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

✦ Store Openings & Physical Retail

🇦🇹 lululemon is opening its first Austrian store on 4th September in Vienna's Kärnter Straße, spanning over 200 square metres and intended to serve as a community hub. (source)

🇧🇷 Bath & Body Works has launched in Brazil, opening its first store in São Paulo as international growth remains a central pillar of the retailer's transformation strategy. (source)

🏬 Rituals is investing €40m to refurbish 1,500 boutiques across 30 countries in just 30 working days, starting 3rd August. The Dutch beauty brand is introducing a new "Beauty World" concept bringing skincare, make-up, hair care and fragrance together in one central space, with a lighter, more premium look across the estate. Around 100 teams will complete more than 40 boutique renewals per working day. A similar refit will follow in Asia and the Middle East in Q1 2027. (source)

🏬 Marks & Spencer has launched its first made-to-order menswear suiting service as part of the reopening of its refurbished Pantheon flagship on Oxford Street. The four-storey, 100,000 sq ft store also features a dedicated lingerie room, a Beauty Hall with third-party brands including K-beauty, and a homeware edit curated by Kelly Hoppen. M&S is using the flagship as a testing ground for features it plans to roll out across its wider store network. (source)

✦ Revenue & Financial Updates

💎 Richemont reported a stronger-than-expected start to its fiscal year, with sales of jewellery and watches rising across all brands, regions, and distribution channels, driven by growth in its own boutiques. (source)

👟 Dr. Martens reaffirmed its full-year FY27 guidance ahead of its AGM, confirming trading since the start of the financial year is in line with management expectations, with US wholesale continuing to be a growth driver. (source)

📱 TikTok contributed at least £10 billion to the UK economy in 2025 and supported 153,000 jobs, according to research by public policy agency Public First commissioned by the platform. (source)

✦ Regulatory & Financial

📋 New FCA regulations governing the buy now, pay later sector came into force in the UK on 15th July, placing providers including Klarna, PayPal, and Clearpay under FCA supervision and requiring affordability assessments before credit is offered. (source)

📊 UK eCommerce parcel volumes grew just 0.2% year on year in Q2 2026, according to delivery management platform Scurri, with fashion retailers particularly affected as consumers become more selective about spending. (source)

✦ Partnerships & Expansions

🌸 Klarna's buy now, pay later service is now available at checkout on Fragrance.com, a US online retailer stocking over 40,000 beauty products, with the integration powered by Adyen and offering customers four interest-free instalments and cashback on qualifying purchases. (source)

👟 Salomon has launched at Foot Locker stores and online in the US, with Foot Locker describing it as one of its "most exciting brand partnership moments of the year", coming just two weeks after Salomon opened its largest store in New York City. (source)

🎮 GameStop has joined the Uber Eats marketplace, making video games, consoles, accessories, and collectibles available for scheduled or on-demand delivery from its store locations across the US. (source)

✦ Deals & Acquisitions

💰 eBay's planned acquisition of fashion resale platform Depop from Etsy has been cleared by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) following an initial probe, removing a major regulatory hurdle to closing the deal. (source)

🏬 Frasers Group has been given the green light to participate in the sale process for luxury department store Harvey Nichols, joining Next and international parties in a bid focused on the Knightsbridge flagship and wider store estate. (source)

That's a wrap for this week! If you found this useful or if you have any feedback, hit reply and let me know, or share it with someone in the industry who'd enjoy the read. See you next Friday. 📬

Thanks - Sue