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Experts believe the economic downturn could have an impact on the transport operations of companies in the retail sector.

John Perry, managing director at logistics consultancy Scala, believes firms may have to rethink or review their transport set-ups and come up with new strategies for the short and long term. He adds: "The grocery sector is holding up very well as food is clearly an essential for people, but there will be some  sectors where this will not be the case.

"Companies that distribute and sell white goods or furniture will suffer as people cut back on or put off the one-off spends. I think this will result in stores deciding to not use a couple of vehicles here, or deciding to cut back on warehousing."

Prue Watson, spokeswoman from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), expects the worsening economic conditions to force high street shops to re-examine how they run their fleets.

She says: "They are expecting less trade than this time last year, and subsequently, they have less demand for van and truck drivers.

"However, high street retailers that operate small fleets are also looking at other ways of cutting transport costs such as increasing fuel efficiency and improving vehicle maintenance - which leads to lower operating costs."

Mark O'Bornick, director at transport analyst Analytiqa , thinks stores will discount heavily to pull in shoppers, and this will put more pressure on margins as costs rise.

"Retailers, forced to look for savings wherever possible, will inevitably look to squeeze more costs from their supply chains," he adds.