Retail

Bloomberg Billionaire Mukesh Ambani obliterated rivals in India’s telecommunications sector by selling $2 data plans and free voice calls. Four years later, he’s deploying a very similar tactic — cutthroat pricing — to gain an edge in the country’s increasingly competitive e-commerce space. As India hits the peak of its biggest shopping season, the festival of Diwali, the tycoon’s retail …

Bloomberg Coty Inc soared after the maker of Covergirl and Sally Hansen reported sales declines that abated from the previous quarter. Revenue excluding the company’s Wella business, which is being sold, fell 20% to $1.1 billion in the quarter ended on September 30. Including Wella, the decline was 13%, compared with a drop of 56% in the previous quarter. Chief …

Bloomberg Two of the top beauty products subscription services are merging. Ipsy has agreed to buy Miami-based rival BoxyCharm Inc, a pairing that will create a combined business with more than 4.3 million subscribers and $1 billion in revenue this year, according to the company. Ipsy and BoxyCharm will operate as separate brands in a merged company called BFA Industries, …

Bloomberg Ocado Group Plc raised its profit forecast as the pandemic boosts demand for online groceries, and agreed to buy two robotics companies for about $287 million. The company said it expects full-year earnings to exceed $77 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. The previous target was for Ebitda of more than 40 million pounds. Ocado said its joint …

Bloomberg Steinhoff International Holdings NV former Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste has been fined more than 162 million rand ($9.9 million) by a South African regulator for insider trading ahead of the retailer’s near collapse almost three years ago. Jooste sent a text message to four people warning them to sell their stock in the company in the days before …

Bloomberg Look across the street from your home-office window: chances are you will see a delivery van. Trucks from Amazon.com Inc and other e-commerce companies have become ubiquitous during the pandemic. In much of the industrialised world, an ever-growing number of vans, trucks, trains and ships are hauling everything from desks to smart phones as consumers turn to online shopping …

Bloomberg Amazon.com and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries’s fight for dominance of India’s lucrative e-commerce space is turning into a face-off, with both sides battling over the assets of a supermarket chain that could be key to their wider ambitions. Ambani and Jeff Bezos, two of the world’s wealthiest men, want the stores and warehouses of Future Retail Ltd, which has …

Bloomberg Dunkin’ Brands Group, parent company of coffee-and-donuts chain Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins, said it’s in talks to be acquired by private equity-backed Inspire Brands. The New York Times reported the talks earlier, saying Inspire will take Dunkin’ private at $106.50 a share, citing two people with knowledge of the negotiations who weren’t identified. The deal — valued at $8.8 billion …

Bloomberg A group of creditors to JC Penney is seeking to slow the sale of the bankrupt retailer’s real estate to another group of lenders, saying that it provides the buyers an undeserved windfall and reeks “of not only greed but abhorrent bad faith.” The objecting creditors, led by Aurelius Capital Management, say they submitted a $750 million competing bid …

Bloomberg Walmart Inc’s Indian e-commerce operation Flipkart invested 15 billion rupees ($204 million) in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd as it looks to bolster its presence in one of the world’s fastest-growing retail markets. Billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s retail business will issue preference shares to Flipkart, giving it a 7.8% stake, Aditya Birla Fashion said in an exchange filing. …