According to a press article published in the French economic magazine “Le Moci” dated 27 May 2010, payment delays have decreased in the retail distribution these last months.
Globally, in Europe, average payment delays registered in the retail trade are around 15 days. But notable differences can be observed. The average payment delays in Germany are 7.3 days, 10.8 days in France and it rises to 23 days in Portugal, 22.4 days in the UK and 19.8 days in Italy.

According to an article published on Retail Week, on October 27, 2009, one in 10 retailers closed their doors between January and September this year according to research released today by the Local Data Company.

From a survey of 251,462 firms across more than 705 centres in the UK, 25,090 had closed their doors.

The worst hit sector was the multi-brand sites, with some 21.6% of department stores, mail order and shopping centres closing in the nine months to September 30.

Fashion and footwear was one of the worst casualties of the recession with some 17.9% of stores in the womenswear and kidswear sectors and 12.4% of menswear stores shutting their doors in the first nine months of this year. Footwear also fared badly with 14.9% of stores closing.

Some of the most resilient sectors include chemists, toiletries and opticians, which had a 6.8% closure rate; and food retail, including grocers and supermarkets, which saw 8.3% of stores going out of business.