Breaking news, industry updates, and the latest developments shaping global retail, e-commerce, and commerce technology.
China’s May retail sales fell 0.6% year on year, the first decline since December 2022, as a fading auto trade-in subsidy hit big-ticket demand. The miss raises pressure on Beijing and softens the base for global brands and marketplaces.
Three regulatory signals point to tougher US subscription-cancellation rules through H2 2026: the FTC’s revived negative-option rulemaking, a $35m Shutterstock settlement, and a state-law cancellation cascade. Expect operators to retool cancel flows before year-end.
Debenhams Group, still legally Boohoo, has subleased its idle 1.1 million square foot US distribution centre to ID Logistics. The deal triggers a £40m non-cash credit and mitigates roughly $100m of future lease costs.
Driven Brands beat first-quarter 2026 estimates with revenue up 8% to $484.4 million as Take 5 Oil Change logged a 23rd straight quarter of same-store growth. Shares rose as the company reaffirmed full-year guidance and pressed on with deleveraging.
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.
Chewy beat first-quarter profit estimates with net sales up 7.7% to $3.36 billion and 21.5 million active customers. But the online pet retailer cut its 2026 sales outlook, citing cooler consumer spending, and the stock slipped.
J.Jill’s first-quarter fiscal 2026 sales fell 6% to $144.4 million and net income more than halved as tariffs squeezed gross margin to 68.3%. The women’s apparel brand reaffirmed its full-year outlook while trimming planned store growth and capital spending.
State bans and disclosure laws, not a federal rule, are likely to set the operative limits on personalized algorithmic pricing, pushing national retailers toward a uniform non-personalized standard before the 2026 holiday season.
Designer Brands shares fell about 16% after first-quarter sales rose 1.4% but the DSW parent reaffirmed soft 2026 EPS guidance. A 240-basis-point margin gain and a 19.4% brands-unit surge were not enough to satisfy investors.
Academy Sports and Outdoors beat Wall Street expectations for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, with net sales up 6.7% to $1.44 billion and comparable sales returning to growth. The sporting goods retailer raised the low end of its full-year guidance and lifted its dividend.