We've closed our shop doors for what will probably be the final time. I can’t rule out another popup shop like the one we have been running in Winchester for the last couple of months but being back on the frontline has reminded me of all the many problems retailers face at the moment.

Our Christmas trading started well but tailed off disappointingly as the big day approached. The possible reasons will be familiar to all retailers in towns. For starters, a lot of people simply don’t like shopping- it’s frantic, crowded and difficult to park. In addition to these universal issues, Winchester High Street was almost at a standstill as shoppers tried to work their way round the street market stalls. Headlines about congestion at the Cathedral Christmas Market can’t have helped, even though this was a shortlived phenomenon only affecting the first few days.

A big problem is that most of the shopping in Winchester is outdoors. It’s understandable when the weather turns bad that many shoppers headed to out-of-town centres or at least covered shopping centres. And boy did it turn bad. More business, I imagine, for WestQuay. Certainly the wind and the rain kept shoppers away from Winchester.

Unfortunately the storms turned into a perfect storm because of another phenomenon of the last few years- leaving Christmas shopping until the last minute. Many shops, worried about being left with too much stock, panic and start discounting. This is not to mention the shops that offer three-for-two where the discount is built into the prices.

Debenhams sowed the seeds of their own seasonal destruction by having what seemed like a constant sale. So people delayed even more before purchasing, waiting for an even better discount. Discounting because sales are bad creates a vicious circle that will help kill retail. Debenhams now have a Chief Finance Officer available at a bargain price.

When shoppers could delay no longer and the time to buy arrived so did the stormy weather. I know we weren’t the only ones short of our target in the last week before Christmas.

There used to be no alternative but now there’s online shopping. In the early days of the internet, people were wary of sending their money into the ether, now it’s normal. Delivery times have also speeded up so that shoppers are increasingly confident about buying right up to the last few days. The online side of our business was receiving orders right up to the Monday 23rd December which arrived in time for Christmas.

None of this augurs well for high street retailing as we’ve known it. John Lewis and Next showed how it can be done. Both refused to discount before Christmas and both offered an excellent click and collect service. Very few retailers are in a position to emulate John Lewis or Next but even if they could, I know from my years of experience in retailing that you still have to have brilliant buyers- people who know which products will sell at what price and what quantity will prove to be enough but not too much.

Any business involves risks and events beyond our control. For me, the stakes in running a shop are now simply too high. Despite the media hyping up the idea that there was more money around and therefore people would spend more, my impression is that the effects of the recession are still with us. I saw no sign of purse strings loosening. On the other hands, business rates and VAT continue to be higher than before the economic collapse.

There may be ways to stimulate consumer spending- my own solution would be to reduce VAT. The government could help high streets compete with online by lowering business rates to the levels paid by online retailers and making sure that online retailers pay tax on profits on sales in this country.

As things stand, I don’t think it will be a Happy New Year for retailers. However I hope yours is.