Retail

  Bloomberg Swiss retail sales fell in December from a year earlier as winter gloom and inflation concerns weighed on consumers. The 2.8% drop — following contractions in October and November — was the first such decline in that month since 2016, suggesting weak household spending at a time of year that typically is among the best for retailers. The ...

  Bloomberg Chrono24 GmbH, the biggest dedicated online marketplace for luxury watches, cut about 13% of its workforce after prices for the most sought-after Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet timepieces plunged. The company eliminated 65 jobs as it shifted the focus of its operations in the US to Miami from New York, and to Japan from Hong Kong in ...

Bloomberg Nutritious and fast-growing, algae already has a following as an alternative protein among health fanatics. A new generation of sustainable fashion startups want us to wear it too. The fashion industry produces more than 100 billion garments annually, about 14 for every person on Earth. Most end up in landfills or clogging rivers and beaches in developing countries. Only ...

  Bloomberg Indian billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla appointed two of his children as directors on the retail unit of his Aditya Birla Group, setting the stage for succession. The board of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd., inducted Ananya Birla and Aryaman Vikram Birla, according to a stock exchange filing. The board believes the company will benefit from their new-age ...

  Bloomberg Australian retail sales declined for the first time in 2022 in December, suggesting consumers are beginning to rein in spending in response to rapid inflation and rising interest rates. The currency and bond yields slid as sales tumbled by a larger-than-forecast 3.9%, the biggest fall since August 2020. The result came after November’s gain was revised higher to ...

Bloomberg Chinese online retailer JD.com Inc. is closing its Indonesia and Thailand e-commerce sites as the company shifts its overseas strategy towards supply-chain and logistics services. JD.ID in Indonesia will stop accepting orders from mid-February and all services will be stopped by the end of March, while JD Central in Thailand will cease its operations from March 3, according to ...

  Bloomberg A key Apple Inc supplier has begun making components for AirPods in India, marking a significant step in the US tech giant’s push to expand production in the country. The Indian unit of Jabil Inc. has begun shipping AirPods enclosures, or plastic bodies, to China and Vietnam, where the wireless earphones are assembled, people familiar with the matter ...

  Bloomberg Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) shares fell after the Swedish clothing retailer said severe increases in energy, freight and garment prices nearly wiped out profit in the past quarter. Operating income dropped 87% to 821 billion kronor ($80 million) in the three months through November 2022, H&M said, far off analysts’ estimates. The scale of the decline is ...

  Bloomberg Gucci named Sabato De Sarno as creative director at Kering SA’s biggest brand, filling a crucial role in the fashion world after the exit of star designer Alessandro Michele in late 2022. De Sarno will start his new role as soon as he completes all his obligations as fashion director for men and women’s ready-to-wear clothing at Valentino, ...

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc will start charging fees to online shoppers for grocery orders of less than $150, underscoring the challenging economics of getting food to shoppers’ doorsteps. The new fees coincide with the company’s efforts to cut costs and adjust to slower growth in online shopping. Charges for the Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service in the US will be ...