How far will the over-60's take on board new technologies and attitudes. Yet it is the falling demographic sectors who shop most greenly - the young. Time and effort is going into targeting niche markets. Markets are being analysed not only in terms of class or area but according to minute differentiations in tastes, lifestyles and attitudes. One response has been a move downmarket into deep discount supermarkets.
Some experts predict a growth of teleshopping helped by the spread in cable networks.
One spin-off of teleshopping, incidentally, will be a rise in specifically targeted advertising via such networks. Internationalisation Retailing will become more international. In the UK the pioneers in deep discounting were continentals such as Aldi and Netto. Recently, the Japanese have been buying big stores such as Simpson and Aquascutum. In general, however, the British consumer may stay different from his neighbours on the continent.