What: El Corte Inglés has launched an initiative to raise funds from customers and employees that will be channeled through UNICEF Spain. Additionally, El Corte Inglés will be donating medical and basic necessities to help those affected.

Why is it important: This collaboration is part of the strategic alliance that El Corte Inglés has maintained with UNICEF Spain since 2017.

With the money raised, UNICEF, which is present both in the conflict zone and in the neighboring ones, will be able to acquire and distribute essential products and necessary medical supplies at all times.

On the other hand, volunteers from El Corte Inglés are classifying food and basic material donated by the company itself with the aim of sending them to strategic points for later distribution among the affected population.

Specifically, this initiative responds to the commitment of El Corte Inglés to the needs of society and in line with the principles of the United Nations Organization (UN) of humanity, impartiality, neutrality in independence, as well as its vocation to participate in those actions aimed at helping the most disadvantaged.

El Corte Inglés Press Release (IN SPANISH)

What: 'The Latest's' product innovations are moving into Konen in Munich with a temporary experience space in the Breuninger world of experience.

Why it is important: The curated products and prototypes of international start-ups and established companies can be experienced live and in colour by consumers.

Until July 4, consumers can try out new innovations like inflatable exercise bikes, simultaneous translators for around 70 languages, pearl earrings with headphone function, vertical farms for the home or biomimetic skincare!

Breuninger's set to open 'the Latest' pop_up in Konen location in Munich until July

What: Fnac Switzerland opens its shop-in-shop at Manor Schaffhausen.

Why is it important: Fnac will be present on the 3rd floor of the building in an area of 520 square meters. Various customer actions are planned for the opening, in particular discovery vouchers which will be distributed at the checkouts of the Manor store, a free Fnac membership card during the opening week as well as an exclusive Apple offer for the first 100 customers of the new shop-in-shop with AirPods at 99 instead of 139 Francs.

Fnac opens its shop-in-shop at Manor Schaffhausen.

What: Galeries Lafayette Champs Elysées, celebrating 3 years, is showcasing the students of CASA93 and their upcycled collection of unsold merchandise.

Why it is important: The young and vitalized collection was inspired by the recent 50th anniversary of Smiley Brand campaign.

A young and vitaminized collection, inspired by the world of the Smiley Company brand, whose profits will be donated to the ModaFusion association that manages the training organization CASA93.

Galeries Lafayette's is celebrating the upcycled collection created by the students of the CASA93 school

What: After testing the second-hand principle on the web and in some of its stores, Petit Bateau is pushing the sale of its second-hand clothes in a dedicated space within the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann.

Why is it important: This corner called "Change tomorrow" will take place on the 5th floor of the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, in the world of children, and will offer more than 1,600 second-hand Petit Bateau items. This pop-up will be the brand's largest space dedicated to second-hand in Paris.

For Galeries Lafayette, this is a further step towards more sustainable initiatives and second hand, after having opened a space dedicated to circular fashion, called (Re)store last year.

Galeries Lafayette introduces second-hand for Petit Bateau

What: Falabella Retail S.A won 1st place and was named the most valued brand in Chile.

Why it is important: Falabella has won the award in the Multistore category as the brand most valued by Chileans in the recognition given by CHILE3D.

There were more than 4,800 people who evaluated 312 brands belonging to 75 consumer categories and Falabella Retail S.A was recognized in 1st place!

Falabella has been named the brand most valued by Chileans in the Multistore category

What: Fnac opens the doors of its shop-in-shop at Manor Basel.

Why is it important: Fnac will be present on the 4th and 5th floors of the building on an area of nearly 850 square meters. Various customer actions are planned for the opening, for example a free Fnac membership card during the opening week, normally costing CHF 30 for 3 years, as well as an exclusive Apple offer for the first 100 customers with AirPods at 99 Francs instead of 139 Francs.

For Manor, this partnership also means that its own stores, as well as the manor.ch online store, will benefit from Fnac's know-how and commercial strength in the multimedia, cultural products, and small household appliances categories.

With the opening at Manor Basel, the extension of Fnac Switzerland's presence on the market is progressing as planned.

Manor Basel opens Fnac shop-in-shop 

What: Fnac opens the doors of its shop-in-shop at Manor Lugano.

Why is it important: Following Manors partnership with Fnac in the spring of 2021 providing for the installation by Fnac Suisse of 27 shop-in-shops in Manor department stores by mid-2022, Manor has thus far installed a Fnac in Basel, Zurich Letzipark and now in Lugano.

The following openings are also planned by mid-year:

• Balerna also on April 12
• Lucerne and Schaffhausen on April 26
• Lausanne early June

Manor opens Fnac shop in shop in Lugano store

What: Breuninger launches an innovative brand campaign and presents the latest fashion collections in virtual worlds.

Why is it important: With a contemporary, innovative and digital campaign production and story, Breuninger is once again positioning itself as the multichannel destination for premium and luxury fashion.

For the start of the spring/summer 2022 season, an integrated campaign with two different, target group-oriented versions for Germany, Austria and Switzerland was developed in one of the leading virtual production studios.

Inspiration, identity and connection are reflected in the two campaign strands "Beauty of Spring" and "Eternal Spring", represented by nine European talents.

Breuninger's spring inspiration & new designer looks

What: The Mall Group has collaborated with BMA (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) to launch "The First Bangkok Zero Waste Park".

Why it is important: This is Thailand's first prototype for a sustainable waste management public park.

This innovative and sustainable park is located at Benchasiri Park.

The Mall Group contributes to the first Bangkok zero waste park 

What: Henning Riecken becomes the managing director of the new Breuninger flagship store in Hamburg.

Why is it important: With the appointment of Henning Riecken as Managing Director for Hamburg, Breuninger is relying on a distinguished manager from its own ranks. Reicken has been with the company since 2018 and was part of the management of the flagship store in Stuttgart. In the last two years he held the same position and was responsible for the management of the Nuremberg office.

Breuninger will open its first flagship store in northern Germany in Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier at the end of 2023. The appointment of Henning Riecken also marks the start of building up the Hamburg management team.

Henning Riecken, new managing director of Breuninger flagship 

What: Owned by the Galeries Lafayette group, La Redoute is opening ten corners for household items.

Why is it important: Galeries Lafayette will take over 100% of the capital of La Redoute in the coming months and La Redoute plans to open ten "home decoration" corners within the Galeries Lafayette department stores.

La Redoute is accelerating the expansion of its "home decoration" corners, driven by its two own brands, La Redoute Interiors and AMPM, with an expanded product offering. These corners are dedicated to furniture, household linen (bed linen, sponges, table linen, furnishing textiles), small decoration and tableware. Pieces designed and designed in Roubaix by La Redoute design teams.

Galeries Lafayette opens 10 "home decoration" corners

What: Falabella's retail division has launched "Scan and Pay", a system with which customers can buy and pay from their cell phones, without having to go through checkout.

Why is it important: Users can scan their favorite products and pay for them using the Fpay application. This experience has become a testing laboratory, allowing the company to adjust and improvements, such as the option to remove the alarms from anywhere in the store, avoiding the customer having to go to checkout to conclude the process.

"Scan and Pay" is part of the range of solutions developed by Falabella in its goal of permanently optimizing the shopping experience of its customers, such as the implementation of self-service checkouts and the payment system with assistants through iPads. Both strategies make it possible to decongest traditional checkouts and make way for other transactions such as exchanges, returns, and cash.

Falabella launches "Scan and Pay" (in spanish)

What: SM Investments Corporation is optimistic about the outlook for business with the revival in economic activity.

Why is it important: Reflecting this optimism, the company declared an increase in dividend payout to over PHP7.5 billion or PHP6.25 per share in favor of all stockholders of record. The dividend declaration represents a 47% increase from the previous year's PHP4.25 per share.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, SM opened 294 new retail stores in 2021. In particular, Alfamart surpassed 1,200 stores last year.

SM Investments recently listed its PHP15 billion fixed-rate bonds at the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) with investors snapping up the issue, a strong testament to investor confidence in SM's credit standing. The retail bond offering, which was 3.7 times over-subscribed to as much as PHP55 billion, was SM Investments' biggest issue since 2016.

SM signals optimistic about business outlook 

What: Following great success from 2021 Falabella has unveiled their new Alegra store in Colombia.

Why it is important: This will be a store specialized in fashion based on customer demand.

The company is looking to continue to strengthen their omnichannel operation, offering all Barranquilla residents the possibility of collecting, personalizing and managing the orders they make through Falabella.com and the Falabella app.

Falabella opens new Alegra store in Barranquilla, Colombia

What: After 700 days, masks will no longer be mandatory in interior spaces in Spain however, the large distribution chains are committed to prudence and to maintaining its use in customer service.

Why is it important: El Corte Inglés has asked its employees to wear masks when dealing with customers who wear them, as well as in restaurant areas and in supermarket and product sales areas.

El Corte Inglés is committed to keeping masks ( In Spanish)

What: Breuninger, MediaMarkt, and Decathlon are the retailers with the best omnichannel strategies in Germany.

Why is it important: In a study, Google and the HDE association examined which retailers offer the best omnichannel experience. Right at the front: MediaMarkt, Breuninger and Decathlon.

Breuninger, encourages customers to continue shopping offline throughout their online experience and availabilities for both online and in-store products are clearly communicated. In addition, Breuninger offers a variety of flexible fulfillment options such as Click & Reserve, Click & Collect or 24-hour delivery - as well as the option of having shipments delivered to Packstations.

Omnichannel: Breuninger does it best

What: SM Investments Corporation reported its net income increased 65% to PHP38.5 billion in 2021 from PHP23.4 billion in 2020. Consolidated revenues grew 9% to PHP428.1 billion compared with PHP394.2 billion last year.

Why it is important: SM Retail reported revenues at PHP303.9 billion, from PHP296.8 billion, up 2%. Net income increased 133% to PHP9.6 billion from PHP4.1 billion. The general improvement in profitability was largely due to sustained growth in sales particularly for the SM Stores and Specialty Stores.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, SM continued to expand its retail footprint. THE SM STORE opened two new stores in 2021 in Caloocan and Camarines Norte. The food group, which includes SM Markets (SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket, and Savemore), Alfamart, and WalterMart added 219 new stores in 2021.

By the end of the year, SM Retail added a total of 294 new stores across the entire portfolio for a total of 3,215 outlets, consisting of 68 The SM Stores, 1,539 specialty retail stores, 62 SM Supermarkets, 52 SM Hypermarkets, 214 Savemore, 73 WalterMart, and 1,207 Alfamart stores.

The total assets of SM grew 10% to PHP1.3 trillion. SM maintains a healthy balance sheet with a conservative gearing ratio of 38% net debt to 62% total equity.

SM net income grows 65% in 2021

What: The 45,000 square-feet department store will open in December 2022 and will be part of Treasure Island Resort World Hotel and Shopping Centre.

Why it is important: After Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, the store will be the fourth to open in Greater China.

The store is one of six retail and lifestyle brands new to Macau that will anchor a five-star hotel and shopping precinct. The new development will be built on a site that was previously earmarked to be a casino, plans for which collapsed along with the business of previous owner, Genting Hong Kong.

Hong Kong-listed Forward Fashion Holdings, which operates more than 200 self-operated stores in Greater China for brands including Stella McCartney, Bose, La Maison du Chocolat and Moschino, will manage the five-storey retail precinct.

It will incorporate pop-up art elements and integrate a mix of international designer names, luxury and vanguard fashion brands, trendy footwear and accessories, high-end beauty, and fashion cafes, "bringing French elegance and European Art Nouveau to the city" the statement read in part.

Other tenants confirmed by Forward Fashion to date include Under Armour, UFC Gym, North American fast-food chain Five Guys and gaming centre Beebeeland. A Pop Mart flagship will target "the premium, trendy cultural segment," reflecting the collectibles company's expansion into collaborations with fashion labels, including Moncler.

Galeries Lafayette to open in Macau

What: Galeries Lafayette Haussmann teamed up with vintage skateboard brand Impala and smiley in the unveiling of a free skateboard ramp in front of the flagship store.

Why is it important: After an ice skating rink and a roller-skate dance track, Galeries Lafayette ventures further in experiences designed to attract younger generations.

Galeries Lafayette installs a free skateboard ramp

What: Last year's sales exceeded CNY 24 billion won (USD 3.8 billion).

Why it is important: The total sales of the "Shop King" shopping malls exceeded CNY 300 billion (USD 47.5 billion). Thirty-five malls achieved double-digit growth and Beijing's SKP ranked first for the tenth time in a row.

In 2020, Beijing SKP also became the world's highest retail sales before London's Harrods.

SKP last year sales 

What: El Corte Inglés has created its first 3D fashion collection with the objective of increasing the efficiency and sustainability of its collections. This approach would also shorten the development and production of garments.

Why it is important: 3D design collections are enabling companies to have shorter development and production times by decreasing processing times and allows for pre-testing by conducting preliminary test of a sample online prior to creating stock.

The 3D collections will allow the improvement of the production and offers the chance to build communication between departments and suppliers with traceable and digitized online communication. Additionally, these collections allow for collaboration and design to be the front of the collections. With the chance to collaborate with consumers for their opinions on collections prior to manufacturing while also collaborating with different designers in various locations.

The 3D fashion design will lead to a 50% sample reduction, a 15-day decrease in the time it takes to process collections for approval and allows for the teams carrying out the promotion at the point of sale can intervene two months in advanced. This results in improvements in sustainability, efficiency, in the product and in sales.

The first garments of this pilot project that will be designed in 3D are those corresponding to the spring/summer collections.

El Corte Inglés has designed its first 3D fashion collection (article in Spanish)

What: The Manor Cultural Prize has been awarded to five Swiss artists in 2022.

Why it is important: For 40 years, the Manor Cultural Prize has encouraged young Swiss artists in the field of visual arts: painting, sculpture, photography, video art and installations.

In 2022, the Manor Cultural Prize is awarded to Dominic Michel (Aargau), Gil Pellaton (Bern), Claudia Kübler (Lucerne), Lucas Herzig (Ticino) and Sarah Margnetti (Vaud).

The winners will be able to present their work at exhibitions in Aarau, Biel, Lucerne, Lugano and Lausanne over the course of the year.

Manor Cultural Prize, awarded to five Swiss artists, celebrates 40 years

What: The department store supports Le Train pour l'Égalité (translating to A train for equality), the first nation-wide campaign by Fondation des Femmes (Women's Foundation) promoting gender equality, from 26 February to 7 March.

Why it is important: The Train pour l'Égalité will be on the road for more than a week, stopping off in ten major French cities, including Marseille, Strasbourg and Bordeaux. At every stop on the train's itinerary, volunteers from the foundation will take up residence in 9 selected Galeries Lafayette stores to raise customer and visitor awareness of gender equality issues.

Stores will also play audio messages presenting and promoting the campaign. In addition to providing physical spaces and issuing online and in-store communications, Galeries Lafayette is also mobilizing its forces alongside the foundation for the International Women's Day. From 7 February to 3 April, all Galeries Lafayette customers will be able to donate to Fondation des Femmes when paying by rounding up their purchases to the nearest euro.

 Galeries Lafayette supports gender equality