Samsung to open 60 stores in UK

The logo of Samsung Electronics is displayed on a glass door at their headquarters in Seoul on November 6, 2013. Samsung Electronics promised better shareholder returns, dismissed fears over smartphone market saturation and signalled a more aggressive acq (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images)

Samsung has announced plans to open 60 of its own branded stores in Britain and six other European countries, in a bid to challenge Apple's successful retail store approach.

The South Korean firm, the world’s biggest smartphone maker, is teaming up with British retailer Carphone Warehouse, which will run the stores for Samsung across Europe.

They will sell “Samsung’s full range of mobiles, tablets, laptops and wearables” and have a “premium look” that combines “retail and technology innovations”.

Carphone’s own stores already gives tablets to shoppers as they browse in-store, with an app-style programme called “Pin Point” to help them choose products — a move that the British firm claims has boosted sales significantly. Samsung has a big retail store empire in Asia but has had virtually no stores of its own in Europe until now.

The plan, with perhaps ten stores in Britain, could be worth £10 million a year to Carphone. Some of its own 2000 shops could be converted into Samsung stores.