The creativity shown by retailer Argos’s move into online music and sales, and HMV’s entry into the live music market, will boost jobs in the sector, according to recruiters.

Peter Burgess, director at Retail HR, told Recruiter that such innovation was how British retailers would emerge from this recession.

“Both those retailers are highly innovative in normal times.  In a downturn like this it makes companies become more creative and in the process, creates more jobs.”

Steve Walters, managing director at Faces Bespoke Retail Recruitment Consultancy, adds: “Because the margins in the record industry are quite small, a lot of the record associated businesses are moving hard into retail. You will find a lot more of that in the next year. It is going to be much more of a trend because of the margins. There will be good opportunities in the music industry for recruitment.”