Retail

  Bloomberg Australian retail sales declined for the first time this year in October, suggesting that households are finally beginning to feel the strain of faster inflation and rising interest rates. Sales dropped 0.2% from September, confounding economists’ estimates for a 0.5% gain, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed on Monday. No one predicted a decline, with Commonwealth Bank ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc is poised to settle European antitrust probes over how the US ecommerce giant uses rivals’ sales data and whether it unfairly favours its own products. The European Commission is likely to accept Amazon’s binding proposals by the end of the year — that includes a commitment to stop using data on independent sellers on its marketplace for ...

Bloomberg US retailers discounted heavily on Black Friday to clear out bloated inventories but customers responded with only modest traffic, leaving profitability in doubt for many chains. Crowds were thin at Connecticut’s Stamford Town Center mall, with few shoppers at Kay Jewelers and just a small line at Forever 21. A couple at a Walmart Inc supercenter near Dallas reveled ...

  Bloomberg Inditex SA, the Spanish owner of the Zara clothing chain, is facing two days of strikes in its home market after unions and management failed to reach an agreement on pay. Stoppages shut as many as 11 shops in the northwestern province of A Coruña, in Galicia, as workers walked off their jobs to demand a €440 ($458) ...

Bloomberg Nike Inc. female workers who accuse the company of gender discrimination failed to persuade a federal magistrate they should be allowed to join together to sue the athletic shoe maker as a group. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo in Portland, Oregon, recommended that the women’s request for class-action status be denied, but her findings were sealed from public view, ...

  Bloomberg The CEO of Walmart US, John Furner, says there is not currently “any reason to believe there is a continued threat to our Chesapeake store or any other Walmart facility” following the mass shooting at a store in Virginia. Details are still emerging, Furner said in a statement posted to the Walmart blog. Authorities confirmed six fatalities before ...

  Bloomberg Xiaomi Corp.’s quarterly revenue falls almost 10% as it battled a slumping global smartphone market and weak consumer demand at home. Sales of mobile devices fall 11%, leading declines across business divisions encompassing smart electronics and internet services. The Beijing-based company logged sales of 70.5 billion yuan ($9.9 billion), slightly above estimates. But it posted a surprise net ...

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. spooked investors last month when it predicted the slowest holiday season growth in its history. Now there are signs—albeit tentative—that the world’s largest e-commerce company could have a somewhat merrier Christmas than anticipated. Inflation has eased in recent weeks and, according to survey results released Sunday by Jefferies Financial Group, US consumers see prices moderating in ...

  Bloomberg Alessandro Michele, the creative director who turned Gucci into a hit brand with younger generations, is leaving the Italian label. Kering SA, which owns the brand, announced Michele is stepping down in a statement. Gucci’s design office will oversee the label’s direction until a new creative organisation is announced, the company said. Michele, 49, helped turn the Florence, ...

  Bloomberg Best Buy Co. jumped the most in more than two years after modestly improving its profit forecast and signalling its recent sales slump is starting to ease. Adjusted operating income this year will be “slightly higher” than the previous forecast of 4% of sales, the consumer-electronics retailer said as it reported third-quarter results. In addition, the decline in ...