AUGUST TRADE NEWS Bad weather blamed for shopping centre delay Chester council  not supporting retailers New rules 'won't help save retail centre' Irish shoppers look abroad for bargains British consumers spend more on beauty products Yorkshire town gets behind plastic bag reduction scheme Rising obesity prompts calls for VAT rule changes eBay restructures fee scheme to make fixed-priced sales cheaper Online sales boom despite slowdown Music retailer goes out of business Matalan named and shamed for how it treats wholesalers BCC slams higher parking charges proposals Booming wholesaler moves to new warehouse Market traders told to only 'shout quietly' London's retailers show growth despite gloom Counterfeit goods dealer sentenced to prison UK's smallest town protests supermarket plan More retailers and wholesalers going out of business Online retail sector predicted to expand rapidly Henley retailers protest development plans Retail sales continue to slow Tiffany appeals US court's eBay ruling Report criticises electricity suppliers' treatment of small businesses MK retailers protest Tesco expansion plan Yorkshire retailers protest supermarket move Manchester wholesaler shut down over fraud worries Businesses welcome plans to reduce red tape Rate hold accepted by small businesses Internet sales put pressure on the high street Huge counterfeit goods haul in Somerset Irish entrepreneur online retail plans Wholesaler sector set to struggle Staycations could help British retailers Retailers 'gloomy' about economic outlook Retailers report footfall continues to decline as consumers cut back Hidden door reveals huge counterfeiting operation in Manchester shop No recession for the UK this year East London wholesaler goes into receivership London mayor reveals plans to support small retailers Toy retailers defy gloom Retailers urged to embrace online sales Trade News Archive August 08 July 08 June 08 May 08 April 08 March 08 February 08 January 08 Subscribe to our newsletter   Go to The Wholesaler UK Directory 1st August 2008 Retailers urged to embrace online sales to beat the squeeze Independent retailers should consider using the internet more if they hope to weather the current economic slowdown, one industry expert has said. Amid a series of gloomy reports about the state of the UK retail sector, a spokesperson from credit checking agency Equifax said that small retailers could improve their chances of surviving by embrace eCommerce. Neil Munroe, the external affairs director at the firm, explained that online sales were particularly effective for independent retailers as this style of operation enjoyed "very low margins" and was "cost effective". Recently, Graham Charlton, a researcher for e-consultancy, suggested that it was important that small retailers thinking about moving into the online market place made their website as easy to use as possible. "People want to be able to visit the site, navigate around it easily to find what they want as quickly as possible, and then to check out," he explained. "Things that take too long can put people off, so in terms of payment, having a long check out form … can put people off. Keep it relatively simple."   (c) 2008 Adfero Ltd. Sponsor of August Trade News Tilting TV Brackets   Comment on this news story To comment on any story please click on the above link, put the story title in the subject line and please provide your name, trading style ie. retailer or wholesaler and the town where you trade.