Introduction

When I had the idea of writing this book I felt that I had the experience necessary to take a view of shopping from a real estate professional’s standpoint. As a qualified valuer and surveyor, and with more than thirty years’ experience of developing, promoting and managing shopping centres and individual shops in Britain and several Continental European Countries, as well as long experience of shopping centres in the United States of America, I would be able to draw on a great deal of knowledge. My experience and technical knowledge of computers, software, and specifically the new rapid advances in technology including the Internet, was restricted to my personal use of my computer. Much more was needed. As a result, I asked my son, Steven Markham, if he would assist me. Steven has spent his entire adult education and working life in gaining an invaluable knowledge of software and computers. In addition, he formed a specialist software retail company which operated several central London branches and has also been the Retail Director of a young, expanding and very successful fashion group. He has been able to offer a unique contribution to the technical research with the benefit of a retail perspective. As such, much of the opinion which I have obtained is based on a broader base than my own experience and assumptions.