[/floatl]Bloomberg: Russian Retailers Say They'll Ban Panasonic Goods
Six Russian consumer-electronics chains say they plan to stop selling products made by Panasonic, a unit of Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., because they don't want to have to buy its goods through middlemen. Eldorado, M.Video, Mir, Technosila and mobile-phone sellers Svyaznoi and OOO Evroset, retailers whose revenue accounts for about 60 percent of Russian electronics sales, joined forces to fight for a "legal and transparent" market, Alexander Zayonts, vice-president of M.Video, said at a Moscow press conference. "We've decided to fully reject purchases of Panasonic," Zayonts said. The chains are demanding Panasonic sell directly to retailers, bypassing intermediaries that they say increase prices and hurt margins...more...
