E-commerce will kill the high street - report
Unless traditional retailers adapt quickly, the high street will be replaced by its ever powerful virtual adversary a new report warns Friday.
20:20 Visions of the Future -- the latest research from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)-- predicts that in twenty years time the majority of shopping will be done online. The prediction, announced last week, came just after Tesco announced its plans to triple the number of stores that offer home shopping.
"People are already turning to e-commerce," an RICS spokesman said. "In the near future, an awful lot of routine household goods will be bought on the Internet. Some of the conventional high street chains, like Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's, are already in trouble. The high street needs to change radically," he said.
RICS researchers predict that in twenty years time people will use the high street for leisure purposes rather than day to day purchases. "If it isn't going to die, it needs to become more like a theme park," the spokesman said.
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