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Shops will have to keep on slashing prices
Rashid Razaq30 Dec 2008
RETAILERS will be forced to offer big discounts long into the new year as they fight to survive the economic downturn, experts warned today.
The bleak forecast was delivered as another high street chain went into administration.
Designer clothing company USC became the latest casualty of the decline in consumer spending, following childrenswear chain Adams, which confirmed it had called in administrators.
The huge crowds which gathered for Christmas sales made the high street look healthy but shoppers have spent cautiously, according to the British Retail Consortium.Spokesman Richard Dodd said: "It's good news that lots of shoppers are out there, and that the sales and promotions that retailers are using are creating valid interest. But it will still prove to be the case when the figures are in that as a whole it has been a poor December."
As shoppers continue to worry about worsening economic conditions, retailers will be forced to continue to slash prices, Mr Dodd said. "People are going to go on being worried about the housing market and about jobs and personal finances," he said.
"They will be reluctant to spend so retailers will have to go on reducing prices substantially."
Adams and USC joined a string of firms which have collapsed recently including Woolworths, MFI and Zavvi.
It was predicted today that Japanese manufacturers including Sony, Canon Europe and Sanyo Electric intend to raise the prices of their electronic goods in the new year.
Reader views (2)
Yeah maybe great for you but what about the retailers going bust, the thousands of people losing their jobs, the effect these redundancies have on the greater economy. Still at least your benefits will stretch further that’s if there is anybody left to pay them. Well done Gordon Brown
- Chris Smith, Rochester, 31/12/2008 09:42
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This is great news for us, especially for young couples,as is the 3 year low on petrol prices and the low cost of new and refurbished homes. Well done Gordon Brown
- Keith Price, Luton, England, 30/12/2008 15:22
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