Anyone buying a business in retail ‘should pay attention to online’

Posted 05/09/2010

People who are buying a business in the retail sector should make sure they have a good online presence.

This is according to Professor Joshua Bamfield, director at the Centre for Retail Research, who said that being able to sell products directly to consumers on the internet is now a major part of business, even though it may not be very profitable at the moment.

“It’s one of those games where you’ve got to keep on spending. Every time you get success then you have to just reinvest the money and grow the business,” he commented.

The expert pointed out that it is all about building up a market share and a presence that people will recognise and continue to use.

According to the most recent IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, shoppers spent £5 billion on the internet in July 2010, the most in any month so far this year.

This was the biggest annual growth since before the recession began in 2007.