On Wednesday, the dollar was mixed after poor United States retail sales report. In Tokyo, the dollar was little higher at 119.64 yen from about 119.44 yen in New York.

Wegmans has been declared the country's top rated grocery retailer in a consumer survey conducted by Consumer Reports.

Amazon Prime has been officially launched in Dallas with e-commerce giant Amazon.com offering one-hour delivery of products in many localities.

A source familiar with the matter has told Reuters that the Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital is in negotiations to buy Kraft Foods Group for about $40bn (£27bn).

Amazon, the largest Internet-based retailer in the United States, is launching a new store.

According to Wall Street Journal, Wet Seal, teen clothing chain had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday after closing 338 of its stores earlier this month.

On Wednesday, the National Retail Federation shared that despite weaker than expected results in December, holiday retail sales last year increased 4% compared with 2013.

Owing to a sluggish holiday season, shares of Tiffany & Co. fell 15%, the most in over a decade, making the company to reduce its annual forecast.