Executive Summary

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” reviews the landscape of startups that are tackling the retail returns problem.
• Amazon has looked at the possibility of expanding its retail footprint by acquiring some locations from bankrupt Toys“R”Us.
• Supermarket group Spar has announced the formation of a new Greek entity, Spar Hellas, and plans to operate around 350 stores in Greece over the next four years.
• Alibaba is increasing its control of Southeast Asian e-commerce marketplace Lazada by injecting another $2 billion into the business and replacing its CEO with a long-standing Alibaba executive.