Retail

Bloomberg Inditex SA, the world’s biggest clothing retailer, is seeking a buyer for 16 Zara stores in Iberia as online purchasing takes off in Spain. Inditex, owned and founded by Amancio Ortega, the world’s fourth-richest man, is seeking $472 million for the stores in a 20-year sale-and-leaseback agreement that would give the buyer the right to vacate the properties after ...

Bloomberg Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Asda unit has appointed a former Amazon.com Inc. finance director to help it turn around its struggling UK business, according to people familiar with the matter. Rob McWilliam will rejoin Asda as a part-time strategic adviser to new Chief Executive Officer Roger Burnley, said the people, who asked not to be named as the information is ...

Bloomberg Imran Ameer booked tickets to spend 10 days on the beaches of Lombok, near Bali, with his pregnant wife and 17-month-old daughter. Then Mount Agung in eastern Bali erupted, forcing the 28-year-old from Melbourne to scrap that plan. He’s not alone. With a possibility of the volcano erupting again any time, scores of hotel rooms and flights to Bali ...

Bloomberg Joyalukkas, world’s favourite jeweller, has launched its new showroom in the bustling metropolis of South Extension, Delhi. The new showroom was inaugurated by Sri. Vijay Prakash Jain, Secretary General, Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal, last week, which was an exciting affair attended by local dignitaries, VIPs and chief executives of the Joyalukkas Group. Set at the heart of the exciting ...

Bloomberg Steinhoff International Holdings NV Chairman Christo Wiese, seeking to stabilise the embattled retailer, is negotiating a standstill agreement on a $1.8 billion margin loan under which banks would suspend the sale of stock until next year, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. The owner of Mattress Firm in the US and Poundland in the UK needs a ...

Bloomberg It took more than a decade, but California has a new law requiring extensive labelling of ingredients in cleaning products, and it got support from what might seem the unlikeliest of advocates: product manufacturers themselves. Companies like Procter & Gamble Co. and Easy-Off maker Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, after years of arguing the need to preserve their proprietary formulas ...

Bloomberg Michael Kors Holdings Ltd., Ralph Lauren Corp. and other fashion brands are locked in a high-stakes contest this Christmas. But the winner won’t be the company that sells the most—it’ll be the one that winds up with the least amount of unwanted merchandise. After years of struggling to manage their inventory, brands are using increasingly sophisticated tools to track ...

Bloomberg Louis Vuitton is bringing in some robotic help for the holidays. The maker of $1,370 canvas duffle bags and $575 monogram belts has launched a “virtual adviser” on Facebook Messenger for US clients, Palo Alto, California-based AI startup Mode.ai said in a statement. The chatbot will answer queries for all things Louis Vuitton: searching the brand’s online catalog, pulling ...

Bloomberg Brick-and-mortar retailers hoping to fend off Amazon.com Inc. need to deploy the one weapon that could set them apart: top-notch customer service, provided by actual humans. But making that goal a reality relies on something they’ve not really invested in—well-trained employees with the kinds of wages and regular hours that make them want to stick around. This illustrates traditional ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. will offer last-minute delivery of pottery, necklaces, candles and other handmade products ordered as late as Christmas Eve in nine US cities, looking to win orders from competing arts-and-crafts marketplace Etsy Inc. The online retailer will offer Amazon Handmade products through its two-hour delivery service Prime Now, which normally carries household convenience items found in drugstores. It’s ...