๐ The Weekly Editorial
What a comeback! If you thought 2026 would start off slowly, think again. This first week is an avalanche of announcements: AI is becoming "agentic" and autonomous at all the giants (Amazon, Microsoft, Walmart), tax regulations are clamping down on Asian imports in Europe, and CES Las Vegas is redefining hardware. I have rarely seen such a density of info in 7 days. You can feel the market doesn't want to waste a second in the race for leadership. Buckle up, the summary is dense but vital.
๐ข E-commerce & Shopping
๐ซ๐ท France crosses the 200 billion mark According to Fevad, French e-commerce is set to exceed โฌ200 billion in 2026. The sector is driven by increased maturity and the explosion of the second-hand market, which will soon account for a third of transactions. (www.ecommercemag.fr)
๐ Returns exceed the GDP of many countries The NRF estimates that merchandise returns in the USA will reach $850 billion this year. Taskrabbit is already noting a 62% explosion in requests for help managing post-Christmas return logistics. ๐๏ธ Shein reopens its marketplace in France After a suspension and internal audit, Shein quietly relaunched its marketplace for third-party sellers in France on January 6, imposing stricter new compliance rules. (www.ecommerce-nation.fr)
๐ช Retail bloodbath forecast in the US The year 2026 could see 15,000 store closures in the US according to Coresight Research. Macy's (66 closures), Kroger, Target (end of the Ulta deal), and REI are cutting back, while Saks Global struggles to finance its restructuring. (www.thestreet.com)
๐ Primark and Takko under pressure The mood is gloomier at Primark (ABF), which signals slowed growth and increased reliance on promotions to manage stock. Meanwhile, Takko Fashion sees sales dip by 1%, though EBITDA is up thanks to better margin management. (www.abf.co.uk)
๐ฅ Walmart bets big on health The giant is launching "Better Care Services," a digital health platform, and slashing prices on 1,000 wellness products. Walmart is also strengthening its board with Shishir Mehrotra to pilot this convergence of tech and health. (www.corporate.walmart.com)
๐ฆ Etsy tightens the screws on shipping fees The marketplace is pushing sellers to keep shipping costs under $6, penalizing the visibility of those who exceed this threshold. A controversial measure in the face of rising general logistics costs.
๐ธ Coupang pays 1 billion in compensation Following a massive data breach, South Korean giant Coupang announced a record compensation plan of $1.17 billion for affected users.
๐ท๏ธ VusionGroup simplifies its identity The specialist in electronic labels and IoT solutions for retail changes its name to officially become "Vusion," marking a new stage in its international expansion. (www.ecommercemag.fr)
โ๏ธ Regulation & Policy
๐ Fiscal shock for Fast Fashion High Commissioner Clรฉment Beaune is preparing a "fiscal shock" and an eco-voucher to counter ultra-fast fashion, aiming to restore fair competition for local players. (www.ecommerce-nation.fr)
๐ช๐บ GDPR gets tougher A new regulation effective January 1 accelerates cross-border procedures. Data protection authorities must now propose resolutions within 12 to 15 months for cases involving multiple countries. (www.techgdpr.com)
๐บ๐ธ Trump vs State AI Laws An executive order aims to preempt AI laws in California and other states to impose a uniform federal policy, creating a major legal conflict right at the start of the year. (www.kslaw.com)
๐ California: Total transparency on delivery Assembly Bill 578 now requires apps like Uber Eats to refund the full amount (including tips and taxes) to the original payment method, rather than in credits, while guaranteeing human support. (www.thestreet.com)
๐ฌ๐ท New taxes and rules in Eastern Europe Greece now requires all merchants to accept IRIS instant payments. Romania introduces a โฌ5 logistics tax on low-value imported parcels. (www.businessofpayments.substack.com)
๐ค AI & Tech
๐ Amazon Rufus: the 10 billion gamble Amazon's AI assistant is expected to generate $10 billion in additional sales in 2026. With 250 million users, it is transforming the customer journey, prompting Amazon to attack Perplexity to protect this channel. (www.journaldunet.com)
๐ค Microsoft's agentic offensive Microsoft is deploying "Brand Agents" for Shopify and templates in Copilot Studio, allowing retailers like Guess to fully automate parts of their customer relations and merchandising. (www.news.microsoft.com)
๐ง Walmart launches Marty Walmart moves to agentic architecture with Marty (an ad AI assistant). Along with Sparky, these tools are already contributing to a 25% increase in the group's digital sales. (www.emarketer.com)
๐๏ธ OpenAI tackles health with ChatGPT Health A dedicated experience designed for health and wellness. Users over 18 can share medical records and health data from apps like Apple Health, MyFitnessPal, or Peloton. The service is currently in the testing phase with a gradual rollout planned.
๐ง Gmail becomes your personal assistant Google strikes back with "AI Inbox" for Gmail, capable of summarizing and managing your emails, and "AI Overviews" in search. The battle is shifting towards daily productivity tools. (www.9to5google.com)
โ๏ธ Samsung puts Gemini in the kitchen At CES, Samsung unveiled refrigerators equipped with Google Gemini AI, capable of recognizing food via "AI Vision" to suggest recipes and manage stock. (www.larevuedudigital.com)
โข๏ธ Meta turns to nuclear To quench the energy thirst of its AIs, Meta has signed major agreements with TerraPower and Vistra to develop nuclear energy dedicated to its data centers. (www.wsj.com)
๐ค Oracle predicts the year of platforms Christophe Negrier of Oracle confirms that 2026 will be the year of industrialization for agentic platforms, with 50% development time savings for CIOs. (www.journaldunet.com)
๐จ๐ณ The rise of DeepSeek The Chinese model DeepSeek is gaining ground against ChatGPT in developing countries and Russia, taking advantage of its open-source approach to bypass Western restrictions. (www.euronews.com)
๐ดโ ๏ธ Explosion of ransomware Kaspersky reports that 8.25% of retail companies were hit by ransomware in 2025, an increase of 152%. Phishing targeting online shops is reaching peaks (7 million attacks). (www.etedge-insights.com)
๐ฃ Marketing & Ads
๐ฌ๐ง Reddit surpasses TikTok in the UK Surprise in the UK: Reddit has become the 4th most visited social platform, overtaking TikTok, making it an essential channel for brands this year.
๐ TikTok doubles its commissions TikTok Shop increases its selling fees from 5% to 9% in Europe. Despite this, the platform aims for +60% growth in 2026 and has already captured 1% of French e-commerce. (www.ecommerce-nation.fr)
โญ New TikTok rating system The platform replaces "Violation Points" with the "Creator Health Rating" (CHR) from mid-January, a more nuanced system to evaluate the reliability of sellers and creators. (www.seller-vn.tiktok.com)
๐คฅ Authenticity vs AI "Slop" Faced with the flood of low-quality AI content ("slop"), 50% of marketers are betting on a radical return to authenticity and spontaneous human content in 2026. (www.larevuedudigital.com)
๐ฐ Payments & Fintech
๐ณ Stripe and Crypto.com break down walls A new integration allows Crypto.com users to pay in crypto at any Stripe merchant without prior conversion. A decisive step for Web3 payments. (www.stripe.com)
๐จ๐ณ Remunerated Digital Yuan China innovates by now offering interest on balances held in e-CNY (Digital Yuan), aligning the state currency with classic banking standards. (www.crowdfundinsider.com)
๐ค The Agentic Commerce Protocol The industry is organizing around the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), a standardized interface to allow AI agents to pay and order on merchant sites. Stripe, PayPal, and Adyen are on board. (www.businessofpayments.substack.com)
๐ฑ The year of SoftPOS The transformation of smartphones into payment terminals (SoftPOS) becomes mainstream, allowing restaurant servers, for example, to cash out directly at the table without dedicated hardware. (www.businessofpayments.substack.com)
๐ Supply Chain & Logistics
๐ข Maersk and the Red Sea crisis In its winter update, Maersk warns of congestion risks in Europe due to the simultaneous arrival of vessels passing via Suez and the Cape. Stock levels are already critical. (www.maersk.com)
๐ค Warehouse automation accelerates 36% of warehouses now use robotics. The 2026 trend is WES (Warehouse Execution System) to orchestrate collaboration between humans and robots in real-time. (www.kardex.com)
๐ Neolix and Luxmea in Europe The two players signed a strategic partnership to deploy an autonomous delivery ecosystem (L4) in European cities, targeting the last mile. (www.autonomousvehicleinternational.com)
โ๏ธ Hardware & Robotics (CES Special)
๐ Hyundai and Boston Dynamics industrialize The car manufacturer and the robotics specialist launch mass production. The humanoid robot Atlas will be operational in Hyundai factories by 2028. (www.journaldunet.com)
๐ฆพ Nvidia and humanoid robots Nvidia put on a show at CES with "cowboy" and surgeon robots, powered by its new chips and the Helios platform, positioning itself as the brain of global robotics. (www.finance.yahoo.com)
๐ฆ RoboSense delivers the future The delivery robot presented at CES handles the entire cycle: packing, transport, and even recycling, thanks to a foundation model combining 3D vision and touch. (www.autonews.gasgoo.com)
๐ผ Finance & Corporate
๐ฆ Swap raises $100 million The OS platform for cross-border e-commerce (popular with luxury brands) closes a massive Series C, just 6 months after its previous round. (www.retailtechinnovationhub.com)
๐ค Spangle AI and Nitro Commerce funded Spangle AI (ex-Amazon) raises $15M for its agentic infrastructure, while Indian firm Nitro Commerce secures $5M for its automated marketing. (www.americanbazaaronline.com)
๐ฆ Zilch buys a bank Fintech Zilch is set to acquire Fjord Bank to obtain a European banking license and accelerate its international expansion. (www.thepaypers.com)
๐จ๐ณ Wave of AI IPOs in sight Chinese startups MiniMax and Z.ai are preparing their IPOs in Hong Kong as early as January, aiming for valuations around $6.5 billion. (www.trendingtopics.eu)
๐ฎ๐ณ SGS acquires Panacea Infosec Certification leader SGS strengthens its cybersecurity division with the acquisition of Indian firm Panacea, a specialist in digital trust. (www.sgs.com)
๐ผ Shopify freezes hiring Shopify's CFO stated they do not plan to increase headcount in 2026, betting on AI and operational efficiency rather than recruitment.
๐ฌ Misc & Culture
๐ฌ Nicotine, Tech's new coffee? Surprising trend in Silicon Valley: Palantir and other companies are offering nicotine pouches to their employees to boost productivity at the office.
๐ Apple Leaks: 9 products approaching Rumors are intensifying around a busy start to the year for Apple: new MacBooks, OLED iPad Air, and a possible offensive on Smart Home. (www.youtube.com)
๐๏ธ The E-commerce Agenda
- January 11-13: NRF Retail's Big Show (NYC) - Ryan Reynolds keynote and a stage dedicated to AI. (www.nrf.com)
- January 24: Walmart Wellness Day - Massive health event in the USA. (www.corporate.walmart.com)
- January 28: BRC Sustainability Horizon Scan (London). (www.brc.org.uk)
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