Online retailing remains a bright spot as new figures reveal that more than one in 10 shops are vacant, according to a retail recruiter.

However, switching from traditional brick and mortar retailers to the online sector can be difficult for candidates.

Despite figures from the British Retail Consortium revealing that 11.2% of shops are vacant, Mohammed Mirza (left), managing director and founder of Luxury Recruit, told Recruiter: “Online retailing is booming.

“Online has been booming for the past five years, and it will continue to do so, as more and more people go online looking for deals.”

Mirza adds it is very difficult for those who lose their “traditional” retail jobs to find work in online retail.

Referring to marketing, he says: “It’s a completely different skillset. Online marketers tend to be more technical, and the jobs tend to be more about numbers and return on investment.”

Grant Morris, managing director of Elite Associates, adds: “Brands and retailers with a true identity and an understanding of who they are and who they are selling to are trading reasonably well. Those that have lost that identity are going out of business and will continue to do so. Hence more empty spaces on the high street.

“Areas like London, central and suburbs, such as Brent Cross, Blue Water etc, and value adds, such as Biscester seem to be trading well, which is reflected in the job market. This, combined with new projects such as Westfield Stratford, Box Park in Shoreditch, as well as brands new to the UK, such as Forever 21 among others means that the retail recruitment market remains relatively strong.”