Consumer and Retail Sector

South Korean police raided the Seoul headquarters of Starbucks Korea and the homes of its top executives following criminal defamation complaints over a disastrous marketing campaign. The fallout hits Shinsegae Group, which owns a 67.5% stake in Starbucks Korea and operates one of the coffee chain's largest international markets. In May, Starbucks Korea launched a stainless-steel tumbler promotion labeled "Tank Day" on May 18, the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju uprising where military forces killed approximately 200 pro-democracy protesters. The campaign added fuel to the fire by using the promotional slogan "Thwack it on the table!", an explicit echo of a infamous 1987 police cover-up regarding the torture and death of student activist Park Jong-chul. Shinsegae cancelled the promotion within hours, but the resulting mass boycott triggered a severe plunge in local store sales. To manage the crisis, Shinsegae fired the Starbucks Korea chief executive, issued a televised apology from group chair Chung Yong-jin, and shut all Korean stores for half a day on June 22 to force staff through mandatory history re-education. The controversy has since metastasized into a partisan culture war. While President Lee Jae Myung's government instituted an official procurement boycott, opposition politicians and right-wing commentators have adopted Starbucks cups as political props in public rallies.

Nintendo reported fiscal first-quarter net profit of 147.4 billion yen on revenue of 517.8 billion yen, beating analyst expectations of 78.30 billion yen and 444.96 billion yen, respectively. The bottom-line beat came despite a sharp drop in console volume. According to cnbc.com, Nintendo Switch 2 hardware sales fell 34.4% year-over-year to 3.82 million units, while original Switch sales dropped 31.8% to 0.66 million units. Soaring memory chip prices driven by AI infrastructure demand, alongside tariffs, imposed a nearly 100 billion yen cost hit. Software and movie licensing filled the gap. High-margin software titles carried earnings, led by Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream selling 7.94 million units and Pokémon Pokopia selling 1.27 million units, alongside more than $1 billion in global box office revenue from "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie." To defend hardware profitability against rising component costs, Nintendo is passing price hikes to consumers. After raising console prices in Japan in May, the company scheduled a $50 price increase for the Switch 2 in the United States, raising its retail price to $499.99 effective September 1. Nintendo maintained its full-year net sales outlook at 2.05 trillion yen.

Cole Haan is launching its first suitcase line on Aug. 17 with four product collections priced between $200 and $700, according to reporting by modernretail.co. The footwear brand, which private equity firm Apax Partners acquired from Nike for $570 million in 2012, is pushing into travel gear to build a lifestyle ecosystem ahead of its 2028 centennial. To support the shift, Cole Haan partnered with Travelway Group to manufacture polycarbonate hardshell bags and developed a $140-to-$160 packable sneaker designed to save luggage space. It is expanding its physical footprint directly into tourist corridors, adding a 24-hour store at Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz International Airport and new locations in Boston and Disney Springs. The move pushes the brand into a U.S. travel goods sector where dollar sales fell 2% over the 12 months ending April 2026, despite unit sales rising 1%. Cole Haan previously abandoned plans for an initial public offering in 2021 after reporting $686.6 million in annual revenue for the fiscal year ending June 1, 2019. It now enters a crowded category alongside dedicated travel brands such as Antler and July.