What: KaDeWe is turning 21,500 sq ft of its Berlin flagship into a fitness and longevity destination, bringing boutique workouts, medically supervised recovery treatments and exclusive sports brands under one roof from November.

Why it is important: By adding paid memberships of €180–1,000 a month to a clientele that already visits weekly, KaDeWe is testing whether wellness can turn customer frequency into a recurring revenue stream for department stores.

From November, KaDeWe will dedicate 21,500 square feet on the fourth floor of its Berlin flagship to health, sports and wellness. The space includes a Lagree studio by Berlin's Shapesty, its third in the city, and a Recover Society area with a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, a room for breathing and movement classes, and consultation rooms where doctors and other experts advise clients.

Julie Gasperini, KaDeWe group's buying director, describes a full-day journey: a morning class, recovery next door, brunch in the sixth-floor food hall, then beauty treatments on the third floor. The activewear offer mixes exclusive labels such as Stronger and Mercer Amsterdam, Berlin brands Wrstbhvr and Ante, and established names including Fabletics, Skims and On.

Recover Society, which started in hotels and is expanding to Milan, London and Copenhagen, does not own its equipment but assembles gear, expertise, partners and space. Chief executive Nicolai Gropper hopes KaDeWe's clientele, many of whom visit at least weekly according to loyalty-card data, will come up to three times a week and buy memberships costing 180 to 1,000 euros a month. The project took about 18 months, with equipment access, power and water supply in the 120-year-old listed building the main hurdles.

IADS Notes: KaDeWe's fourth-floor hub follows a close precedent in London: Harvey Nichols gave the entire fourth floor of its Knightsbridge flagship to Pilates, clinic treatments such as cryotherapy and IV infusions, and functional nutrition, as part of a three-year refurbishment (WWD, May 2026). John Lewis is taking the concept across several stores, with Sports & Wellness departments of around 5,000 sq ft organised around fitness goals rather than product categories. They pair sportswear and recovery products with gait analysis, AI-powered fitness mirrors and monthly run clubs (John Lewis press release, August 2026). The retailer has since applied the same logic to specialist concessions, more than doubling Randox Health's in-store clinics for blood testing and wellness assessments, as demand for its advisory services rose by more than 5% in the first half (Drapers, September 2026). Behind these moves is what has been called a "health hub economy", in which fitness, wellness, data and community come together in connected ecosystems that capture loyalty, with wellness members' clubs emerging as luxury "third spaces" (Ian Jindal, May 2026). Recover Society's membership model, priced from €180 to €1,000 a month and built on repeat visits, places KaDeWe within that logic: the hub is designed to turn an already frequent clientele into paying members.

KaDeWe opens a biohacking and boutique fitness hub in its Berlin flagship

What: Gartner's top strategic predictions for 2027 and beyond identify cost exhaustion attacks on public-facing AI as a new cybersecurity risk, alongside forecasts of dedicated functions and real-time controls to tie AI spending to value.

Why it is important: With AI budgets already overrunning before any attack, Gartner's predictions shift cost control from retrospective reporting to real-time governance shared by finance, technology and security teams.

Gartner unveiled its top strategic predictions for 2027 and beyond at its IT Symposium/Xpo on the Gold Coast, grouped into three categories: robots everywhere, cost to value and unknown unknowns.

Among the ten predictions, Gartner expects 80% of organisations with public-facing AI to have experienced a cost exhaustion attack by 2030. Malicious actors deliberately drive excessive AI usage to raise operational costs, so token consumption becomes both a cost and a security concern. Gartner recommends making AI token costs a cybersecurity indicator, implementing cost-focused security controls and extending monitoring across all AI technologies.

Cost governance runs through several other forecasts. By 2029, 60% of organisations deploying AI will have a dedicated function mapping total AI cost to value or profit, and by 2028, 60% of Global 500 companies will embed AI FinOps controls at inference, with cost per task and token efficiency becoming core measures.

Further predictions include more than 10 billion autonomous agents clogging public services by end 2030, physical AI assisting 80% of front-line workers at international companies, insurers rather than regulators driving AI governance, and 80% of new applications becoming disposable by 2029.

IADS Notes: Rising AI bills were already a governance problem before attackers entered the picture. McKinsey, July 2026 found that 93% of companies surveyed exceed their AI budgets, with spend rising nearly fourfold as adoption scales, and called for FinOps practices applied to AI. BCG, July 2026 argued that token costs can no longer sit inside IT budgets and proposed cost per successful outcome as the measure of return. ERE Media, June 2026 warned that providers are pricing AI below cost, while agentic systems consume ever more tokens even as unit prices fall, so total bills keep rising. On the security side, Bloomberg, August 2026 reported that AI is lowering the barrier to sophisticated attacks and widening the pool of potential attackers. Public-facing AI also carries reputational exposure: The Robin Report, April 2026 described how a malfunctioning customer chatbot at Woolworths quickly drew public attention and raised doubts over the reliability of digital customer service.

Gartner names AI cost exhaustion attacks among its top predictions for 2027

What: NRF forecasts US holiday retail sales will grow 4.2% in November and December to $1.013 trillion, up from 3.1% growth and $972 billion last year.

Why it is important: Last year's NRF forecast of 3.7% to 4.2% overshot the 3.1% outcome, so this year's 4.2% should be read as a projection that depends on consumers absorbing higher gas prices and inflation.

The National Retail Federation forecasts that US retail sales in November and December will grow 4.2% over 2025, reaching $1.013 trillion. Last year's holiday sales rose 3.1% over 2024, totalling $972 billion. NRF's CEO Matthew Shay said the forecast reflects confidence that consumers will prioritise the holiday season while remaining mindful of their budgets, with retailers prepared to meet demand through competitive prices, value and choices for every budget.

NRF chief economist Mark Mathews said the season opens with strong spending momentum, with consumers remaining the bright spot in the economy. He cautioned that inflation, rising gas prices and pressure on household spending will affect consumers differently across income groups.

Retailers are expected to hire between 325,000 and 375,000 seasonal workers, in line with last year's estimated 356,000, as they remain cautious amid higher gas prices, persistent inflation, higher interest rates and elevated consumer debt. The forecast draws on economic modelling using consumer spending, disposable personal income, employment, wages, inflation and previous monthly retail sales releases. It excludes automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants and defines the holiday season as 1 November to 31 December.

IADS Notes: Last year's forecast, published by NRF in November 2025, projected holiday sales above $1 trillion for the first time, with growth of 3.7% to 4.2% and temporary hiring at its lowest since 2008. The actual 2025 outturn cited in the new release, $972 billion and growth of 3.1%, came in below that range, which makes this year's 4.2% forecast a clear step up from last year's realised growth. The 2026 outlook builds on NRF's full-year projection of 4.4% growth to $5.6 trillion, underpinned by low unemployment, larger tax refunds and easing inflation, with higher-income households driving most of the growth (WWD, March 2026). Fuel costs have since become the main source of pressure: Bloomberg in July 2026 reported June sales up 0.2%, or 0.7% excluding gasoline, with consumers described as resilient but pressured by inflation and gas prices, and warned that renewed US-Iran tensions could reverse the relief. Visa in October 2026 then showed September pump prices up 37.6% year on year, with discretionary spending momentum still below expansion territory at 99.0. Cautious seasonal hiring is not confined to the US: Drapers in September 2026 reported John Lewis Partnership recruiting 10,400 Christmas staff, down from last year's record 13,700.

NRF forecasts 2026 holiday sales growth as consumers remain resilient

What: Ralph Lauren is among the few listed retailers to link executive pay to AI, as 12% of S&P 500 companies disclosed AI-related incentive goals this year, up from 5% in 2024.

Why it is important: Incentive weight is shifting from sustainability to AI at the same time as retailers such as Walmart and Harrods continue to publish ESG progress, which suggests ESG reporting and executive incentives are starting to diverge.

Ralph Lauren has replaced the citizenship and sustainability measure in its short-term executive incentive plan, in place for four years, with AI metrics. The previously unreported change appears in a 131-page disclosure and sits alongside factors such as sales growth and operational costs. In its June proxy statement, the company said its fiscal 2026 plan was for the first time tied to priorities focused on AI literacy and enablement, and that strong results on these metrics contributed to maximum payouts for top executives.

About 12% of S&P 500 companies disclosed AI-related goals in executive incentive plans this year, up from 5% in 2024, according to the Conference Board and ESGUAGE. A Pearl Meyer review of 2,500 proxy statements found only 2% of public companies across sectors have incorporated AI into executive incentives. The Conference Board's Matteo Tonello called Ralph Lauren's move notable among consumer peers but cautioned that it does not yet signal a sector-wide shift. Korn Ferry's Cory Morrow described an emerging practice, noting the difficulty of quantifying what is being measured.

Ralph Lauren added AI to its chief digital officer's title last year, and Target appointed its first chief AI officer in August.

IADS Notes: AI is already a visible priority for retailers: Forbes, January 2026 reported that AI took centre stage at NRF, with retailers adopting domain-specific models for efficiency and revenue gains and luxury brands including Ralph Lauren using it for design, marketing and service. The commercial case is also being made at customer level, as Customer Experience Dive, September 2026 detailed Target's expansion of AI discovery and review tools, which the company says have lifted conversions. Executive pay has drawn scrutiny in other contexts: WWD, March 2026 covered Saks Global's CEO package of an $8.5 million sign-on payment and a $1.5 million base salary, which prompted debate over governance and accountability. Sustainability reporting, meanwhile, remains an active discipline elsewhere in retail, with WWD, August 2026 reporting Walmart's FY2026 progress on emissions, waste diversion and workforce training, and Drapers, July 2026 reporting that Harrods used its ESG report, which showed a 9% emissions cut and a gender pay gap down to 0.2%, to rebuild trust.

Ralph Lauren ties executive payouts to AI in sign of retail's shifting priorities

What: M&S has partnered with Klarna to offer interest-free pay-in-three across M&S.com and its app, joining more than 1.2 million merchants working with the provider.

Why it is important: Pay-in-three is becoming a standard checkout feature at major UK retailers, at a time when stricter BNPL regulation and Klarna's credit losses are raising the cost of getting flexible payments wrong.

M&S has added flexible payments provider Klarna to its checkout options, allowing customers shopping through its website or app to split the cost of a purchase into three equal, interest-free payments.

M&S director of financial services Katherine Carlson said the retailer is always looking for ways to make it easier for customers to shop with it, and that the launch offers more flexibility in how they pay for the things they love. She added that people deserve flexibility without paying interest, with the goal of meeting customers wherever they shop.

Klarna head of UK, Ireland, Western and Southern Europe Raji Behal described M&S as a much-loved British brand delivering outstanding quality and value to millions of shoppers daily. Behal added that Klarna is proud to offer M&S customers a transparent way to spread the cost, with no interest and a clear end date.

M&S joins more than 1.2 million merchants that partner with Klarna.

IADS Notes: Klarna's addition at M&S comes as instalment payments move deeper into mainstream retail. Mobile apps combining BNPL and cash-back rewards, with Klarna among the providers, were already central to holiday spending and to engaging younger shoppers (Forbes, November 2025), and a Klarna-powered leasing programme now runs across Apple's US online, app and store channels (Press Release, July 2026). Retailers are also treating financial services as a strategic lever, with John Lewis Money having expanded its credit, insurance and instalment finance offer to support loyalty and diversify revenue (Retail Week, September 2026). The model carries growing risks, however. Klarna's valuation has fallen by almost 70% since its IPO, with a reported $273 million net loss for 2025 and credit loss provisions up nearly 60% (Financial Times, February 2026), while UK BNPL comes under full FCA oversight from July 2026, with affordability checks on every transaction expected to add friction at checkout for credit-reliant shoppers (Retail Insight Network, February 2026).

M&S introduces Klarna at checkout

What: Target has expanded its myDay store operations app, which uses inventory, associate availability, item locations and sales forecasts to prioritise tasks and which the retailer says saves associates more than 2 million hours a year.

Why it is important: Target is putting technology behind the associate investment it announced in February, using task prioritisation to turn added store hours into customer time rather than back-of-house work.

Target has expanded its myDay store operations app to help associates and managers streamline tasks and spend more time on customer service. The tool draws on inventory, associate availability, item locations and sales forecasts to prioritise work, and Target says it saves associates more than 2 million hours a year.

Target designed myDay to answer common associate questions, such as which task needs attention first and where to go next. The latest updates draw on input from more than 50 store leaders and associates and bring tasks from across the store into one place, so workers can act where the impact on the customer experience is biggest and most immediate.

Two manager features show where product trailers are located and what is needed to unload them, and give a snapshot of available shelf space with advice on where associates should focus. For associates, Scan to Divert combines inventory and sales floor data to decide which products need stocking right away and which can stay in the backroom.

The app sits within a broader turnaround in which Target is investing $1 billion in the guest experience this year, adding labour hours and refreshing associate training and evaluation.

IADS Notes: Target's store operations push sits within a wider shift of resources toward the sales floor and the systems behind it. Target cut about 500 roles while increasing investment in store staffing (Reuters, February 2026), and its largest remodelling campaign in over a decade covers more than 130 stores, with technology and customer experience upgrades (Chainstore Age CSA, May 2026). In September 2026 it named a chief marketing and guest experience officer as comparable sales rose 3.8% and traffic 3.6% (Customer Experience Dive, September 2026). Availability is the other pressure point: Macy's is extending an AI forecasting overlay to improve in-stock levels, while Target has built a digital twin of its middle-mile inventory positioning (Supply Chain dive, September 2026). Retention remains the open question on the staffing side, as more than 60% of US workers hold a frontline retail job early in their careers and 72% leave retail within five years (The Robin Report, October 2026).

Target's operations app updates let associates spend more time with customers

What: Swedish department store group Åhléns is listing on Nasdaq Stockholm the SEK 500 million secured bond it issued in October 2025, partly to refinance about SEK 513.8 million of Covid-era deferred taxes.

Why it is important: Attica raised equity in Athens, while Åhléns is turning to secured debt, which shows how different the capital routes open to European department stores now are.

Åhléns Group has published a prospectus, approved by Finansinspektionen on 14 October 2026, to list on Nasdaq Stockholm the SEK 500 million senior secured bond it issued in October 2025. The bond pays three-month STIBOR plus 5.00%, matures in April 2029 and is secured on shares in the issuer and its material subsidiaries. Its proceeds partly refinance about SEK 513.8 million of employer contributions, preliminary tax deductions and VAT deferred under temporary Covid-19 rules.

The group operates about 70 stores in Sweden, around 50 of them Åhléns department stores, alongside e-commerce, Designtorget, Åhléns Outlet and Dashl beauty services. It is controlled by companies owned by Group CEO Ayad Al-Saffar and by Torsten Jansson and Göran Härstedt. The Stockholm flagship, Åhléns City, generates about 20% of sales, and the group's only significant distribution centre, at Rosersberg, serves stores and online orders.

By purchase value, about 60% of supply comes from wholesale suppliers, 20% from consignment or concession partners and 20% from private-label manufacturers. A 2.5 million member loyalty programme steers range, pricing and offers. Among the risks it discloses, the group cites a clear shift from premium to lower-priced alternatives and margin pressure from non-EU cross-border e-commerce operators.

IADS Notes: Åhléns' secured bond, priced at STIBOR + 5.00%, contrasts with the equity route taken by Attica, which listed on Euronext Athens with a €192.5 million market capitalisation and raised €57.6 million in an offer 3.9 times oversubscribed (Press Release, July 2026). The non-EU cross-border operators cited in the prospectus as a margin threat have faced a €3 EU duty per item on consignments of €150 or less since 1 July 2026, with a handling fee expected at €2 to €4 from 1 November 2026 (Ecommerce Europe, August 2026). Åhléns sources about 20% of purchases through consignment or concession partners; Saks Global, which emerged from bankruptcy with more than 350 such agreements, illustrates the trade-off between lower inventory risk on one side and reduced margin potential and harder asset-backed lending on the other (WWD, June 2026).

Åhléns lists its SEK 500 million secured bond on Nasdaq Stockholm

What: Authentic Brands Group is developing "Bella From Barneys", a Prime Video drama series set in a fictional Barneys New York store in Beverly Hills, alongside the brand's physical relaunch in Naples, Florida.

Why it is important: Building a global screen identity for Barneys in a fictional city, without its founding family, tests how far a heritage retail name can be stretched while its real stores remain limited to one planned Florida opening.

Authentic Brands Group, which bought the Barneys New York intellectual property out of bankruptcy for $271 million in 2019, is working with Amazon MGM Studios on "Bella From Barneys", a Prime Video series produced by Authentic Studios. Developed by "Gossip Girl" producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, it follows Bella Baldwin, a young woman from outside Manhattan who rises from the stockroom of a revived Barneys to personal shopper for its most notorious socialite client, while becoming entangled with an heir fighting to keep the family business alive.

The series' store is fictional and located in Beverly Hills rather than New York, and the founding Pressman family is not involved. No air date has been set; the series will be available in more than 240 countries and territories. Corey Salter, who heads entertainment at Authentic, framed the project as a showcase for its brand IP.

The project is separate from the physical relaunch: One Luxury Solution, formed by Richard Cohen and Eric Appelblom, will open a 10,000-square-foot Barneys in Naples, Florida, in the first quarter of 2027. No return to New York has been announced, although Authentic says it is in discussions to find a site there.

IADS Notes: The Prime Video series is the first visible output of the shift toward entertainment and content-driven commerce that Authentic Brands Group set out ahead of its planned IPO, with the stated ambition of making entertainment a much larger share of its business (CNBC, May 2026). It extends a model built on controlling the intellectual property of fallen luxury retailers, which Authentic reinforced by taking majority control of the licensing entity for Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman after Saks Global's bankruptcy (Retail Dive, February 2026). On the physical side, the Barneys relaunch was conceived as a 10,000-square-foot specialty store in Naples led by Richard Cohen, deliberately away from New York (WWD, June 2026), while industry voices including Gene Pressman and Mickey Drexler warned that a credible comeback requires merchant vision rather than nostalgia (as WWD reported the same month). A fictional Beverly Hills store with no Pressman involvement sits uneasily with that warning, since the brand's screen identity is being written independently of both its founders and its city. The series also reverses the logic of Netflix House, where a streamer turned vacant department store anchors into venues for its own content (Modern Retail, December 2025): here, the department store itself becomes the content.

Barneys New York to get new life in Amazon Prime Video series

What: Lotte Department Store is launching "Avenuel Global Trip", a programme of luxury cruise holidays reserved for its Avenuel VIP members.

Why it is important: By crediting travel purchases towards Avenuel tiers, Lotte makes non-retail spending a lever for retaining its highest-value customers.

Lotte Department Store is introducing "Avenuel Global Trip", an overseas travel programme for members of its Avenuel VIP membership, centred on luxury cruises. All three launch itineraries use the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, combining time on board with experiences at each port of call.

The first products cover an eight-night, ten-day Alaska trip from Vancouver, with glacier viewing, wildlife observation, business-class flights and a stay at a Fairmont hotel; a ten-night, eleven-day gastronomic route from Tokyo through Shimizu, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka to Busan and Jeju, timed for the cherry blossom season; and a Mediterranean package exploring Gaudí's architecture and local culture in Spain and southern France.

Service extends before and after the trip, with one-on-one concierge planning, home-to-airport butler transfers, and gifts and on-trip credits of up to $1,000. Bookings are made through an exclusive tab in the Lotte Department Store app, open to Avenuel Orange to Black tiers. Travel purchases count at 100% towards Avenuel qualification, within an annual limit of 100 million won.

The launch follows the reorganisation of Avenuel Point into Avenuel Curation, which offers lifestyle content through more than 100 partners across six fields, including luxury hotels, fine dining, golf and leisure.

IADS Notes: The Avenuel Global Trip is the concrete execution of a strategy Lotte set out at the start of the year, when it announced that its VIP programme would shift towards curated benefits in luxury travel, fine dining and wellness, built with hotel and Michelin-starred partners (Maeil Business Newspaper, January 2026). The move fits a wider reorganisation of Korean department stores, where Hyundai, Shinsegae and Lotte are restructuring stores and teams around lifestyle experiences rather than product categories (The Chosun Daily, February 2026). Outside Korea, Manor has used cardholder benefits to give customers access to the Locarno Film Festival through dinner, red-carpet access and reserved seating (press release, August 2026), while Harvey Nichols reworked its loyalty tiers in step with its experiential repositioning (Fashion United, January 2026). With points and tiers now standard across the industry, differentiation increasingly comes from services anchored in customers' lifestyles rather than from the transaction itself (Customer Experience Dive, September 2026).

Lotte Department Store launches luxury cruise travel programme for Avenuel VIP members

What: Jean-Marc Bellaiche, former head of Printemps and currently CEO of resort operator Sani/Ikos Group, will lead European beauty retailer Douglas Group from November 1.

Why it is important: Europe's largest premium beauty retailer is now run by a former department store CEO, as beauty becomes one of the most directly contested categories between department stores and specialist chains.

Douglas Group has named Jean-Marc Bellaiche chief executive officer from November 1. He succeeds Sander van der Laan, who joined in October 2022 and is retiring after a 36-year career. Under van der Laan, the Düsseldorf-based group listed on the stock exchange in 2024, developed a new category and exclusive-brands strategy, revised its store network and reorganised its supply chain.

Bellaiche, 56, has spent the past year as CEO of luxury resort operator Sani/Ikos Group. He previously led Printemps Group for five years from 2020, a period during which, according to Douglas, he strengthened the department store's distinctiveness and customer focus, introduced more exclusivities, accelerated international and omnichannel development and improved operating profitability. He has also held senior roles at Tiffany & Co., Contentsquare and Arianee.

Supervisory board chairman Henning Kreke said Bellaiche is expected to put greater focus on customer-centricity, beauty brand partnerships and operational excellence. Bellaiche cited the group's omnichannel footprint, loyal customers and close brand relationships as strengths to build on with teams across 22 European countries.

Douglas Group, which includes Douglas, Nocibé, Parfumdreams and Niche Beauty, operates about 1,970 stores and generated 4.58 billion euros in sales in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025.

IADS Notes: Bellaiche's move to Douglas follows a turbulent exit from Printemps, where his departure in September 2025 was followed by nine months of interim leadership before Rémy Baume was named CEO (WWD, June 2026). Douglas credits him with improving operating profitability; Printemps nonetheless posted losses of €38 million in 2024 and €42 million in 2025, and announced 229 job cuts and the closure of its Rennes store in April 2026 (L'Informé, April 2026). His appointment at Europe's leading premium beauty retailer comes as department stores and beauty specialists compete ever more directly for the same category. Macy's has added 40 beauty brands and devoted some 54,000 square feet to beauty at its Herald Square flagship (BeautyInc, May 2026), while M&S has chosen to hand its beauty offer to Sephora, which will operate in 100 of its UK stores from spring 2027 (Retail Week, September 2026). Talent flows between the two worlds in both directions, as shown by Liberty's appointment of Laura Simpson, a former Procter & Gamble, Coty and Wella executive, as chief marketing officer (WWD, July 2026).

Douglas Group names former Printemps chief Jean-Marc Bellaiche as CEO

What: Rising fuel prices have made biofuel shipping cheaper than fossil fuels and recycled polyester 20% cheaper than virgin, turning sustainability commitments into cost advantages for retailers.

Why it is important: With the US federal government stepping back from climate policy, EU regulation on circular materials and digital product passports is becoming the main regulatory pressure on retailers' sourcing and compliance.

Reporting from a Columbia University and Global Fashion Agenda summit finds that a sustainability tipping point has quietly arrived in supply chains. With marine fuel prices spiking and carbon compliance costs added in, shipping on biofuels is now cheaper than on fossil fuels, while recycled polyester is 20% cheaper than virgin polyester produced from oil, according to Sourcing Journal's Jasmin Malik Chua.

Pending EU regulations aim to double the circular material use rate by 2030 and set certification standards for secondary raw materials and an end-of-waste standard for garments, alongside the Sustainable Products Regulation and Digital Product Passports. Research from NIST's FIBR initiative found that three in ten garments across 73 fashion retailers contain at least 50 percent polyester.

Innovation is advancing, from colored silk and cotton that reduce dye use to the $11.5 million Prism Fund, backed by the Bezos Earth Fund, for a bacteria-grown textile fiber. Kering has pledged to reduce its reliance on leather by 30% by 2028.

The author cautions that relying on private philanthropy leaves a fragile foundation and urges retailers to use their influence in Washington to push for re-engagement.

IADS Notes: Energy-price pressure from the Iran war has been feeding through apparel supply chains since spring, with fossil fuel price surges raising the cost of producing and transporting polyester and halted air shipments squeezing Asian suppliers (Inside Retail, April 2026). Polyester's cost position sits at the center of the sector's emissions problem: apparel emissions rose 6.3% in 2024 on growing fiber production, and polyester remained cheaper than recycled material, a gap cited as a central barrier to decarbonization (Bloomberg, September 2026). Retailers are meanwhile building the recycling side of the chain, with M&S, New Look and Sainsbury's co-founding a UK initiative for automated textile sorting and fibre-to-fibre recycling (WWD, September 2026). Regulation is the other driver, as EU rules are set to make digital product passports mandatory by 2028 (The Robin Report, November 2025).

Breakthrough work in sustainable apparel

What: Walmart will cover more than 250 prescription drugs at no cost for US employees in its medical plans from next year, including Ozempic and Mounjaro for Type 2 diabetes, while adding new health and family benefits.

Why it is important: Walmart is turning healthcare into a retention tool at the moment most employers treat it as a cost to contain, widening the gap between benefits leaders and laggards in frontline labour markets.

Walmart will cover more than 250 prescription drugs at no cost for employees enrolled in its medical plans next year, according to a memo from Chief People Officer Donna Morris. The list includes many generics, some insulin and inhalers, and medicines for migraines, dementia and cardiovascular conditions. Ozempic and Mounjaro will also be free for employees with Type 2 diabetes, subject to prior approval.

The move contrasts with a wider pullback by US employers facing rising medical costs, many of which have dropped GLP-1 coverage for weight loss. Marsh projects that employer healthcare costs in 2027 will rise at the fastest rate since 2003.

Other additions include second opinions at the Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic for employees evaluated for or diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease or ALS, extending an existing cancer programme, and up to 12 weeks of paid leave for employees whose newborns are admitted to neonatal intensive care.

Walmart will raise employee premiums next year, though by less than in 2026. The retailer has spent the past decade reworking its reputation on pay and benefits for its 1.6 million US workers: starting wages have risen 93%, and benefits now cover tuition, fertility services and virtual care.

IADS Notes: Walmart's benefits push extends a workforce strategy already visible in its training effort: the retailer is giving role-specific AI certifications to its 2.1 million employees under a "people-led, tech powered" approach, with leadership presenting AI as augmenting rather than replacing jobs (CIO Dive, April 2026). Retention is the wider stake, as senior leaders increasingly see HR as a business enabler while retailers struggle to turn that ambition into talent management capable of keeping staff in a competitive labour market (BCG, March 2026). The GLP-1 coverage also places Walmart on both sides of a trend so far framed as a consumer story, with weight-loss drugs reshaping apparel sizing, mall traffic and wellness assortments (Financial Times, May 2026), and with Walmart itself relying on roughly 4,600 pharmacists to anchor its wellness and beauty offer in a US market worth more than $500 billion a year (US Chamber of Commerce, September 2026).

Walmart offers free prescription drugs to employees as other employers cut benefits

What: Saks Fifth Avenue has launched its "Main Character Energy" holiday campaign, shot inside its Manhattan flagship, ahead of its holiday windows and light show on November 23.

Why it is important: With Saks reduced from 33 to 15 stores, its Fifth Avenue flagship now carries a much larger share of the business, making this holiday season a direct test of whether Exemplar Luxury Group can turn a leaner balance sheet into renewed customer demand.

Saks Fifth Avenue has launched "Main Character Energy," its 2026 holiday campaign, directed and shot by Nadine Ijewere at its historic Manhattan flagship. The campaign follows a group of friends, played by creative personalities including Ruby Lyn, Stella Jones and George McNally, as they move through the store discovering gifts for family and friends and shopping for themselves, with each floor offering something unexpected.

The flagship will unveil its holiday windows and stage its light show on November 23, presented by Bread Financial, the official payment sponsor of Saks' 2026 holiday season. Six windows will animate a holiday journey through New York City. Saks cancelled the show in 2024 to cut costs before reinstating it last year. Bread Financial will also host events at select Saks stores.

In-store, a holiday market offers decor, gifts, epicure, snow globes and items from around the world, alongside a life-size Santa and dancing penguins. The gift guide spans party outfits, men's holiday dressing, beauty and gifts under $200, and the campaign supports Make-A-Wish.

Saks, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman emerged from bankruptcy in June under Exemplar Luxury Group, with new owners and management, a healthier balance sheet and fewer stores.

IADS Notes: The holiday season has now served as a stress test for Saks two years in a row. In November 2025, Saks Global entered the season after acquiring Neiman Marcus, securing $600 million in new financing and cutting costs, with immersive experiences and omnichannel engagement positioned as the levers to restore investor, vendor and customer confidence (WWD, November 2025). The group then exited Chapter 11 as Exemplar Luxury Group, with debt reduced by nearly 75%, new ownership and a streamlined portfolio of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman after multiple store closures. The rebrand also made Saks less central to the group's identity (WWD, June 2026). ELG still carries $1.2 billion in debt, expects $85 million in adjusted EBITDA for 2026 and targets $9 billion in gross merchandise value by 2030. Its recovery therefore depends on commercial execution: making its three banners distinct, restoring newness and exclusives, and securing priority allocations from luxury brands, with holiday trading again cited as a key test of customer perception (WWD, September 2026).

Saks Fifth Avenue's holiday campaign spotlights the Manhattan flagship

What: Children's sales rose 21% at Hyundai Department Store and 13.9% at Shinsegae this year, as Korea's birth rebound pushes department stores to upgrade their children's floors.

Why it is important: Premium brands, hands-on programmes and children's memberships show department stores using the youngest customers to recruit and retain whole families, with spending pooled across parents and grandparents.

Births in Korea have risen year on year for 25 consecutive months through July, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, with births in the first seven months up 14.7% and July's 24,275 births the highest for that month since 2019. First children accounted for 63.4% of July births, reinforcing parents' focus on giving one child the best, while "ten pocket" spending pools contributions from up to ten relatives.

Department stores are responding by moving children's floors upmarket. Shinsegae opened a kids' sports megastore and a premium baby gear zone at its Uijeongbu branch in September, and its Gangnam store hosts Moncler Enfant, with padded jackets above 1 million won ($747), and Baby Dior. Hyundai Department Store's Trade Center branch added standalone Cybex, Bugaboo and Stokke stores in August.

Programmes and memberships are expanding too. Lotte has grown children's programmes at its Lotte Culture Center by 10% a year, with course openings up more than 50% last year, alongside its Kinder Universe zone and pop-ups. Shinsegae's Daegu kids' membership passed 5,000 members within three months of its February 2025 launch, and CJ OnStyle launched On Kids Pass, a 990-won monthly children's subscription, on October 1.

IADS Notes: The push into children's categories extends a run of strong performance for Korean department stores, which posted record first-quarter results in 2026 on the back of tourist spending, experiential formats and store renewals (Maeil Business Newspaper, May 2026). It also builds on the shift at Hyundai, Shinsegae and Lotte away from floor-by-category layouts toward lifestyle-driven spaces designed to encourage cross-category purchasing (The Chosun Daily, February 2026). The same logic of using family assortments and experiences to widen the customer base is visible in other markets. Nordstrom has rolled out FAO Schwarz shop-in-shops with premium toys and interactive activations aimed at multi-generational shoppers (Press Release, June 2026), while The Mall Group uses children's learning activities and events to position its stores as family destinations (Bangkok Post, June 2026). Premiumisation is not the only direction in the category: parents elsewhere are turning to preloved children's clothing for sustainability and value, which puts pressure on traditional childrenswear retail (Financial Times, May 2026).

Baby rebound sends Korean department stores chasing family wallets

What: Seoul's three leading department store flagships, Lotte Jamsil, Shinsegae Gangnam and The Hyundai, are drawing close to half of their new customers from shoppers in their 20s and 30s, largely through food halls and pop-up events.

Why it is important: Korean operators are managing food and pop-ups as a dedicated discipline, with in-house trend teams and event volumes up 36.7% in a year, to keep pace with ever shorter trend cycles.

Shoppers in their 20s and 30s are driving new-customer growth at Seoul's leading department stores. Between January and September, new customers made up 38.4% of visitors to The Hyundai, and 47.4% of them were in their 20s and 30s, up 1.8 percentage points year on year. At Shinsegae Gangnam, the same age group accounted for 48.9% of new customers.

Food halls are the main entry point. Among first-time visitors to The Modern Food Hall, 78% were in their 20s and 30s, and 79% of these younger visitors bought other products. Purchases by customers in their 20s rose 73% at Shinsegae Gangnam's food hall, while F&B sales to new customers in their 20s and 30s grew more than 45% at Lotte World Mall in Jamsil.

Hyundai Department Store runs a "Food Insight Lab" of 20 to 30 buyers and food staff who scout popular restaurants and social media, supplemented by regular sessions with academics and F&B experts. Global brands are following the traffic: Chipotle chose Shinsegae Gangnam for its second Korean store.

Pop-ups amplify the effect: the three flagships hosted 2,160 events in 2025, up 36.7% on 2024, and a Pokémon pop-up drew more than 80,000 visitors in August.

IADS Notes: The food-hall strategy described at Seoul's three leading flagships builds on a sustained investment in food as a traffic driver. Hyundai Department Store's partnership with Le Bon Marché's La Grande Épicerie placed more than 400 French gourmet products, 300 of them private label, in its food halls alongside themed events (The Chosun Daily, March 2026). Korean operators had already begun extending the same logic beyond food, with Shinsegae, Lotte and Hyundai expanding cultural centres to increase dwell time, Lotte explicitly aiming its art classes at younger customers (Korea JoongAng Daily, October 2025). The pattern extends well beyond Korea: Selfridges, John Lewis, Liberty and Harrods are using food halls, workshops and scarcity-led formats to compete for consumers' leisure time rather than routine purchases (The Retail Bulletin, July 2026), while Simon Property Group attributes its rising footfall and sales per square foot to Gen Z shoppers and experiential investment (Fashion Network, May 2026). The Seoul data adds measurement to the trend: younger first-time visitors enter through food and pop-ups, and a large majority go on to buy elsewhere in the store.

Food halls and pop-ups draw customers in their 20s and 30s to Seoul department stores

What: A MediaVision analysis of UK search behaviour shows John Lewis, Selfridges and Harrods gaining share of brand demand ahead of Christmas, as overall fashion search fell from about 23.5M to 18.3M over the summer quarter.

Why it is important: Department stores are gaining consumer attention while online-first players lose it, which strengthens the case that breadth across fashion, beauty, home and gifting is an advantage in the Golden Quarter.

MediaVision used its Metis technology to analyse UK consumer search behaviour between July and September 2026, tracking which brands gained or lost attention ahead of the festive trading period. John Lewis, Harrods and Selfridges together accounted for 8.43% of fashion and retail brand searches. John Lewis held 3.09% (+0.03pp year on year), Selfridges 1.24% (+0.12pp) and Harrods 1.13% (+0.13pp).

Fashion remains the largest category in MediaVision's Share of Wallet analysis, but branded search demand fell from around 23.5M in early July to roughly 18.3M by late September, with the sharpest drop in the first week of August. Homeware, consumer electronics, supermarkets and travel followed the same pattern. MediaVision attributes the dip to seasonal timing, with consumers holding back budgets ahead of Black Friday, and argues demand may be deferred rather than weaker.

Online-first and fast-fashion players lost share, including Shein (-0.37pp), Very (-0.35pp) and ASOS (-0.24pp). MediaVision notes the data does not indicate a return to physical shopping over online, but highlights the continued relevance of established retail brands. Next remains the UK's leading fashion and retail brand, with 7.16% of branded search share, up 0.18pp.

IADS Notes: The search gains recorded for Selfridges and Harrods coincide with a financial recovery at both stores: Selfridges lifted operating profit by 88% to £79.7m as strong store footfall offset a decline in digital sales (Retail Week, September 2026), while Harrods returned to a £84.9m pre-tax profit even as payroll and National Insurance costs squeezed its operating profit (Fashion Network, August 2026). The multi-category case made in the report is visible in the strategy of John Lewis, which is adding travel, art, health and piercing concessions to its stores within its £800m transformation, with demand for advisory services up more than 5% in the first half (Drapers, September 2026). MediaVision's reading of deferred demand calls for nuance: John Lewis recorded a 33% week-on-week jump in Christmas searches on its own site after the World Cup final, three weeks earlier than in 2025 (Retail Week, August 2026), which suggests that retailer-level festive intent can rise while category-wide branded search softens. The decline in attention for Shein comes alongside financial strain, as its first post-IPO results showed a 67% drop in quarterly profit and weaker European sales after price rises and reduced advertising ahead of the EU's €3 parcel fee (Reuters, September 2026).

John Lewis, Selfridges and Harrods gain share of UK fashion search ahead of Christmas

What: Athens is getting its first year-round waterfront luxury destination at this scale with Riviera Galleria, a 23,000 sqm development opening in Q3 2027 that brings international luxury houses, Greek designers and fine dining together within The Ellinikon.

Why it is important: Like IconPhuket and K11 Xiamen, Riviera Galleria places luxury retail inside a wider ecosystem of residents, hotels, a marina and cultural programming, confirming that new destinations are built around several sources of footfall rather than shopping alone.

Riviera Galleria, developed by LAMDA Development on the Athenian Riviera, will open in Q3 2027 as a 23,000 sqm year-round premium shopping and dining destination. Designed by Kengo Kuma around "The Ripple", a wave-like canopy of wood and semi-transparent materials that uses coastal wind and light, it forms part of The Ellinikon, Europe's largest urban regeneration project, which is turning Athens' former international airport into a coastal city for 30,000 residents.

Demand is underpinned by tourism: according to the European Travel Commission, Greece led Europe's tourism recovery in early 2026, with international arrivals up 38% and visitor spending up 64%. LAMDA Malls managing director Melina Paizi points to strong local purchasing power in Athens' southern suburbs, demand from hotel guests and the yachting community, and a shortage of prime space suited to luxury brands.

The tenant mix pairs international luxury houses, given room to create flagship environments, with established and emerging Greek brands in jewellery, leather, gastronomy and fashion. Restaurants range from high-end to casual concepts, with Zuma confirmed, alongside a year-round programme of events and art exhibitions designed to increase dwell time and repeat visits.

IADS Notes: Riviera Galleria enters a Greek market where established operators are heading in different directions. Attica Department Stores listed on Euronext Athens with a €192.5 million market capitalisation and a 3.9-times oversubscribed IPO, a sign of investor confidence in a profitable local department store group (Attica press release, July 2026). Meanwhile, Notos is closing its flagship near Omonia Square in central Athens after more than 25 years because the landlord declined to renew the lease (Ekathimerini, May 2026). Elsewhere, new tourism-led destinations are pairing retail with residential, hospitality and culture. Siam Piwat's IconPhuket, opening in 2029 within a mixed-use development with residential, hotel and wellness components, will showcase products and culture from Thailand's southern provinces and expects 80,000 to 100,000 visitors a day (Inside Retail, October 2026). Adrian Cheng's K11 Select Xiamen combines around 200 brands with art, cultural tourism and wetland conservation inside a transit hub (Inside Retail, October 2026). Stockholm shows the same link between visitor growth and luxury real estate: the city recorded record guest nights and a 16.3% rise in international summer visitors, and the mixed-use RGNT development now connects directly into Nordiska Kompaniet, joining separate streets into one premium quarter (Forbes, September 2026).

Riviera Galleria positions Athens as a year-round luxury retail destination

What: LVMH's fashion and leather goods division fell 5% organically in the third quarter, as demand from Chinese clients dropped by a midteens percentage.

Why it is important: The decline ends LVMH's brief return to growth in the second quarter and shows how fragile the luxury recovery remains while it depends on Chinese demand.

LVMH's fashion and leather goods division posted a 5% organic sales decline in the three months to September 30, below the consensus forecast of a 1.6% drop. Group revenue rose 1% organically to 18.5 billion euros. Sales in Asia excluding Japan fell 5% and Japan slowed to 6% growth, while the U.S. rose 5% and Europe accelerated to 4%.

Analysts had flagged China's tax crackdown on wealthy individuals and the nationalist backlash over Louis Vuitton's trademark dispute with tea chain Molly. CFO Cécile Cabanis confirmed the dispute hurt Vuitton's sales in China early in the quarter and made self-help the priority.

Dior was flat in the quarter but up double digits with U.S. clients as Jonathan Anderson's designs gained traction, while Celine is building momentum in the U.S. Louis Vuitton was slightly below the division average, hit by a one-off freight disruption. Cabanis ruled out price cuts, even as Chanel introduces lower-priced bags and Gucci cuts some prices by roughly 20% to 30%, and pointed to The Louis, Vuitton's Shanghai megastore, as proof that experiences draw customers when traffic is subdued.

Wines and spirits and watches and jewelry each grew 6%, and selective retailing rose 8%.

IADS Notes: LVMH's third-quarter slide reverses the recovery reported in July, when its fashion and leather goods division returned to 1% organic growth after seven quarters of decline, while watches and jewellery rose 11% and creative renewal at Dior and Celine was set out as a growth lever (WWD, July 2026). Ahead of the results, analysts had flagged two pressures: China's 20% levy on offshore-trust back taxes, which directly hits ultra-wealthy spending, and a third consecutive monthly fall in U.S. luxury card spending (Reuters, October 2026). LVMH nonetheless posted 5% organic growth in the U.S. The weak quarter in China also contrasts with early signs of a turn. Bernstein's Golden Week checks, which fall after the reporting period, found luxury mall traffic up 55% year on year, with Dior leading the improvement and Louis Vuitton still the most-visited brand, suggesting the Molly Tea effect was fading (WWD, October 2026). On pricing, LVMH's refusal to cut prices continues a stance that sets it apart from Gucci and Burberry, which introduced lower-priced products as middle-income shoppers moved toward accessible brands such as Ralph Lauren and Coach (The Wall Street Journal, August 2026).

China slowdown pushes LVMH's fashion and leather goods unit back into decline in Q3

What: K11 Musea's tourist spending rose 26% year on year during China's National Day Golden Week, led by a 279% surge in athleisure member spending and a 75% rise in international luxury member sales.

Why it is important: K11 Musea's 26% rise in tourist spending is well ahead of the 5.3% revenue growth across 78 major mainland shopping districts over the same holiday. Destination malls with a steady pipeline of new brands appear to capture a disproportionate share of peak-season spending.

K11 Musea recorded a 26% year-on-year increase in tourist spending during China's National Day Golden Week, driven by strong growth in athleisure and luxury retail. The Hong Kong mall, operated by New World Development, also reported a record high for the same period as new brand openings boosted sales across key categories.

Athleisure was the strongest performer, with member spending surging 279% year on year. The growth followed the September opening of American brand Alo Yoga's first Greater China store, alongside openings by sportswear brand Hoka and outdoor specialist Kailas.

Member sales of international luxury brands rose 75% during Golden Week. Recent openings include Prada's duplex flagship, a new Miu Miu boutique and Max Mara's two-storey concept store. The broader fashion category grew 25% year on year, while jewellery and watches remained key contributors.

The results come as K11 Musea continues a two-year programme to refresh its tenant mix and attract more international brands. New World Development CEO Huang Shaomei, Echo, said the results underscore the success of the upgrade programme and strengthen the mall's position as a premier destination during peak tourism seasons. Further international brand openings are planned for the fourth quarter.

IADS Notes: K11 Musea's Golden Week result follows a tenant-mix expansion that began with more than 60 new luxury brands, which was framed as a placemaking and innovation strategy (Inside Retail, March 2026). Luxury sales at the mall then nearly doubled over Golden Week, with tourist spending, experiential retail and digital payment partnerships credited for converting footfall into sales (Inside Retail, May 2026). First-half revenue rose 40% to a record, with new-brand sales up more than 30% and hard-luxury member spending up 80%. Hoka and Kailas debuted, while Prada and an international yoga brand were expected to open in the following months, so the athleisure surge reported for Golden Week is the first visible effect of that pipeline (Inside Retail, September 2026). The broader Hong Kong picture is more selective. August retail sales rose 5.6%, led by jewellery and watches (+11.9%) while clothing and footwear slipped 0.3%, even with mainland visitor arrivals up 8.2% (Reuters, October 2026). Across mainland China, the National Day holiday pointed to longer, family-oriented and experience-led trips. Foot traffic and revenue at 78 major shopping districts rose 3.4% and 5.3%, and overseas visitor spending grew 27.8% in the first seven months of 2026 (Xinhua, October 2026).

Hong Kong's K11 Musea tourist spending rises 26% over Golden Week on athleisure boom

What: The chief executive of M&S and the chair of John Lewis Partnership have urged chancellor John Healey to reverse the "mistakes" of the last two Budgets and avoid new taxes on high street retailers ahead of the 28 October Budget, with Tesco's chief executive also opposing a "warehouse tax".

Why it is important: Government high street support has so far focused on vacant properties through the £210m package rather than retailers' operating costs, which is why retailers are now pressing the chancellor on tax and regulation.

Marks & Spencer chief executive Stuart Machin and John Lewis Partnership's Jason Tarry have urged chancellor John Healey to overturn the "mistakes" of the last two Budgets, with the next one due on 28 October. Prime minister Andy Burnham has promised tax breaks for pubs, but retailers want help for the high street too.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Machin called the last two Budgets "a disaster", saying Britain needed a plan for growth and got a pile of new taxes and regulations. Machin also asked for an overturn of "patently ridiculous" recycling rules, assurance that workers' rights reforms do not "ban the Saturday job" and a "common sense" EU food trade deal.

Tarry told The Telegraph that a "warehouse tax" would reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of how modern high streets work, hitting far more shops than warehouses. At John Lewis, the higher charge applies to 18 distribution centres but over 200 John Lewis and Waitrose stores. The industry fears Burnham could raise warehouse bills to fund the pub rates cut. Tesco's Ken Murphy has also opposed the tax, saying retailers pay "four times their fair share of rates".

IADS Notes: The retailers' appeal to the chancellor follows a year of building cost pressure on UK retail. Industry groups warned a year ago that a business rates increase could put more than 100,000 retail jobs at risk, with department stores and supermarkets facing mounting costs (Retail Week, October 2025). Retailers had also absorbed higher National Insurance contributions and minimum wage rises by cutting headcount and weekly hours and limiting pay increases (Financial Times, October 2025). The cumulative effect is visible at John Lewis Partnership, whose first-half pre-tax loss widened to £124m from £88m despite 2% sales growth, with chair Jason Tarry pointing to the increased cost of doing business (Drapers, September 2026). Government support for the high street has meanwhile focused on vacant properties, with a £210m package to redevelop derelict buildings on top of the £5bn Pride in Place programme (Retail Week, September 2026).

M&S and John Lewis bosses urge UK chancellor to cut tax burden on high street retailers

What: Walmart's U.S. CEO David Guggina said AI, led by the Sparky shopping assistant, is lifting store execution, delivery speed, order values and conversion, with the savings reinvested in prices and customer experience.

Why it is important: Walmart is showing that AI savings can fund prices and service, and that an in-house assistant can sit alongside third-party agents without either taking the customer relationship.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Global Consumer and Retail Conference, Walmart U.S. President and CEO David Guggina said AI is reshaping both the company and its customer value proposition. Walmart has used physical AI in its supply chain for over seven years, and ambient automation now supports store execution and faster delivery.

E-commerce sales grew 24% year over year in Q2, the 10th consecutive quarter above 20%. Guggina attributed much of this to AI-driven efficiencies, with the savings reinvested in competitive pricing and customer experience.

Sparky, Walmart's AI shopping assistant, is driving 40% higher average order values. Weekly engagement grew 60% quarter over quarter, and its new visual search lifted conversion by 57% compared with text search. Guggina suggested Sparky could extend to Walmart's Vizio and Onn electronics, helping users shop and navigate apps on the TV.

Walmart also welcomes third-party agents such as ChatGPT and Gemini, which mostly deep link customers to its site with strong conversion. Many of these shoppers are new or returning and show a very high organic repeat rate. Amazon, by contrast, has blocked agents from Meta, Perplexity, OpenAI, Anthropic and Microsoft.

IADS Notes: Sparky's commercial impact has grown through the year. Walmart app users who engage with its AI shopping tools build baskets 35% larger than non-users (Modern Retail, February 2026), and by the first quarter of fiscal 2027 the assistant was credited with lifting average order values by 35%, alongside 26% e-commerce growth and delivery to 60% of US households within 30 minutes (Inside Retail, May 2026). Walmart has also set public limits on the assistant, pledging that Sparky will not hide cheaper options or set prices from personal data (Retail Week, September 2026). Its current approach to external agents follows a reversal: Walmart suspended its Instant Checkout integration with ChatGPT after conversion came in roughly three times lower than on its own site, even though the feed brought in twice as many new customers (Journal du Net, September 2026). That experience explains the preference Guggina now describes for deep links back to Walmart's site. Amazon's block of Meta's Muse, which Gap and Sephora have integrated, points to the underlying contest over who owns discovery, recommendations and the customer relationship (Inside Retail, October 2026).

AI is reshaping Walmart U.S., with Sparky leading the charge

What: H&M Group is investigating claims that it was hit by a cyberattack by the Shinyhunters group, which sources told The Times is also behind last week's attack on Asos.

Why it is important: Shinyhunters' reliance on social engineering, AI-powered voice phishing and cloud misconfigurations puts the weak points in staff and cloud set-up, the same third-party and omnichannel exposure that hit De Bijenkorf and M&S.

H&M Group, which also owns Cos, Arket and Monki, is investigating claims that it was subject to a cyberattack last week. The group said it was looking into a potential incident carried out by Shinyhunters, a financially motivated cybercriminal group that specialises in social engineering, AI-powered voice phishing and exploiting cloud service misconfigurations, The Times reported.

Sources told The Times they thought H&M had been targeted by the same group behind last week's attack on Asos, which is thought to be from a Telegram channel called the Xuanye Gateway.

An H&M Group spokesperson said the company was aware of claims circulating online about a potential incident involving a limited scope of its data. It is investigating to assess their validity and so far has no indication that its data environment has been compromised.

Asos confirmed that thousands of its customers' details are now in hackers' possession following its cyber attack on Tuesday 6 October. Asos told customers the unauthorised party accessed some personal information, including names and contact details, but no payment card information or account passwords. A push notification sent to some customers claimed the Snowflake instance had been fully compromised.

IADS Notes: The Asos incident surfaced through app notifications in which the attackers claimed to have compromised the retailer's Snowflake instance and threatened to leak data, following attacks on Jaguar Land Rover and the Co-op Group (Financial Times, October 2026). Analysis of why the sector is so exposed points to the combination of rich customer data and interconnected omnichannel and third-party systems, which attackers exploit through weaker providers (Retail Insight Network, July 2026). The vendor route was visible at De Bijenkorf, where a cyberattack on logistics partner CEVA exposed customer names, contact details and payment-method descriptions and prompted a phishing warning to shoppers (nu.nl, September 2026), and at M&S, where an incident traced to human error at a third-party supplier forced a seven-week suspension of online sales and a £136mn profit hit (Financial Times, November 2025). The leadership cost of a prolonged crisis appeared at Co-op, whose chief executive is stepping down as attack-related costs mount (Financial Times, March 2026).

H&M investigates cyberattack claims

What: China's retail sales grew just 0.4% year-on-year in August as stimulus fades and the housing slump deepens, while Chinese retailers are expanding abroad more selectively, prioritising flagship and testing stores over rapid rollouts.

Why it is important: China's retail slowdown is no longer a stimulus-timing issue but a structural one, and weak domestic demand is pushing its retailers abroad, where success depends on selectivity and real-estate quality, not store count.

China's National Bureau of Statistics publishes retail data as point estimates without a margin of error, so with growth this low it is unclear whether sales are rising or falling. Local governments compile the figures and have incentives to make them match plan. In August, retail sales rose 0.4% year-on-year (2.5% excluding automobiles), with auto sales falling in value amid price wars. Year-to-date growth is 1.1%. Telecommunications equipment leads at +16.3%, helped by subsidies on devices priced under about US$860, while home appliances are down 5.6% as the trade-in scheme fades and the housing slump hits furniture and home improvement.

With domestic demand weak, Chinese retailers are looking overseas, but selectively. A Savills report finds brands in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia are reviewing weaker sites, redirecting capital to more productive locations and testing each market with a flagship. Oh!some's rapid expansion into high-rent districts is being rolled back, with closures in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore. Outcomes depend on real estate: Thailand's high-quality malls favour scale, Vietnam and Indonesia are limited by wealth concentrated in one or two cities, and Singapore is high quality but hard to scale.

IADS Notes: The fading of China's trade-in stimulus has been visible for months: Inside Retail (January 2026) reported that the initial surge in home appliances and audio equipment was driven largely by incentives, with property distress, rising unemployment and tariff tensions limiting what followed. Inside Retail (April 2026) found that subsidies delivered only short-lived lifts in appliances and electronics, and in June 2026 the same outlet reported China's first monthly fall in retail sales since 2022. Foreign operators have adjusted accordingly: Fashion Network (April 2026) reported that Galeries Lafayette is reviewing its China model and partnerships, acknowledging its Beijing store may be oversized while aiming to adapt rather than exit. In Southeast Asia, Inside Retail (June 2026) described a stronger real-estate platform in Thailand, where Siam Piwat's malls draw new luxury and concept stores and the group holds an estimated 70% of the Thai luxury market.

Why Chinese retailers are looking overseas for growth

What: Le Bon Marché is hosting a live women's fashion auction on 18 October, selling archival pieces by Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake in partnership with Penelope's Auction House.

Why it is important: Le Bon Marché is turning its cultural programme into a sales event, using a specialist auctioneer and her network of collectors to bring a coveted archive category into the store without holding any inventory.

Le Bon Marché will hold its first women's fashion auction with Pénélope Blanckaert's Penelope's Auction House, selling archival Japanese designer pieces sourced from her network of former clients and private collectors. The lots go on show in the store for a week before the 18 October sale, which is part of "Super Japon," the store-wide celebration of Japanese culture that opened in August. Bidding takes place live and online.

The sale centres on Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, with additional pieces by Junya Watanabe, Kansai Yamamoto and Undercover, mostly from the 1980s to the 2000s. Highlights include pieces from Comme des Garçons' fall 1981 "Pirates" collection. Blanckaert, who organised the first auction dedicated to Japanese fashion in 2011, notes that limited production in the early 1980s makes those pieces the rarest and most sought-after.

Director of women's fashion Isabelle Fine says the format offers a new way to interact with customers; it also lets the store present brands outside its usual assortment. Bidding starts below €100 to open the sale beyond established collectors. If the test succeeds, further exhibition-auctions are planned.

IADS Notes: The auction is the final event of "Super Japon," the store-wide exhibition of everyday Japanese culture that Le Bon Marché opened in late August. The programme already included a Japanese fashion sale alongside Sacai's food-led takeover and dozens of niche brand collaborations (Fashion Network, September 2026). The store has applied the same idea of selling collectable objects inside a curated setting to its VIC offer, turning Salon Aristide into a space where every piece of designer Edgar Jayet's furniture can be bought or commissioned (WWD, September 2026). Both initiatives build on a cultural programme that is now central to Le Bon Marché's positioning. Its annual carte blanche collaborations with renowned artists, like Galeries Lafayette's partnerships with institutions such as the Centre Pompidou-Metz, have made Parisian department stores cultural destinations that attract diverse audiences and encourage longer visits (Le Figaro, March 2026). Galeries Lafayette treats its heritage as an asset in its own right: it catalogues archives dating back to 1894, lends pieces to major cultural institutions and expands its collection through acquisitions and donations (Fashion Network, December 2025).

Le Bon Marché brings Japanese fashion archives to the auction floor