All Retail articles – Page 15
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News briefsKlarna enters partnership with Verifone
Klarna, the Swedish online payments group which offers ”buy now, pay later” solutions, has entered a partnership with Verifone, a California-based provider of hardware products for payment processing, that will make Klarna available to millions of Verifone devices in the U.S. and Europe. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has impacted shopping ...
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News briefs
New anti-Covid measures in Germany
In concert with the governments of the individual Länder, the federal government of Germany has ordered the lockdown of all the brick-and-mortar stores that sell non-essential products, starting on Wednesday, Dec. 16. Opticians are mentioned among the few exceptions. The new restrictions came after a spike in new contaminations from ...
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ArticleEU, UK extend Brexit trade talks in effort to avoid a “no deal”
The United Kingdom and the European Union had decided to wait until Sunday, Dec. 13 to find a compromise on a trade agreement that would go into effect on Jan. 1. But, the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the negotiators will now continue to work into this ...
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News briefs
Fielmann opens its 31st store in Italy
Fielmann opened its 31st store in Italy in the town of Parma. The 150 square-meter store has a staff of six and is located in the town’s historic center. The German retailer is expected to open at least another store in the country by the end of the year. ...
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News briefsAcuitis enters Spanish market
Acuitis has entered the Spanish market in partnership with Andres Femenia, a local businessman who previously ran a network of 50 hearing aid stores. The first Acuitis store was opened in Valencia and a further three stores are scheduled in Spain in the first quarter of 2021. The group plans ...
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ArticleCarte Blanche set to become the N°2 healthcare network in France
Carte Blanche, the French healthcare organization owned by SwissLife and other insurance companies, has extended until Dec. 11 the registration deadline for French opticians wishing to join its network, as many could not complete the process in time because of the new Covid-19 related lockdown. The company, which focuses on ...
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ArticleEdel-Optics invested €3 million in robotized Hamburg flagship
Edel-Optics has invested €3 million in its new flagship store, located at Ballindamm 33 in Hamburg, Germany. The location, opened in late November after nine months of construction, enables customers to be served by opticians or by Temi personal robots and offers a selection of 250,000 items from the integrated ...
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ArticleFrance postpones start of winter clearance period to Jan. 20
The French government has postponed to Jan. 20 the start of the winter clearance period from its initial date of Jan. 6. The clearance period will last four weeks. In radio interview with RMC/BFM TV, the Economy Minister, Bruno Le Maire, added that the measure is aimed at helping small ...
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News briefs
Happy Look launches more flagship stores in Russia
Russia’s biggest eyewear retailer, Happy Look, has opened five flagship stores. Four are located in St. Petersburg and one in Yekaterinburg. Happy Look describes its flagship stores as “megastores.” On average, they have 200 square meters of shopping space showing at least 2,000 items. But, Happy Look’s biggest flagship in ...
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Article
British delivery service fears uncontrollable Black Friday
London-based delivery service ParcelHero said that it’s forecasting an £8.49bn (€9.5bn-$11.5bn) monster Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend. It warns that stores must learn from the disaster of Black Friday 2014 or delivery chains could snap once again this year. In 2019, Britons spent a £5.55bn (€6.2bn-$7.4bn) on Black Friday-Cyber ...
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News briefs
Pugnale opens its first flagship store
The Italian eyewear company Pugnale has opened its first flagship store. The 35 square meter shop is located in the center of Rome. Pugnale, which was created in 2013 and has its headquarters in the northeastern town of Udine, said that the store is part of a plan to develop ...
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News briefsFielmann opens 30th Italian store
Fielmann has opened its 30th store in Italy. The more than 230 square meter shop is located in the center of Mantua. The German retailer plans to open at least two additional stores in the country by the end of the year. Fielmann entered the Italian market in 2015 and ...
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News briefsSafilo launches new B2B platform in Europe
Safilo has launched a new B2B platform called You&Safilo and a new customer relationship management system with the support of the American software company Salesforce. The Italian eyewear company was also assisted by the web designer WIP Italia and by the consultancy group Accenture. You&Safilo was first launched in Italy, ...
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ArticleItaly’s main buying groups merge
Italy’s two main buying groups, Vision Group and Netcity, will merge on Jan. 1, but will maintain their offices and staff based in Milan and Prato, near Florence. Vision Group has more than 2,100 associated optical stores, operating under different banners including VisionOttica’s, the group’s nationwide label with more than ...
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News briefsbrillen.de targets 200 German stores by end 2022
The German omni-channel eyewear retailer brillen.de, which is owned by SuperVista, plans to have a domestic network of 200 stores by the end of 2022 compared with over 90 currently. The banner has been expanding rapidly this year, opening more than 60 branches in the first ten months of 2020, ...
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News briefsMister Spex adds audio eyewear to its portfolio
The German optician and eyewear retailer Mister Spex has included audio glasses and sunglasses in its portfolio. Since Oct. 29, it offers Bose audio sunglasses on its online shop for customers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the so-called DACH business region. The models can also be found in some Mister ...
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News briefsKlarna snaps up Woilà
Klarna, the Swedish online payments group which offers ”buy now, pay later” solutions, has acquired the technology and team of the startup Woilà, whose app allows consumers to get refunds if the price of a product falls after an online purchase is completed. Klarna said the acquisition, for which terms ...
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News briefs
French economy risks “collapse” with new lockdown
A new total or partial Covid-19-related lockdown could lead to a “collapse” of the French economy, according to the Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (CPME). CPME warned that companies are currently “much weaker” than in March, when the government introduced a lockdown, and many, especially the smaller ones, would ...
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News briefsRussian Post launches bonded warehouse pilot project
The Russian state mail operator Russian Post announced a pilot project to set up bonded warehouses, where goods liable to customs can be stored and handled without payment of duty. In the future, these warehouses could manage half of all sales of foreign online stores present in the country, the ...
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ArticleContrasting consumer sentiment across Europe
The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is beginning to stifle the previously expected recovery of the European economy, particularly for the consumption of non-essential products and services. Fortunately, it has not yet led to the retail lockdowns of the first wave in the spring – except in Wales and ...
