With conventional methods drying up, retailers now need to look to brand differentiation and overseas expansion to boost revenues.

With internet sales over the 2006 Christmas period up more than 40 per cent on 2005, according to preliminary figures, it’s clear that the dreams of e-tailing we heard about in the early part of the century are coming true. Only it’s panned out a little differently than expected.

The combination of a credit crisis and continual falls in high-street spending is making debt financing an elusive beast.

Roll-outs have been the strategy of choice for most private equity houses: as a means of creating value, they are hard to beat.

There’s no doubt that the retail sector is in for a rough ride in 2008, but certain areas will be insulated from the rash of profit warnings and insolvencies.

If there was a big year for private equity in the retail sector, 2004 was it. A handful of private equity houses, primarily in the UK, had steadily been building their retail exposure – a sector that had been considered too risky and reliant on the whims of consumers.