Americans are turning to beauty products to beat inflation blues in a trend called "the lipstick effect" that could keep beauty's post-pandemic rebound alive and help quarterly sales for Estée Lauder and Coty.

British consumer price inflation jumped to 10.1% in July, its highest since February 1982, up from an annual rate of 9.4% in June, intensifying the squeeze on households, official figures showed on Wednesday.

​Boohoo has been moving into beauty of late through its own retail brands and through buys such as Debenhams. But its latest move is a bit different. It’s made what it calls a “strategic investment” in a key pureplay.

​Walmart nudged up its annual profit forecast on August 16, partly reversing a hefty recent cut, as discounts to clear excess merchandise and lower fuel prices helped it beat expectations for quarterly sales.

​Ted Baker and Authentic Brands Group announced on August 16 that ABG will be buying the British fashion retailer for an agreed price of around £211m ($254m). It will mean a major push into North America for the label.

Activist hedge fund Starboard Value, which had offered to buy Kohl's Corp for roughly $9bn early this year, slashed its stake in the department store by more than 80% in Q2, according to a regulatory filing.

​British retail titan Sir Ralph Halpern has died at the age of 83. The executive, who launched the Topshop chain and once ran Debenhams, was one of the highest-profile retailers during the Thatcher era in the 1980s.

Italian luxury group Prada SpA is considering seeking at least $1 billion from a second listing in Milan and is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc on early preparations, Bloomberg News reported on August 12.

​Primark has named Michelle McEttrick to the new Chief Customer Officer role, “to develop the Primark brand and customer strategy as the business continues its expansion across new markets, channels and products”.

Walmart Inc could face an uphill battle to reclaim U.S. shoppers who opted for the neighborhood dollar store or Aldi rather than driving farther to a Walmart Supercenter when gasoline was $5 a gallon.

Supermarket major Ahold Delhaize said on Wednesday it was postponing plans for an IPO of its non-food retailer, Bol.com, because of unfavourable market conditions.The group had planned to list Bol.

​Results on August 9 showed Ralph Lauren and Capri Holdings (owner of Michael Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo) beating Q1 earnings estimates on buoyant demand for luxury as affluent shoppers shrugged off inflation.

Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, whose global career spanned more than half a century, has died aged 84 of cancer, it emerged on August 9.

Hot weather drove Britons to buy summer fashion, as well as outdoor goods, in July. But they also reined-in spending on foreign travel and eating out as the cost-of-living squeeze made itself felt, two surveys show.

​Businesses stung by rising costs and lower consumer spending are shying away from Shopify's platform, creating a roadblock in its plan to fix past missteps in overestimating e-commerce demand.

Richemont has asked shareholders to reject a candidate from Bluebell Capital Partners as a representative of ordinary shareholders and vote against his election to the luxury group's board at its upcoming AGM.