| Global retail industry news |  |
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- Marshalls to double its Canada stores to 12
TJX Companies plans to open six new Marshalls discount fashion stores in Canada on Thursday, doubling the number of outlets there. US-based TJX opened the first six Canada stores in the Greater Toronto area last year. "Over the past year, we’ve seen a strong desire for affordable fashion," a spokeswoman said. The Toronto Star
(26 Mar.)     
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| Retail in Asia | | |
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- Japan to take its shopping show on the road
Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry plans to recreate versions of the country's popular shopping districts including Harajuku, Shibuya and Ginza in other Asian countries. The program is part of a push to export Japanese culture and help the country's small retailers and brands export their goods. Asia News Network
(26 Mar.)
- Why Harrods stores won't work in India
 Harrods won't look to expand to India anytime soon, said managing director Michael Ward, who visited recently to check out new jewellery collections for the UK-based luxury department store. Unlike Chinese, Russian and Brazilian consumers, Indians don't shop at Harrods for fashions and jewellery, he said, and India's high rents and obstacles to ownership make the market less attractive. LiveMint.com/The Wall Street Journal (India)
(26 Mar.)
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| Spotlight on Grocery | | |
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- Companies pledge to reduce calories in UK to battle obesity
Seventeen companies, including Nestle, ASDA, Tesco, Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart Stores, pledged to cut calories in their products as part of a UK anti-obesity initiative. "This pledge is just the start of what must be a bigger, broader commitment from the food industry," said Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. "Eating and drinking too many calories is at the heart of the nation's obesity problem." Bloomberg
(24 Mar.)
- Grocers find good things come in smaller boxes
Global retailers including Tesco, Carrefour and Wal-Mart are steadily reversing course from big-box mega-stores to smaller stores that fit in urban areas. Consumers are increasingly shopping for staples online and filling in the gaps with smaller trips closer to home, according to the Institute of Grocery Distribution. Bloomberg Businessweek
(26 Mar.)
| NRF News | | |
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- Best strategies for making your "invisible" Web content accessible
With 150,000 URLs added to the Internet each day, Web content is growing at a rate almost impossible to keep up with. So how can retailers siphon their communications to consumers through the increasing clutter of information? In a new white paper in the Shop.org library, BloomReach identifies ways online retailers can package their messages so that they are easy to find for the consumers who seek it. Download the white paper.
| SmartQuote | | |
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 | To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so."
--Sir Walter Scott,
Scottish writer
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