The End of High Street?

According to former Next chief executive David Jones, the End of High Street is inevitable.

He believes that online shopping will take over and shopping as we know it will drastically change.

Jones spoke to Drapers magazine and stated that:"I am convinced that shopping in the future will be in out-of-town sites or on the internet. The high street will disappear slowly."

He basis a large part of this theory on the sales he saw at Next. The company launched a transactional website, Next Directory, in 1999 and eight years later online sales account for more than 50% of its Directory sales.

According to Drapers magazine, for the year to January 2007, Next Directory generated sales of £775 million! Makes one think that Mr. Jones is on to something here. Could shops like Prada, Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana survive purely online?

I personally don't believe that they can, it's part of the fun to go into the shops themselves and try on all the clothes before buying.

However, last week, online shopping group IMRG predicts that etail turnover in the Christmas quarter would reach £15 billion, a 60% increase from 2006