The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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Last-minute rush predicted

19.12.07 Graeme Neill and John Ryan

Retail analysts are expecting a last-minute shopping surge on the high street, despite fears about a wider economic slowdown.

Bryan Roberts, analyst at Planet Retail, said: "It's a bit of a double-edged sword for booksellers at the moment. There are quite a lot of strong titles out there, but the downside is that some of the general retailers and supermarkets are hammering away with discounts." He noted that many of the season's bestselling titles were currently retailing at half price and added: "For the independents, it's getting to be a worse and worse place to be.".

Nick Bubb at Pali International described the wider retail market as "very tough" but said book retailers had been one of the better performers, with Christmas sales starting earlier than expected. "Last month's offers saw a lot of business brought forward and there's still a lot of business that can be done," he said. "People underestimate just what business can be made during the last few days of trading. A last-minute spree is bound to happen."

Richard Dodd from the British Retail Consortium said that Christmas has arrived "very late" this year: "It kicked in properly on Saturday. It's becoming later and later each year as we're increasingly becoming a last-minute culture." Dodd expects like-for-like retail sales to increase by about 3% this year compared to 2006.

Retail Independents Christmas Graeme Neill and John Ryan