Amazon Payment Services, a regional leader in digital payments operating across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has shared its latest research on recent and upcoming changes shaping the payments industry. The report, titled ‘Leading Trends in Digital Payments: Driving the Real-Time Economy in MENA’, identifies key trends and shows why they matter to
Aside from ramen and sausages, South Korea’s convenience stores have a new popular item on the menu — gold bars. The country’s largest convenience store chain, CU, has been collaborating with the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO) to offer customers mini gold bars — and they’re selling like hot cakes. A variety of
India’s food safety regulator has said that it had ordered testing and inspections at all companies making spice mixes, widening an investigation into the sector as global regulators look into suspected contamination in two popular local brands. Hong Kong last month suspended sales of three spice blends made by India’s MDH and an Everest spice
KFC Malaysia has temporarily closed outlets in the country, citing challenging economic conditions, after local media reported that the closings were because of boycotts over the fast food chain’s perceived links to Israel. Malaysia, a majority-Muslim country, is a staunch supporter of the Palestinians, and some Western fast-food brands in the country, as in some
India’s spice exports regulator has asked leading spice brands MDH and Everest to provide details of quality checks after sales of some of their products were halted in Hong Kong for allegedly containing high levels of a cancer-causing pesticide. The companies’ products are hugely popular in India and are exported to countries in Europe, Asia
The US Federal Trade Commission has sued to block Coach parent Tapestry’s $8.5 billion deal to buy Michael Kors owner Capri, saying it would eliminate “direct head-to-head competition” between the flagship brands of the two leading global luxury handbag makers. The FTC said the tie-up, which would create a company with about 33,000 employees worldwide,
Recent data by the US Department of Commerce showed retail sales rising 0.7% month over month, and 4% since last year. The 0.7% figure exceeded the 0.3% forecast by Wall Street economists. The largest area of growth during the month came from online sales, which were up 2.7% since February and 11.3% since March of
France’s Parliament has voted to slow down low-cost “fast fashion”, aiming to make products, especially from Chinese mass producers, less attractive to buyers, as per reports. Analysts and industry practitioners pointed out that the act could target China’s garment and textile supply chain. The widely-supported bill, which still needs to be approved by the French
As retailers, brands and marketplaces alike are increasingly investing in easy, intuitive user experiences on their e-commerce channels, consumers are coming back to digital more and more. According to data from the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor, sales at online retailers and other non-store merchants were up a whopping 18% year-over-year in February. This rise comes as
Zalando, one of Germany’s biggest online retailers, wants to jumpstart its flat business by branching out into B2B. The company recorded no change in its gross merchandise volume (GMV) and revenue from 2022 to 2023. Now, it is rolling out new strategies to grow over the next five years. “The company’s recently launched Zeos business
