Simply because basic, recurring foods have reached unprecedented peaks: this is the case with milk, orange juice, meat. But also coffee and eggs.
Add to this petrol and the fact that salary increases have been overtaken by inflation.
This latest 'Shame on you Shein!' report looked at some of the best-selling garments sold by the Chinese fast fashion giant and found that one third of the garments tested 32% (18 out of 56) not only contained 11 substances considered toxic, but their quantity exceeded the limits set by the European Chemicals Regulation (REACH). Including children's clothes. Garments that are considered 'illegal' under EU law.
Amazon workers in more than 30 countries are also going on strike, accusing the e-commerce giant of fuelling inequality, undermining democratic rights by funding US President Donald Trump 's inauguration ceremony, and causing environmental damage.
The paradox of 'Black Friday' is obvious: as consumers prepare for one of the busiest shopping periods of the year, a growing part of the industry's workforce is using the very visibility of Black Friday to raise critical issues and demands.
Alibaba, Joom and Shein were recently investigated by the French authorities for selling dolls. Other e-commerce platforms, including Temu, Wish and eBay, are also under investigation for selling illicit products on their marketplaces. In some cases, these included weapons such as machetes and knuckles, as well as pornographic material accessible to minors...
France's resistance against Shein and similar platforms intensified this month following complaints to law enforcement agencies that dolls and other illegal products were being sold on some platforms. The reports coincided with the opening of Shein 's first permanent French shop in a Paris department store.
The opening of the BHV shop drew crowds of shoppers and protesters, while French retail associations lashed out at what they saw as unfair competition from companies circumventing French and European regulations...
Meanwhile, the EU said on Wednesday it was investigating Shein's potential sale of illegal products, particularly sex dolls and weapons, under the Digital Services Act, which regulates online content.
Below: gendarmerie in front of the BHV
Read here
Also read about it here.
The first is called Makì and comes from Fano. Source
'By 2030, cattle raised in Brazil will have a label that will allow us to identify and track them individually, to combat deforestation'. Paulo Teixeira is Brazil's Minister for Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture and talks to us about the initiatives put in place by the federal and local governments to make one of the country's most profitable businesses sustainable : meat.
Below: bresaola is mainly produced from Brazilian zebu meat.
this is related to two relevant phenomena in digital retail today: on the one hand, the rapid expansion of the'second hand' market, on the other hand, the increasing entry of products from abroad with lower average prices. Both factors contribute to a reduction in the average shopping basket value, even in the presence of steadily increasing demand'. This is the effect of the arrival of Temu, Shein and similar platforms offering'low price' products and accused of selling illegal and unreliable products.
Source
On the origin of the name read here.
On the geopolitical role of e-commerce read this article.
Compiled 20 November, updated 23 November 2025
SchwarzDigits, the technology division of Schwarz, is working on a 130,000 square metre site.
The centre will be able to make use of 100 thousand AI chips while the initial computing power will be 200 megawatts. As already explained Lidl - 175.4 billion € turnover - will not only optimise its own data management, but also offer services to third parties.
There are already 12,000 data centres worldwide, of which just under half are in the US. In Italy, according to the Datacenter Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, in 2023 there were already 190 centres in the country, but 2025 should close with 205 settlements.
The same source explains that, in our country, EUR 5 billion have been invested in the two-year period 2023-2024, a figure that will rise to EUR 10 billion in 2025-2026. And, in order to improve and strengthen the energy supply, Terna has announced a 2025-2034 development plan with allocations of more than 23 billion euro.
Big absentee from this race? The Italian retail sector.
On the problems related to data centres read here but also here.
