Why Build More Shops If Web Is the Way Ahead? ; City Comment

Evening Standard - London › November 08, 2006

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Summary

THE retail sales figures out this week were better than expected - up 2.6% in October on a like-for-like basis - reflecting the fact that, after a slight wobble in the summer, confidence has improved. People are still in jobs, house prices are moving up and all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds - at least until tomorrow.

That is not when the credit-card bills drop on the doormat but it is when the Bank of England's monetary policy committee will pronounce on interest rates. There was always a probability that it would raise rates to 5% tomorrow, given the recent rise in the underlying measures of inflation. The resilience of the economy and consumer spending that these latest retail figures imply makes such an increase a near-certainty.

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Why Build More Shops If Web Is the Way Ahead? ; City Comment

There is, however, another retail story that in many ways is much more interesting. A survey published this week by the British Council of Shopping Centres produced further evidence of the rapid growth of internet shopping, and predicted a ...

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