Quick Take — Walmart, in its biggest deal of the last two years, has acquired an advertising technology company

The retail giant is paying $1.4 billion for Vibe.co, a company that enables advertising via smart TVs…

The acquisition of Vibe.co is Walmart’s largest deal since itbought Vizio for $2.3 billion in 2024. Since then, Walmart has rebranded Vizio as its own brand and integrated Vizio’s operating system into its own-brand televisions already on the market. This week’s deal is a further sign that Walmart’s executives intend to invest heavily to boost the retailer’s advertising business. Some of the executives will be required to stay on for four years to manage the business.

Below is a comparison of Walmart – Amazon comparison on advertising (read ‘How Walmart became an advertising powerhouse, whilst remaining focused on the food, non-food and e-commerce businesses’) which highlights the Bentonville (Arkansas) giant’s lag behind Jeff Bezos’s company, which, moreover, has the advantage of also controlling AWS.

In Italy, it is worth highlighting Selex’s initiative.

Drafted on 24 June, updated on 28 June 2026

How Walmart became an advertising powerhouse whilst remaining focused on its food, non-food and e-commerce businesses

It is a pity that no Italian company has had the scale, but above all the vision, to take on the world in the way these giants have done. In Italy, everyone thought: e-commerce must be self-sustaining. This was the case for Esselunga at home until it had no rivals, but Amazon and Walmart disprove this view. E-commerce is underpinned by other, more profitable sources of revenue

Quick Take — Leclerc: a unique ‘discount’ offer on personal care products

Leclerc, the undisputed leader in the French retail sector, has managed to surprise not only its customers but us as well with a range of personal hygiene products priced at €2.50, given that, today, around one in two French people cannot afford to buy personal hygiene products.

Leclerc’s range – having become the leader in hypermarkets over the years, at the expense of Carrefour and Auchan – includes five products: soap, shampoo, toothpaste, a toothbrush and cotton buds.

The expression ‘douche froide’ is a very French play on words that highlights the poverty of a large part of the population and the shock of recent impoverishment for a significant proportion of them.

Quick Take — In just a few years, Lidl’s non-food segment in Europe has developed from a simple promotional area into a strategic pillar of the group

A trajectory that can be read well by following the steps in sequence 7 May 2026… Lidl reorganises the non-food department in all its approximately 3,250 shops in Germany. Action and Tedi have paved the way Lidl will not be caught off guard.

The classic undifferentiated promotional area disappears. In its place: six permanent theme areas, each associated with its own brand, arranged along a continuous corridor between the refrigerated shelves and the checkout area.

Coloured signage, signs visible from afar, seasonally flexible layout. “We combine the efficiency of a discount shop with the inspiration of a specialist retailer,” said Steffen Graf, head of non-food at Lidl Germany(read more here ).

It should be noted that Lidl is bucking the trend: the hypermarket sector in France is down 4.9 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Compiled 3 June, updated 4 June 2026

Quick Take — US: new products, smaller packages and offers to attract inflation-weary customers

From Clorox to Kraft Heinz, US companies are finally realising that half of American consumers cannot afford what they are selling.

To appeal to cash-strapped, inflation-weary shoppers, companies are launching smaller, cheaper products, launching value packages and, in some cases, reversing price increases.

Coca-Cola is selling soft drinks in ‘skinnier’ and cheaper bottles. Target has new offerings in its toy department for $5. ..

McDonald’s has already reported the difficulties of its franchisees….

Walmart executives – after sounding the alarm about petrol – said last week they had lowered the price on 7,200 items and planned to use the company’s tariff refund (on duties) to fund further price cuts.

The retailer also indicated a promotion in which it offers hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and all other essentials for a meal that feeds eight people for less than $5 per person.

The Wall Street Journal

Quick Take — EU-China: the silent war of e-commerce and trade in general

Temu: ‘dangerous articles’, €200 million EU fine. Mainly toys in the crosshairs. Republic 29 May 2026

But the e-commerce war with China also takes place on other grounds:

E-commerce, EU crackdown on parcels under €150: €3 fixed duty arrives

The European Union freezes the purchase of Ceconomy – which controls Mediaworld – by Chinese e-commerce giant Jd.com

Drafted 1 June, updated 3 June 2026

Quick Take — Benetton reduces red in 2025 (-65%) and aims for a balanced budget

Benetton Group CEO Claudio Sforza’s intense recovery and relaunch plan is starting to bear fruit. In 2025 the Ponzano Veneto-based company has contained the red to €33 million, reducing losses by 65% compared to the €100 million of 2024 and by more than 85% compared to the €230 million of 2023, the Ansa agency specifies, underlining that the group can therefore aim for a balanced budget already this year, while keeping the macroeconomic situation under constant monitoring, including the conflict in the Middle East and the possible repercussions in terms of inflation, increased costs, and a contraction in consumption.

Cost containment has also translated into a rationalisation of the distribution network, with the streamlining of loss-making direct sales outlets and the termination of relations with insolvent partners in the indirect channel, which has contributed – together with the general context of difficulties in the textile-fashion sector – to a further reduction in turnover, which has already fallen below the billion euro threshold in 2024 (to be precise, 915 million euro). In 2025, sales stopped at just under 800 million, down by more than ten percentage points..

Very difficult for the group to compete in the current, increasingly complex environment.

Esselunga- Rewe: the Penny Market joint venture

“… We decide to enter into an agreement with the te-desco giant Rewe to create a chain of discount stores to be called Penny Market, controlled with 50 per cent equal shares. A decision by the board of directors is required to start the venture. I vote in favour of our father’s proposal, while his historic lawyer Alfonso Pellegatta is against it…’ Le Ossa dei Caprotti, page 169