The Commerce Brief: Fri 13th March

Welcome to another exciting week in the world of eCommerce and retail 🛍️

📈 Frasers Group has increased its stake in Puma to 5.77%, making it the second-largest shareholder in the company. (source)

📉 Puma reported revenue down more than 13% to €7.3bn in 2025 and has launched a restructuring programme including job cuts and licensing changes, targeting a return to growth and profitability by 2027. (source)

🏃 Asics has acquired marathon race-registration platforms as part of a strategy to deepen engagement with runners and strengthen demand for its performance footwear.(source)

⚽ Reebok is returning to football through a long-term partnership with Dušan Vlahović as the brand looks to rebuild its presence in team sports ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. (source)

🏋️ Gymshark has entered the German retail market with permanent spaces inside retail partners Breuninger and Engelhorn in Mannheim and Stuttgart. (source)

🧠 John Lewis Partnership is investing in AI-powered shopping experiences that will allow its products to appear directly within platforms such as Google Gemini and ChatGPT later this year. (source)

🛍️ Amazon is expanding its AI-powered Shop Direct experience by allowing third-party retailers to connect product catalogues via platforms including Feedonomics, Salsify and CEDCommerce, enabling brands to surface products even if they are not sold directly on Amazon’s marketplace. (source)

⚖️ Amazon has also won a court order blocking AI startup Perplexity AI from using its shopping site through an automated agent, citing security and advertising concerns. (source)

🤖 OpenAI has scaled back plans to turn ChatGPT into a fully integrated shopping destination. Instead of processing purchases inside the chatbot, users will now be directed to third-party apps to complete transactions. (source)

📈 Zalando reported group sales rising 17% year-on-year to €12.3bn in FY2025, supported by increased use of artificial intelligence across its data and infrastructure platform. (source)

💻 Scayle (owned by Zalando) has signed a global partnership with Levi Strauss & Co. to become the ecommerce platform powering levi.com across the US, Canada and Europe. (source)

📊 Inditex reported sales up 3.2% to €39.9bn in FY2025, with constant currency growth of 7%. Net sales increased across all retail brands including Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius and Oysho. (source)

🏎️ Sephora has announced a multi-year partnership with F1 Academy, becoming the official beauty retail partner of the series and sponsoring a Sephora-branded race car driven by Spanish driver Natàlia Granada. (source)

💄 Beauty Bay has been sold to a French-owned investment group after the Manchester-based company lined up administrators last month, securing a last-minute rescue deal. (source)

📦 Allegro expects core earnings to rise 7–10% in 2026 in its key Polish market, with additional growth driven by its expanding international marketplaces. (source)

🌍 Modern fragrance brand Phlur is expanding internationally with launches in Sephora stores and ecommerce across Mexico and Europe this spring. (source)

💰 Factory-direct luxury retailer Quince has raised $500m in a Series E funding round, valuing the company at $10.1bn. (source)