Second shopping city of the UK

Manchester is second only to London in the UK when it comes to targets for international retailers, according to research by CBRE.

Manchester ranked 33 in a list of the 200 cities most targeted by retailers in the 2012 edition of How Global is the Business of Retail?

Liverpool was fourth in the UK and equal 56th in the global list. Birmingham was ranked at 47 globally and Leeds at 71.

UK retained the number one position as the most penetrated global country, with 56.7% of retailers in the survey present. London reclaimed its outright number one position after sharing the top spot with Dubai last year, attracting 55.6% of all international retail brands surveyed.

CBRE's annual survey mapped the global footprint of 326 of the world's top retailers across more than 200 cities to identify trends in global retail expansion at national and local levels. The report found that retailers expanded into a wide range of markets in 2011, with 74% of the countries in the survey seeing at least one new retailer enter the market last year.

Graham Barr, director of retail at CBRE, said: "It is encouraging that Manchester is rated so highly within the report, although not hugely surprising. The city is a popular retail destination, with a wealth of high quality premises available to attract leading retailers, and the transport infrastructure investments currently underway will further increase footfall into the city."

He continued: "Retailers are choosing countries like the UK that are considered safe havens, having de-risked their operations in response to the challenging economic climate. Generally, retailers do look to London as a first port of call, extending their remit into the regions once their London operations are firmly established. Major regional shopping centres such as the Trafford Centre, Meadowhall and Bluewater have performed particularly well."

The top UK cities in order were, out of 200 global cities:

• London 1
• Manchester 33=
• Birmingham 47=
• Liverpool 56=
• Glasgow 60
• Leeds 71=
• Bristol 90=
• Edinburgh 90=
• Belfast 103=
• Southampton 109=
• Jersey 167=

The top retail cities in the world, according to CBRE, are

1. London
2. Dubai
3. New York
4. Moscow
5. Paris
6. Hong Kong
7. Madrid
8. Kuwait City
9. Barcelona
10. Singapore

When looking at the most targeted countries by global retailers, the UK holds onto first position in the rankings closely followed by the United Arab Emirates (53.1%) and the United States (50.3%). Spain is in fourth position (47.5%) closely followed by China (47.2%), with France and Germany (46.9%) joint sixth in the rankings. Russia (44.5%), Italy (43%) and Saudi Arabia (41.1%) make up the remainder of the top 10.