Results of the last poll and the introduction of a new one

Well, it seems that overall, the independent sector had an "OK" Christmas with the majority of people in our poll reporting a similar period to last year.

While it's good to hear that some of you are doing well, and others are managing to keep their heads above water, there are even more who are really struggling to survive. And, with reports of sales dropping at their fastest since last summer it looks like this year might be just as difficult as last year.

Trying to find ways of increasing sales and reducing costs are bound to be on many peoples minds and the Internet is often banded about as a sure fire solution. After all, we in the UK have been reported as the biggest online spenders accounting for almost a third of all of European sales according to a BBC report out today.

But, as we've discussed on this blog before, while sales may be up it doesn't necessarily include sales from independent fashion retailers. The experience and service may not transfer into a online environment and the reports don't explain which sectors appear to benefiting most from the huge amount of sales. So, we thought we'd ask you.

In our new poll we want to find out how important online trading is to you. Are you an online retailer who relies on Internet sales, do you have a both a physical store and an online trading site or do you not bother with the Internet at all? We want to know how important the Internet is to your business so please complete the poll on the right by the end of February.

As ever we'll be sharing our results with you so the more of you who take part the more useful the information will be!

Thanks for your time.