High Street chains face the internet domain

On January 15, music giant HMV announced it was putting himself into administration after 91 years in the disc selling business.

The multinational retailing company joined a parade of High Street casualties, including Jessops, a chain of camera shops, and Blockbuster, which rents DVDs and computer games.

It has all happened in just over a week.

Shortly before Christmas even electrical retail chain Comet closed its 236 stores all over the UK after nearly 80 years in the business.

Is this the death of the High Street?

Probably not yet, however the reality strikes after Christmas and the competition from cut-price internet sites, along with high business rates, does not help the world of  mainstream electronics retailers.

The British Retail consortium has urged the Government to freeze the rise of 2.6% in business rates schedule for April, which it calculates would add £175 million to retailer’s costs.  Business rates are now higher than rents in some areas, and retails will struggle more and more if the Government does not act to curb this inexorable rise.

According to the Office for National statistics, the disastrous month means the retail industry has seen its worst year-on-year growth (0.3 per cent) since 1998.

Despite recessions and the devastating collapses of several UK retail chains, department stores grew sales 0.4 per cent, while online sales were up 1.6 per cent and grew to 10.6 per cent of all retail sales over the month. Music and video have moved online fastest for obvious reasons, followed by books and electrical goods.

Will the online shopping take over the world of retail at some point? We cannot answer right now.

However, retailers all over the UK know that they will face another challenging year.