Sainsbury’s has bucked the economic trend away from spending on new technology.

Investment in technology in the retail industry is set to be stagnant in the UK for the foreseeable future, as most high street stores and supermarket chains brace themselves for another economic downturn.

The austerity budget and impending VAT rise has seen widespread speculation that the industry could be confronted with a period of loss, leading to financial outlays for development of existing technology to be capped as most leading companies say that they have no IT overhauls planned. In some cases, computer systems are up to 20 years as old but are kept on as long as they do the job.

According to a report published last week by Martec International, a leading retail sector consultancy specialist, Tesco is the retailer that seems most content with its incumbent IT system. Their latest upgrade was in 2007 while the yearly spend on IT investment is £200 million. Rival Sainsbury’s spends around £220m per year on IT according to the Martec study, which also reported that UK’s leading supermarket chain is planning on updating its store, e-commerce and supply chain systems next year. The in-house system used by staff, installed first in 1995, will be upgraded the following year.

While Frances Riseley, practice manager at Martec, said that many retailers were hesitant to reveal their IT plans for fear of rivals being alerted to their developments, his group’s survey did establish that 19 per cent of the 142 British retailers polled said the reason for not revealing any details was that they were either being finalised or had not been considered.

Several of the leading British fashion retailers are launching inquiries into allegations of substandard working conditions in India.

The move comes at a time when the same high street stores, including Marks and Spencer, are embroiled in a wage dispute crisis in Bangladesh that has seen garment workers stage violent protests.

Marks and Spencer has been joined by other well-known stores Next and Gap in launching investigations into their Indian suppliers, after allegations have emerged that young children have been left unattended as parents work in factories on the outskirts of the capital Delhi. According to a report by the London Observer, the fashion houses are responding to claims that these factories have been using middlemen to hire workers for just 25p per hour for Next and Gap, and 26p per hour at for Marks and Spencer. Some workers have also alleged that they have been paid under half of the legal overtime rate.

The trio of retailers have each pledged to end the practice of reportedly excessive overtime which Indian labour laws states is a clear breach of the ethical trading initiative (ETI). The three have apparently advised the Observer that abuses in their supply chains would not be tolerated and that they are 100 per cent committed to ethical trading.

While Marks and Spencer has stated it has not as yet been presented with the appropriate evidence to support the allegations, Gap has advised that it had discovered irregularities with wage violations and ordered its supplier to pay the appropriate compensation to those affected immediately.

The great summer sales have arrived, so get ready to spend at Britain’s leading high street retailers. Prices have come tumbling down as the sale signs have gone up, meaning now is the ideal time to grab that chic summer wardrobe item or get in on old stock before the cold arrives.

In even better news for shoppers, official figures have shown that the price of clothing fell by a record margin in the month of June, with retailers wielding the axe earlier than expected. This has analysts worried that the coming months could result in a raft of profit warnings, as Britain’s leading retail chains look to sacrifice immediate profit for the sake of sales. While this may be bad news for business, it is nonetheless great news for consumers.

Chancellor George Osborne’s so-called ‘austerity’ Budget has not yet hit shoppers where it matters most – in their pockets, as retailers steady themselves for an excepted economic downturn as consumer spending will be reduced in the months ahead. The result is that right now is the best time to find the best bargains, with fashion stores offering a huge range of incentives and promotions to tempt the last remaining pennies from the public.

Debenhams, Next and Marks & Spencer are all featuring great deals on fashion-wear at the moment, with customers being openly wooed to spend and save. These stores are just some of the group which saw price-slashing of around 3.4 per cent last month, with women’s wear leading the way in cost reductions.

Katie Price, Cheryl Cole, and Lindsay Lohan are off the tanning chart, literally. The trio of stunners has been named as just some of the many celebrities who have used fake tanning services, with the results occasionally being a disaster.

The new Debenhams ‘Tan Tone Colour chart’, which looks remarkably like a painting colour guide, has been put together to help those addicted to getting some colour avoid ending up either florescent of overly coloured, which the likes of Cole, Price and Lohan can all admit to. Other notable celebrity tanners include Alex Reid, Dale Winton and wrestler Hulk Hogan.

The Beauty Halls of the leading high street retailer have recently been revamped to match the change of season, and welcome a new round of tanners while providing them with the best solutions to they’re pale pores. Now customers can identify where they place on the tanning chart, which ranges from ‘pale and interesting’ up to ‘radioactive orange’, with Alex Reid’s latest effort a good example of the latter, while Nicola Roberts has been suggested as typifying the former.

Director of Beauty at Debenhams, Sara Stern, claimed this summer was all about looking bronzed, but that research by her team had found that a high 70 per cent of DIY tanners get it wrong. Unsurprisingly, says Stern, the three major sins committed were using too much product, choosing the wrong tone for their skin and applying to frequently.

The lead up to the so far blessedly pleasant British summer saw Debenhams fake tan sales soar by around 64 per cent, as people rushed to give themselves a base tan to go on holiday with, in keeping with the historical irony of the trend for using tanning products when the sun comes out.

The most popular brands of fake tanning products are Clarins, Lancaster Sun, St Tropez, Fake Bake, Xen Tan and Famous Dave’s. Stern also said that they had started stocking tan remover from St Tropez, making the analogy with a paint shop even more poignant.

High street shops have again suffered a slump in sales.

For the second consecutive month, retailers such as Marks & Spencer, H&M, Gap, Thomas Cook, Tesco and Sainsbury’s combined to record an additional downturn.

To compound matters, economists have warned Chancellor George Osborne’s tough budget will result in further cuts to consumer spending.

In the latest monthly retail survey from market analyst CBI, figures fell by five per cent in June, well short analyst’s forecasts of positive 5 per cent growth. June spending continued the trend seen in May, where a surprisingly weak rate of -18% per cent was experienced. CBI did suggest that the World Cup would offer retailers a limited respite, as will the predicted spending rush on before the VAT hike in January, but that overall the retail growth outlook remains tepid.

The survey, polled respondents from May 29 to June 10, the beginning of the World Cup, revealed that the largest spending downturn in June was in leather goods and footwear, with hardware and DIY supplies also suffering. The areas that did show increased spending were around the football tournament in South Africa, with food, drinks and television sales all up.

Despite the poor results and gloomy forecast, retailers remain optimistic that a rebound will be seen in July, and many are relying on higher consumer spending in the second half of the year before the VAT is raised from 17.5 per cent up to 20 per cent in January. The British Retail Consortium, however, has warned that the rise will cause job losses and a rise in inflation.