Breakfast briefing: Retail news on Mountain Warehouse, Burberry and more

Mountain Warehouse to ramp up US expansion ahead of IPO

Outdoor gear specialist Mountain Warehouse is planning to double its US business ahead of a stock market listing.

The retailer is quietly opening stores across Canada and North America to boost its global market share.

The firm’s founder, Mark Neale, said he believes the retailer can grow to 300 stores in the UK, and he plans to add 30 more shops in North America and Germany in the next couple of years.

Neale said: “We wanted to do it a bit below the radar because we didn’t want to join the graveyard of British companies that go over there only to come running back.”

“I think overseas sales will soon account for half of the business,” he added.

Burberry accused of using ‘misleading price tags’ to trick US shoppers

A class-action lawsuit has been launched in the US against Burberry, accusing the luxury fashion label of misleading customers by intentionally presenting false price information on products that have never been sold in its retail stores.

The claim alleges that the brand deceived shoppers into believing they were getting better bargain deals than they actually were.

Footfall in January up 1.2%

High street footfall surged 1.2% year on year last month, rising for the first time since last March.

This is best performance recorded since January 2014, excluding Easter distortions.

Shopping centres continued their strong growth, with footfall in retail parks remaining broadly flat in January, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard.

Springboard marketing and insights director Diane Wehrle said the data showed "that bricks-and-mortar shopping environments are still important to consumers".

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: "The improvement in shopper footfall witnessed in January provided a timely and welcome fillip to retailers at the start of the year."

Iceland bags ‘top online store’ title in Which? survey

Frozen food retailer Iceland has beaten its rivals Ocado and Waitrose to be named as the best for online grocery shopping.

In the annual customer satisfaction survey by consumer organisation Which?, the supermarket scored better than the two upmarket delivery services on ‘substitutions’.

Iceland secured an overall score of 77% and overtook the two retailers in terms of ‘offers’ and ‘value for money’.

Asda was ranked as having the worst online service, with customers scoring it 65%.

The Co-operative Food featured at the bottom of the list for the third consecutive year, while Tesco was ranked second from last.