From the shops you can look out at the other shops above the cars across the way. It is the sixth outlet we have designed in the UK and it has the greatest flexibility both for us and our tenants. I think we're going to end up with something which is not only beautiful and exciting but also very efficient. If you're not sure what that means then you're not alone. But even if you are familiar with the current buzzword for buying and selling goods and services over the Internet, you might still be a tad confused to why you should invest in something you don't fully understand.
Speculation is one thing, however, facts are another.
An estimated 29 per cent of British adults are currently online and a further 14 per cent had planned to become that way by the end of 1999. This will mean that almost half of the population will have Internet access at the turn of the millennium. This is a staggering prediction and this growth is not just isolated to the UK - in Europe there are 35 million Internet users and by 2002 it is estimated between 80 and 100 million Europeans will be online. France and Germany have already tripled their online populations last year. Growth of this magnitude cannot be ignored and businesses that have not previously realised the value of this wave of opportunity are now investing in their future by setting up websites to market their products to this new audience.