Inside Retail

Guzman Y Gomez overcooked the hype on its 2020 launch in the US, but got the recipe wrong in its execution. The Australian chain cooking up Mexican fare suffered an embarrassing and expensive, albeit sensible, retreat from its US foray in May. The financial hit to Guzman Y Gomez results could be up to $57 million for the 2026 financial year, but the company has underpinned its share price through an on-market buyback initiated late last year.

Kunal Shah, an Indian fintech founder with no engineering degree or Silicon Valley pedigree, has spent two decades building businesses around digital payments and consumer behaviour in India. He now takes charge of Meta’s WhatsApp as the company looks to leverage the reach of the world’s largest messaging platform and build a “superapp” to capture a bigger share of surging online payments, industry players say.

A plush stuffed bagel retails for US$30 and has a mile-long waitlist. A pastel-wave mirror with chunky, candy-colored curves has spawned an Amazon dupe category and landed its designer a global Ikea collaboration. What, may you ask, do these products have in common? They both epitomise a growing trend in retail known as “whimsymaxxing” – the deliberate maximisation of playfulness, wonder and childlike joy across fashion, home and lifestyle.

Jasmine Russell has been named the new chief operating officer of Adore Beauty Group after leaving gift-giving company Lvly. Russell, a 15-year retail veteran and the 20th-ranked name on Australia’s Top 50 People in Ecommerce, announced her departure from Lvly earlier this year. “After five incredible years, I decided it was time to step away from my flower-filled days, and have now wrapped up my time as COO at Lvly,” she said.

Iconic packaging brand Tupperware is returning to Australia through a deal with Hag Import Corporation, just two years after the brand filed for bankruptcy. The return will bring a new line of products to Australia and New Zealand through its distribution partner, Hag, which manages homeware brands including Maxwell & Williams, Casa Domani, Krosno and Woll. Tupperware left Australia after its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US.

In Thailand, flea markets are growing in stature and popularity as a shopping format, and perhaps it would be appropriate if the international peak body for shopping centres, ICSC, included them in its taxonomy of Asian shopping places. Sure, many of them can be grubby, hot and uncomfortable, but that is part of the charm.

Australia’s retail M&A market entered a more selective phase last year, with buyers appearing less focused on growth-only strategies and more emphasis on businesses that can demonstrate resilience, profitability and long-term strategic value. However, while the headline number suggests caution, the data points to additional factors influencing activity.

The hostile takeover of Accent Group launched by the UK-based Frasers is intensifying after Accent released a wide-ranging, 70-page document to its shareholders, imploring them to reject any approaches. Frasers made public its intentions to purchase all of Accent’s ordinary shares earlier this month; the UK retail giant already holds around 22 per cent in the Australian business.

Do franchisees understand the full impact of their franchise agreements? It’s a pertinent question after the media’s recent spotlight on 7-Eleven’s end-of-term store takeovers. Inside Retail‘s sister title Franchise Executives spoke with ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh about common causes of friction in franchising and why franchisees can fail to understand the implications of the contract they have signed.

Decode the Retail M&A market: What are acquirers actually paying for? Retail deal volume fell 31%—but the market isn’t slow, it’s highly disciplined. As macro pressures mount—with a 4.35% RBA cash rate, 4.2% inflation, and mandatory ACCC merger laws—the bar for a fundable transaction has never been higher.