Japanese cosmetics conglomerate Shiseido has announced a three-year global strategic partnership with internet and technology company Tencent through its China subsidiary.

​It’s official — Thailand’s Central and Austria’s Signa are buying Selfridges Group from the Weston family. The transaction “will create one of the world’s leading omnichannel luxury department store groups”.

​NewRiver has been busy selling off some of its shopping centre interests. The London-based real estate investment trust has sold Poole Retail Park in Dorset and Templars Square Shopping Centre in Cowley, Oxfordshire.

​UK health and beauty supplier Healthpoint has been sold to Dutch company Dayes for an undisclosed sum. The move sees private equity firm Maven Capital Partners exiting the business after five years.

Figures on Wednesday revealed that despite general trends showing UK consumers shunning busy shopping destinations, London West End footfall was higher on Tuesday than it had been exactly a week earlier.

Three thousand and growing. That’s the number of InPost locker locations now available to UK consumers to collect, send, and return parcels after the addition of a trio of major name retailers.

Speculation has resurfaced that THG (formerly The Hut Group) could be taken private again by its founder with the firm’s battered share price rising as investors buy in hopes of a privately-backed buyout.

​M&S has sent out a further signal about its focus on digital with the news that it has added a key new role in its Digital & Data team. Krista Nordlund is its new chief digital product officer and joins in the New Year.

​Landsec has acquired an extra 25% stake in the giant Bluewater mall in Kent, buying out Lendlease Retail Partnership for £172 million.

German consumer goods firm Beiersdorf announced on Tuesday an agreement to acquire prestige beauty company Chantecaille Beaute Inc., USA. 

​With consumer concerns over the spread of Omicron, it’s no surprise retailers and couriers are experiencing a late “avalanche” of last-minute gift deliveries as visits to physical stores collapse by 25%.

​It’s been a disappointing end to the retail year as Omicron devastated any hopes that November’s positive expectations would accelerate. That’s the unsurprisingly bleak reading from the latest CBI monthly survey.

The UK Government has announced further support measures linked to the impact on English businesses of the Omicron Covid variant, but despite plunging footfall, retail seems to have been left out.

​Thailand-based Central Group may have denied that it's going to buy Selfridges, but UK press reports continue to link it to the takeover and suggest that a deal is on the verge of being signed.

Procter & Gamble Co said on Friday it was voluntarily recalling some dry conditioner and shampoo sprays sold in the United States and Canada due to the presence of a cancer-causing chemical.