The Commerce Brief: Fri 20th March

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

📈 Lululemon Athletica reported a 5% increase in sales to $11.1bn in FY2025, with strong international growth offsetting declines in the Americas, while gross profit remained flat. (source)

👤 ASOS has appointed former Amazon executive Natasha Jeffers as its new global trading chief, marking a return to the business earlier in her career. (source)

🌍 Temu reached nearly 130 million monthly users in Europe in H2 2025, up 12%, with particularly strong growth in Spain and Italy. (source)

💄 Sephora is set to enter Belgium with a new store in Brussels, expanding its presence across 35 global markets. (source)

🏢 Shein has opened a new office in Barcelona as it continues to scale its European operations. (source)

⚠️ Debenhams Group has made redundancies as it increases its use of AI-generated imagery across the business. (source)

👩‍💼 Mango has appointed former Estée Lauder executive Sara Donninelli as its new chief brand officer. (source)

⚖️ Estée Lauder is taking legal action against Jo Malone over the use of her name on a fragrance sold via Zara. (source)

🏬 Macy's reported 1.5% comparable sales growth to $21.8bn in 2025 and will continue store closures while investing in AI to improve operations. (source)

👔 Marks & Spencer has launched David Gandy Wellwear on its “Brands at M&S” platform as its menswear marketplace continues to expand. (source)

📊 Gymshark recorded its 13th consecutive year of growth, with sales rising to £646m as it continues to invest in long-term expansion. (source)

🛒 JD.com has launched its Joybuy platform across multiple European markets including the UK, Germany and France, spanning categories from tech to groceries. (source)

🤖 Kingfisher is rolling out agentic AI shopping across B&Q and Castorama using Google Vertex AI to enable more conversational product discovery. (source)

🇺🇸 Mango has opened a new store in Mall of America, bringing its US store count to 65. (source)

♻️ Harrods has partnered with charity TRAID to reduce waste and extend the lifecycle of unsold products. (source)

💳 Visa is piloting AI agent-led purchases with UK banks, testing how autonomous shopping could work in practice. (source)

📦 The second-hand fashion market in Saudi Arabia is expected to exceed $1.3bn by 2030, as global resale continues to scale rapidly. (source)

🇺🇸 Boden is expanding in the US with a second store opening in Nashville. (source)

💰 Footasylum has secured £60m in funding to support its ongoing retail expansion. (source)