Newspaper retail round-up

A round up of retail stories from the newspapers… London, Best Buy, misleading sales, Asda, Amazon, Virgin, John Lewis.

The Telegraph:

London is shopping capital of the world

London has seen off rivals Tokyo, New York and Paris as the top shopping capital city in the world. Total sales at shops in London reached £64.15bn last year (excluding food).

Best Buy to close Chinese stores

Best Buy, America’s largest consumer electronics retailer, plans to close its branded stores in China as it tries to develop a more successful way of finding customers in the country.

The Guardian:

Furniture sales mislead shoppers

High street shops, discount furniture chains and airlines are still using deceptive tactics, in defiance of new OFT rules.

Asda warns of frail consumer confidence

Asda chief executive Andy Clarke describes the supermarket chain’s price guarantee as a ’game changer’ as he warns “anxious” shoppers were behaving as though the country was heading back into recession.

The Financial Times:

Amazon launches web film service
The online retailer is to compete directly with Netflix, the film subscription company that has a deal with CBS, by offering 5,000 films and TV programmes for online streaming.

Virgin looks at “daily deals” coupon service

The group is exploring the launch of a service to rival Groupon, LivingSocial and Google, but any launch would be conditional on raising external funding.

The Times:

John Lewis to open in Birmingham

John Lewis is to build one of its biggest department stores. The 250,000sq ft store will be located next to New Street station in Birmingham.

It’s hell on the high street

Retailers have warned ministers that consumers have drastically cut back their spending in the face of Government austerity measures.

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