Here are some interesting stories from the world of retail for Wednesday, March 11:
🏬 Kohl's signaled improvement in its apparel category in the first quarter, but it warned of another year of declining sales overall. For Q4, total sales fell 3.9% and comparable sales were down by 2.8%.
👖 Fabletics is launching its first denim collection, signaling a shift in consumer preferences away from athleisure. The collection, priced between $79.95 and $174.95, will be available online and in select stores.
🤖 OpenAI has scaled back its plans to turn ChatGPT into a fully integrated shopping destination. The company will now abandon processing purchases inside the chatbot.
🧱 Lego has published its full-year 2025 results, with revenues rising 12% to DKr83.5bn ($12.9bn) and operating profit increasing 18% to DKr22bn, while consumer sales grew 16%.
🧴 Olaplex stock has plummeted nearly 95% since its 2021 IPO due to weakened demand, regulatory challenges, and a lawsuit alleging harmful ingredients. Olaplex is now focusing on product innovation.
🥩 Around 3,800 workers at JBS’s beef processing plant in Greeley, Colorado, plan to strike from March 16th, potentially disrupting production at one of the largest US beef facilities.
💰 Amazon has drawn about $126 billion of peak demand for its US bond sale, one of the largest ever for a corporate offering. The demand underscores how investor appetite for hyperscaler debt remains strong.
👔 Hugo Boss reported an annual operating profit of €391m, surpassing forecasts. It confirmed its 2026 outlook and plans to realign its brand and channels, focusing on high-growth categories.
🍧 Costco Canada has introduced a new dessert to its food court menu, the Caramel Brownie Sundae, expanding its lineup of sweet treats that already includes ice cream cones and various sundaes.
🍫 Shares in Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli fell yesterday, after the company lowered its 2026 organic sales growth guidance to 4%–6%, down from its previous medium-term target of 6%–8%.
📱 Apple produced about 25% of its global iPhones in India in 2025, assembling around 55m devices, up 53% from 36m in 2024, as it accelerates efforts to reduce reliance on China and avoid US tariffs.
📦 Amazon’s e-commerce business summoned a large group of engineers to a meeting for a deep dive into a spate of outages, including incidents linked to AI coding tools.
🇬🇧 British consumer spending grew slowly in February as households grew more pessimistic about the outlook for the economy with the Middle East conflict raising concerns about a fresh rise in inflation.
🚫 Perplexity AI must for now stop using its Comet web browser agent to make purchases on behalf of shoppers from Amazon's online marketplace, a court has ruled.
🛋️ The Brand House Collective COO, James Schisler, is resigning to pursue other opportunities. Schisler joined the company nine months ago.
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