Karolina Skwira 
Merchant stablecoin acceptance looks set to break out of its ~6% niche in H2 2026, with a top-tier US retailer or marketplace likely to enable stablecoin checkout before the Q4 peak. Three fresh signals point the way: the Open USD coalition, the GENIUS Act deadline, and live-but-idle rails.
Trent shares fell about 12% on Tuesday, the biggest Sensex loser, after its Q1 business update showed revenue growth slowing to 19%, short of Street estimates. Weakness in sales per square foot at the Zudio value chain raised fears of store cannibalization and a normalizing growth engine.
CK Hutchison has confirmed talks to sell Marionnaud, the roughly 700-store European perfumery chain owned by AS Watson, to BEHN, the investment vehicle of Groupe Bogart shareholder David Konckier. The move would end more than 20 years of ownership and hand a marquee prestige-beauty asset to a fast-consolidating French perfumery group.
The US, EU and UK have all moved to scrap or shrink low-value import de minimis relief within eighteen months. At least one more G7 or G20 economy is likely to follow before the end of Q1 2027, and the direct-from-China duty-free parcel is entering terminal decline.
Signals point to agentic commerce settling on merchant-controlled checkout plus tokenized card-network agent credentials by the 2026 holiday season, not autonomous in-chat buying. The likely timeframe is Q4 2026, observable by January 2027.
South Korea’s privacy regulator has fined Coupang 624.7 billion won (about USD 409 million), the largest data-breach penalty in the country’s history, over a leak tied to roughly 37.5 million accounts. The New York-listed retailer says it will challenge the ruling as the case fuels a wider US-Korea dispute.
The EU scraps its low-value customs relief on July 1, 2026, but three recent signals suggest the fee will not slow Temu and Shein’s European growth this year. Expect adaptation through local fulfillment rather than retreat, with their EU growth likely still positive through Q3.
Signals point to the EU tabling a Digital Fairness Act in Q4 2026 that puts dark patterns, drip pricing and personalized pricing in retail scope. The impact assessment due in Q2 2026 is the near-term tell.
Inditex reported first-quarter net profit of EUR 1.37 billion, up 5.4%, as sales rose 5.8% to EUR 8.75 billion and beat analyst forecasts. The Zara owner said store and online sales jumped 11.5% in the first month of the second quarter, sending shares higher.
Yamada Holdings and Edion plan to merge under a new holding company, creating Japan’s largest electronics retailer with about $16 billion in combined sales. Here is what the deal means for the sector, suppliers and shoppers.