Newspaper retail round-up
A roundup of retail stories from the past week… Forever 21, Boots, luxury retailers, House of Fraser, Ikea
Forever 21 pushes into Europe
The US high street fashion retailer, Forever 21, often dubbed the American Topshop, plans to open stores in four more countries. Its first UK stores will open later this month.
Boots to axe 900 jobs
Alliance Boots is to axe 900 non-store jobs over the next three years, in a shake up of the business.
Surge in demand for luxury goods
Luxury retailers have been caught out by a surge in demand following the slump last year and are now trying to sell fewer items to maintain stock levels for Christmas.
From The Financial Times
House of Fraser to extend Biba
House of Fraser is planning to add accessories, shoes, homewares and cosmetics to its relaunched Biba collection. A month after launch the Biba range has already become the department store chain’s highest selling womenswear brand.
Visa trials mobile payments in Spain
Visa is trialling a mobile payment system in the Spanish town of Sitges which uses only a mobile handset to pay for goods. The technology could be rolled out in the UK within two years.
Ikea makes finances public
Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has reported its finances publicly for the first time revealing an 11% rise in profit and a 7% sales increase to €23.1bn (£20bn) in 2010.
From The Guardian
