The Squeeze

We went out on to the streets of Chatham to find out how people are coping with rising prices and this is what they had to say:

It seems that people are getting more canny about they way they spend their hard earned cash and are shopping around for the best deal.

According to Kent-based retail analyst, Teresa Wickham, many people are going to the cheaper supermarkets or doing their weekly food shop via the net. "Online shopping is going up partly because you know what you want to buy in terms of household basics and you stick to those brands and people are making less shopping trips out of town because of the price of petrol."

It has become highly competitive on the high street and we are now seeing bargains advertised in the papers everyday. Subsequently people are shopping around because they know they can.

This obviously affects the retailers and Teresa says that the industry is really struggling: "People are putting off buying the big items like the sofa and the fridge, although when there's a big sporting event people seem to be able to go and buy the flat screen but that's usually on credit and credit is much more difficult to get now. So all of these things: the price of petrol, credit, general uncertainty about things that you can't control, are having an impact on the retail side.

"What retailers are are trying to do is value and offers and look at it all very carefully - not employing more people, looking at their costs to see where can they drive costs out, although they are pretty lean machines anyway."