He said the digital shelf labels rolled out across Walmart stores exist to keep shelf and checkout prices aligned and to save staff time, not to enable dynamic or personalised pricing.

The letter was published on the day public comments closed on a proposed Federal Trade Commission enforcement policy warning that businesses failing to disclose how personal data is used to set prices may be breaking the law. Furner said Walmart's Every Day Low Prices model, in place for more than 50 years, would not change.

IADS Notes: Walmart's public commitment against personalised pricing arrives against a backdrop of intensifying regulatory and reputational pressure on AI-driven pricing across the sector. New York's ban on setting prices from personal data, passed in June 2026, established a first-of-its-kind transparency requirement that other jurisdictions, including the FTC at federal level, are now following. The backlash Walmart is seeking to pre-empt was already visible in coverage from the Financial Times in May 2026 and Forbes in January 2026, both describing surveillance pricing as a growing source of consumer distrust and legal exposure. On the communication side, MBS's analysis in July 2026 argued that dynamic pricing succeeds or fails on how clearly retailers explain it, a lesson Furner's letter appears to apply directly by pairing the pricing pledge with an explanation of what the digital shelf labels are actually for. That explanation echoes NRF's March 2026 coverage of electronic shelf labels, which similarly stressed that the technology enables accurate, centralised price updates rather than surge pricing or personal data collection.

Walmart rules out personalised pricing as AI reshapes retail

What: A second bankruptcy auction for Odesa's Central Department Store building is set for 15 October, with the National Bank of Ukraine as mortgagee and the property's management and lease agreements lapsed since 2024.

Why it is important: When a department store building is sold through insolvency, the creditor holding the collateral and the unresolved tenancy arrangements shape the outcome more than the retail business operating inside it.

The non-residential complex at 72 Italiiska Street in central Odesa, which houses the city's Central Department Store, returns to auction on 15 October as part of the bankruptcy of Ukrbudspetstekh LLC. The starting price remains 399,441,000 hryvnias excluding VAT, roughly 32,000 hryvnias per square meter for 12,477.8 square meters, after the first auction on 20 August drew no participants. The three-round English auction requires a bid bond of 10% of the starting price.

The sale is run by the bankruptcy administrator, not the city. The National Bank of Ukraine, which commissioned the November 2025 appraisal, is the mortgagee: the property secures a 2009 refinancing loan to Imexbank, the bank formerly owned by ex-MP Leonid Klimov, who is also the ultimate beneficiary of Ukrbudspetstekh.

Only the 1959 main building, used as retail and warehouse space, still exists; the other structures listed in the title documents do not. The auction file also flags a tenancy anomaly: the ten-year management agreement with Nova-Khvylia LLC expired in December 2024 without extension, taking with it the linked lease to Business Management Group LLC, yet the management agreement remains registered with the tax authorities until 2034, for record-keeping purposes only.

IADS Notes: The relisting follows a first auction that was cancelled on 20 August when no bidder came forward at the same starting price of 399.4 million hryvnias (Intent Press, August 2026), and the lot now returns with no price reduction. Other property transactions have also turned on the split between a department store building and the business operating inside it: in Paris, Banque des Territoires withdrew from negotiations to acquire the BHV Marais real estate, while SGM, which runs the store, maintained that the property project would proceed with other partners (Fashion Network, October 2025). In distressed cases, creditor priority has repeatedly determined the outcome. Harvey Nichols' unsecured creditors are expected to recover between less than 1% and 20% of their claims after a sale of just over £43 million, with secured creditors paid first (Fashion Network, September 2026). At Saks Global, an ad hoc group of lenders led by distressed debt funds is positioned to take control after a lender-led reorganisation that closed most Saks Off 5th stores and about half of the Saks Fifth Avenue chain (WWD, April 2026). The Odesa case follows the same pattern: the National Bank of Ukraine holds the mortgage, and a bankruptcy administrator conducts the sale, not a retailer.

Odesa's Central Department Store building relisted for auction at 399 million hryvnias

What: Prada is deepening its investment in very important clients, from private Fashion Week programmes to a members-only floor in its renovated Milan Galleria complex, as sales concentrate among the wealthiest luxury shoppers.

Why it is important: Prada's €7 return on every euro spent entertaining top clients puts a benchmark on VIC hospitality at a time when department stores such as Selfridges are building members' clubs to capture the same customers.

Prada is intensifying its focus on its biggest spenders as middle-class luxury demand weakens. For its latest Milan womenswear show, the brand flew more than 100 top clients to the city, offering private access to Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper", privatised restaurant dinners and the chance to buy runway crocodile handbags for a little over $20,000.

The strategy centres on Prada's renovated eight-floor complex in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which combines a public store, exhibition spaces and a private floor offering re-editions, tailoring and fine jewellery. Prada is replicating the concept in 25 luxury capitals. Top clients can commission archive skirts costing up to $100,000, and a small group spent almost a week in French Polynesia in February.

CEO Andrea Guerra says top customers spend about €7 for every euro spent entertaining them, against up to 10 to one claimed by rivals. According to Bain, just over 2% of luxury shoppers generated 45% of purchases in 2024, while luxury's customer base shrank by about 50 million from its 2022 peak. Bernstein analyst Luca Solca warns the upmarket push risks making Prada too expensive, even as it keeps entry points such as a lower-priced recycled capsule.

IADS Notes: Prada's catch-up on top-client hospitality follows a pattern already visible across luxury retail. BoF in May 2026 traced the loss of 50 million luxury customers since 2022 to aggressive price increases and declining perceived quality, noting that the top 2% of spenders now account for 45% of purchases while accessible brands such as Coach capture the aspirational shoppers leaving the category. Multibrand platforms are courting the same clients with similar tools: Bloomberg reported in September 2026 that Mytheresa's owner grew fourth-quarter net sales 7.6% excluding currency by concentrating on ultra-wealthy shoppers, whose top 100,000 customers shop every 28 days and are invited to exclusive brand events in Lake Como and Porto Cervo, a playbook close to Prada's Milan and French Polynesia trips. Department stores are building comparable infrastructure within their flagships, as shown by BoF in April 2026 with Selfridges' 40 Duke members club, which combines private shopping suites, a restaurant and wellness treatments for clients spending at least £20,000 a year, and by The Retail Bulletin in July 2026, which described Selfridges, John Lewis, Liberty and Harrods adding hospitality, beauty workshops and cinemas to compete for dwell time. The commercial case for serving the upper branch of the K-shaped market is also showing in results, as Reuters reported in June 2026 when Macy's raised its outlook on double-digit comparable growth at Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury, driven by affluent shoppers who kept spending while lower-income households pulled back.

Prada is wooing the ultrarich with snorkeling trips and $100,000 skirts

What: Lotte Department Store became the first department store to exhibit at the Korea Social Value Festa, where it presented its REJOICE social contribution campaign and its RE:EARTH eco-friendly campaign through an interactive booth.

Why it is important: By turning ESG into products, experiences and loyalty-linked actions, department stores are making social value part of the customer relationship rather than a side commitment.

Lotte Department Store took part in the third Korea Social Value Festa, held at COEX in Seoul's Gangnam district on 21–22 September, and was the first department store to do so. Hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the event is the country's largest gathering on solving social problems and sustainable development, and it brings together government, business and academia.

Under the slogan "Better Me, Better Earth, Better Society," Lotte combined its two flagship campaigns in a participatory booth, the Lotte Department Store Hall. REJOICE, running since 2017, supports people's self-esteem, dreams and personal challenges. Its exhibition zone screened testimonies from counsellors and beneficiaries and handed visitors one-day psychological prescription kits.

A second space, tied to the RE:EARTH eco-friendly campaign running since 2021, sold five upcycled items made from materials such as waste banners, including tote bags, card holders, pouches and cooler bags. All proceeds go to a project creating carbon-neutral "school forests." The first 2,000 visitors to pass an environmental quiz could make their own upcycled key rings.

Other interactive features included a message wall that displayed visitors' notes on screen and "Reimpact Planet," an Earth model whose LED lights changed according to participation data.

IADS Notes: Lotte Department Store's presence at the Festa builds on an ESG agenda already visible in its operations. It runs a nationwide cold-storage bag collection rewarded with L.POINT points, upcycles or donates the bags it collects, and has paid 350 billion won early to its partners (ChosunBiz, October 2025). Other department stores are also using their visibility to rally customers and employees around sustainability, as El Corte Inglés did by joining WWF's Earth Hour (Digital Leon, March 2026). Circularity programmes aimed at customers are increasingly tied to engagement and loyalty. Selfridges rewards customers who return hard-to-recycle beauty packaging (Fashion Network, January 2026), and El Corte Inglés collected more than 630 tonnes of textiles through in-store programmes with Moda re- (Control Publicidad, August 2026). Beyond collection, M&S and its partners are investing in industrial-scale textile sorting and recycling through The Circuit (WWD, September 2026). Upcycled merchandise such as Lotte's tote bags made from waste banners is therefore the customer-facing end of a much larger circular value chain.

Lotte Department Store showcases its social value campaigns at Korea Social Value Festa

What: Brazilian luxury conglomerate JHSF has opened CJ Fashion, a three-level, 4,000-square-metre department store carrying about 150 brands inside its Shopping Cidade Jardim mall in São Paulo.

Why it is important:  It inverts the usual reinvention path: rather than shrinking a legacy store, JHSF scaled a private shopper service into a physical format, using clienteling data to decide what to stock.

JHSF, the São Paulo group whose luxury ecosystem includes malls, hotels, homes and a private airport, has opened CJ Fashion, its first department store, inside Shopping Cidade Jardim. The store covers more than 4,000 square metres across three levels and carries about 150 brands spanning fashion, jewellery, beauty, accessories, gastronomy, furniture and books.

CJ Fashion began as the mall's e-commerce platform, which JHSF later discontinued and converted into a private shopper service. Within six months, that service matched the former e-commerce sales at a fraction of the cost, and 80% of purchases ended with clients messaging shoppers for advice. JHSF opted for its own store after concluding it would appeal more to clients than importing international department stores.

The retailer does not own the inventory: brands hold the stock, except for collaborations and first-to-market brands, while CJ Fashion curates the assortment and runs service. Specialists assist across categories, and a unified checkout handles all purchases. The line-up mixes Balmain, Brunello Cucinelli, Zimmermann and Latin America's first Tom Ford Beauty shop with Brazilian labels and a residency programme for local creators. CEO Augusto Martins said the model was designed to be replicated in other JHSF developments and other countries.

IADS Notes: CJ Fashion enters a market where the department store model never took hold: Brazil built fashion chains such as Lojas Renner and Riachuelo and mall operators such as Iguatemi instead, even as Latin America's five largest department store groups grew combined revenue 10% and profit nearly 48% in 2025 on integrated ecosystems spanning banking, credit and property (The Robin Report, September 2026). JHSF's move extends the mall-operator logic seen at Iguatemi, which anchors its luxury shopping centres in gastronomy, culture and service, supported by a loyalty programme of over a million active members (WWD, February 2026). CJ Fashion's stock-free model, in which brands hold the inventory, echoes the structure Saks Global adopted on exiting bankruptcy through over 350 concession and consignment agreements, a set-up that lowers inventory risk while reducing margin potential and fragmenting customer service (WWD, June 2026); CJ Fashion's unified checkout and cross-category specialists address that last weakness directly. Its compact, curation-first format also sits alongside other recent experiments in smaller, selective formats, from Boyner Group's Communité in Istanbul, where buyers act as curators and about 60% of brands are new to Turkey (WWD, September 2026), to Falabella's 1,800-square-metre specialised store in Angol, which extends its assortment through Click & Collect in an underserved city (Falabella press release, July 2026).

Retail rarity: a department store rises in Brazil

What: Seibu Shibuya, the Tokyo department store that launched designers such as Kenzo Takada, Issey Miyake and Takeo Kikuchi, closes its main buildings at the end of September 2026 after 58 years.

Why it is important: Seibu Shibuya proved that buyer-led curation and support for unknown talent could build a store's identity and a whole district, a capability most department stores have since traded for proven brands.

Opened in 1968 near Shibuya Station, Seibu Shibuya built its reputation on discovering new designers rather than stocking what sold elsewhere. Its signature space, Capsule, an avant-garde area on the mezzanine of Building A designed by Shiro Kuramata, displayed clothing by then unknown designers such as Takeo Kikuchi and Kansai Yamamoto. Kenzo Takada and Issey Miyake held shows there in the 1970s, and the store also showcased Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo. The designers it discovered became central figures in the DC brand boom of the 1980s.

Seiichi Mizuno, store manager in the 1980s, recalls relying on the discerning eye of employees to stock unique items. Fashion consultant Nobuyuki Ota calls Capsule a pioneer of the select shop concept and credits the store with turning designers who lacked financial resources into widely loved brands.

Alongside Shibuya Parco and Loft, the store helped make Shibuya a district of youth fashion. As online shopping and social media let consumers discover trends without visiting a store, fashion historian Takuya Kikuta of Showa Women's University sees the closure as the end of the era in which department stores shaped fashion and culture. The Loft Building and Movida Hall, home to Muji, remain open.

IADS Notes: The closure of Seibu Shibuya was decided after Sogo & Seibu failed to reach a redevelopment agreement for the site following persistent losses, leaving the group with a single Tokyo store while the adjacent Loft and Muji operations continue (Japan Times, March 2026). The store's exit has been read as a turning point for Japanese department stores, whose sales have returned to pre-pandemic levels on the strength of duty-free spending while remaining well below their 1990s peak, as younger consumers shift to digital platforms and experiential retail (Bloomberg, April 2026). In Shibuya itself, the closures of Seibu and Tokyu belong to a wider redevelopment wave favouring mixed-use complexes that combine retail, hospitality and residential functions, with nationwide department store sales now at 60% of their 1991 peak (Japan Forward, May 2026). The erosion of the department store's role as a discovery channel extends well beyond Japan: at the World Retail Congress, nearly half of Gen Z shoppers were reported to begin product searches through AI tools, prompting department stores to reposition their physical spaces as cultural and social destinations (WWD, April 2026).

Tokyo's Seibu Shibuya department store to close after 58 years, ending tenure as former hub of youth fashion trends

What: Tourist taxes are spreading worldwide as authorities seek revenue and crowd control, although so far they have proved better at raising money than at curbing visitor numbers.

Why it is important: Overnight levies fall hardest on multi-night, high-spending visitors, the tourist profile department stores rely on most, while sparing day trippers who contribute less to local economies.

Tourist taxes are rising worldwide. France and Italy each raise more than €1bn a year from such duties, Greece's receipts rose by almost two-thirds last year, and England is giving mayors powers to set potentially unlimited levies. Kyoto raised its maximum accommodation tax almost tenfold in March, Japan tripled its departure tax to ¥3,000 in July, and Amsterdam plans a 20% levy by 2030. Barcelona charges up to €12 per person per night.

The levies are proving more effective at raising revenue than at controlling crowds. Venice's day-tripper fee has not stopped record visitor numbers, and Balearic tax revenue has not quelled protests over housing costs and strained public services. Leuven tourism professor Jan van der Borg warns that overnight levies penalise the most lucrative visitors, those staying several nights and spending locally, while sparing day trippers.

Hotels typically absorb part of new levies, and occupancy usually holds. Where cities let hotels exclude the tax from headline prices, demand is largely unaffected, whereas UK rules requiring all-in pricing make it more visible. Almost a fifth of travellers surveyed by the WTTC said existing taxes had made them choose another destination, and second-tier cities may struggle to compete.

IADS Notes: Visitor taxation already shapes where international shoppers spend, although through a different mechanism than the accommodation levies now spreading across Europe and Asia. The UK's withdrawal of VAT-free shopping cost retail more than £1bn in lost spending in a single year, with the West End losing ground to Paris and Oslo (Retail Week, February 2026), and London's luxury department stores continue to cite the absence of tax-free shopping as a structural headwind even as Harrods returned to profit (Fashion Network, August 2026). Higher visitor volumes do not guarantee higher retail spend: Paris luxury boutique footfall fell 11.3% in the first half of 2026 despite overall tourism growth, as the high-spending visitor groups that traditionally drove sales weakened (Le Monde, July 2026). Tourist flows also redirect quickly when conditions change, as Chinese spending moved from Japan to Korea, lifting Korean department store revenues while Japanese tax-free sales fell (ChosunBiz, March 2026). Japanese department stores have responded by diversifying assortments and refocusing on domestic customers to reduce reliance on inbound tourism (Inside Retail, June 2026), a hedge that gains relevance now that Japan has tripled its departure tax and Kyoto has raised its maximum accommodation tax almost tenfold.

Tourist taxes on the march

What: Asos has launched its first adaptive collection for disabled customers, spanning womenswear, menswear and curve, developed with disabled customers and consultancy Tilting the Lens.

Why it is important: The collection treats style, not just function, as the starting point for adaptive fashion, closing a gap the retailer's own research found was underserved, particularly in occasionwear.

The 51-piece range, co-created with disabled customers and Tilting the Lens, puts style at the centre of accessible fashion, with details such as magnetic fastenings, discreet access points and cuts designed for seated wearers.

Research by Asos and Tilting the Lens found that 86% of participants cited comfort and fit as leading purchase motivators, with style-led occasionwear identified as a particular market gap. Available globally, the collection includes maxi dresses, graphic and abstract prints, jersey dresses and sleek tailoring, weighted toward womenswear for occasion pieces while tailoring spans both womenswear and menswear. Everyday items such as smart shirts, knitted polos and accessories round out the offer.

Wider necklines, discreet tube access, stretch fabrics and contoured waistbands recur throughout. Asos vice-president of brand and creative Vanessa Spence said the retailer wanted to extend its fashion-led approach to a category where disabled customers have had fewer choices. Tilting the Lens chief executive Sinéad Burke said true inclusion starts with codesign, arguing the collection shows what happens when functionality and fashion are developed together from the outset.

IADS Notes: Asos's move into adaptive occasionwear extends a pattern already established elsewhere on the high street. Primark launched its first adaptive clothing range in January 2025, targeting the same underserved segment, and followed this in July 2025 with a wheelchair-user mannequin codesigned with disability advocate Sophie Morgan, signalling that authentic representation, not just product, has become part of the commercial proposition. That same month, UK government research identified retail as the sector where disabled customers face the most barriers, and specifically recommended co-design with disabled customers as a corrective (Forbes, July 2025), the same methodology Asos and Tilting the Lens applied from the outset. Harvard Business Review argued in February 2026 that embedding accessibility constraints early in product development can produce "design amplification," turning niche solutions into mainstream commercial successes, a trajectory the Asos collection's scale (51 options across three ranges, sold globally) appears to extend.

Asos launches adaptive collection for disabled customers

What: Fashion retailer Mango has named Katarzyna Niemirowicz-Majtas, its international retail director for Northern Europe, as its new chief retail officer

Why it is important: The appointment continues a pattern seen across department stores and fashion retailers of promoting from within to steer large, multi-market store networks through their next growth phase.

Mango has appointed Katarzyna Niemirowicz-Majtas as chief retail officer, succeeding César de Vicente, who is leaving the company to pursue an external opportunity. Niemirowicz-Majtas joined Mango last year as international retail director for Northern Europe, and will now lead the retailer's global retail and commercial operations, driving its strategic plan, strengthening its business model, expanding its store estate, and optimising performance across more than 2,960 points of sale worldwide.

She brings over 20 years of experience in global executive roles across fashion. At H&M, she led commercial strategy for around 20 countries and oversaw 18,000 employees, and she also led sales and expansion strategies across multiple markets at & Other Stories. In her new role, she will report directly to Mango chairman and chief executive Toni Ruiz. She said the move represents an opportunity to sharpen operational performance and strengthen the customer experience across Mango's commercial network.

IADS Notes: Executive turnover in retail's chief-operations-facing roles has been a recurring theme across department-store and fashion-retail groups over the past year. Harrods similarly elevated an internal figure, promoting its retail director to chief retail officer to oversee service standards across physical channels amid a challenging trading environment (Drapers, November 2025). David Jones took a comparable route in appointing a new chief executive from within its commercial leadership, pairing the move with fresh financing and a multi-year modernization plan to stabilize the business (WWD, June 2026). Both cases echo Mango's own pattern of promoting from within its international leadership bench to steer a large, multi-market store network through its next phase of growth.

Mango appoints new chief retail officer

What: Shinsegae has opened Hyper Ground, a three-month, 2,000-square-foot K-beauty pop-up at The Shops at Hudson Yards in New York, featuring more than 30 Korean brands, most of them not yet sold at U.S. retail.

Why it is important:  As Olive Young, Sephora, Ulta and Target compete for the best-known K-beauty brands, Shinsegae is competing on early discovery and curation instead of scale.

Shinsegae, which generated roughly 7.4 trillion won ($5.3 billion) in revenue in 2025, opened its Hyper Ground pop-up at The Shops at Hudson Yards on September 25. Open seven days a week through December, the 2,000-square-foot space features more than 30 K-beauty brands, including Skit, a skin care line from model Irene Kim, MiHak, Bbia, Ongredients and Kundal. It is organised into themed zones: "Seoul Senses" for home and fragrance, "Night Reset" for hair care and night-time self-care, and "Seoul Morning & City Glow" for facial skin care and devices.

The format follows an inaugural Hyper Ground at Printemps Paris a year earlier. According to JinKyung Park of Shinsegae's merchandising division, the key lesson was that international consumers no longer buy Korean brands simply for their origin; brand identity, visual storytelling, founder stories and links to contemporary Korean lifestyle drive engagement and purchase.

The timing reflects fast-growing U.S. demand. NielsenIQ data shows 29% of U.S. households now buy K-beauty each year, up from 23% a year ago and 19.7% two years ago. Shinsegae aims to identify emerging brands early and offer them a first step into the market.

IADS Notes: Shinsegae's New York pop-up builds on a format the group has been refining across markets. The first Hyperground pop-up at Printemps Paris came with a VIP benefits agreement between the two department stores and a stated plan to roll the concept out worldwide (The Chosun Daily, June 2025). A few months later, a short activation with Metro at Singapore's Paragon introduced six Korean fashion and lifestyle brands through a local co-design partnership (Inside Retail, September 2025). The U.S. move places Shinsegae in a market where Korea's beauty specialist has set the pace. Olive Young announced its American entry as a direct challenge to Sephora and Ulta Beauty, both of which were already expanding their K-beauty ranges (BoF, November 2025). It then secured a deal to bring a curated selection of its brands into Sephora's global network (BoF, January 2026), before opening in Pasadena with dedicated local logistics (Bloomberg, May 2026). Olive Young has built scale and distribution, so Shinsegae is competing on early discovery and editorial curation. It is betting that a department store's point of view can still launch brands that the category leaders have not yet signed.

Shinsegae wants to be a U.S. beauty player, too