Booksellers with too many geographical outlets could find their businesses struggling as consumers increasingly look online to purchase titles.

Such is the suggestion of Mike Jervis, insolvency partner and retail specialist for PriceWaterhouse Coopers, who was responding to the finding that an average 14 retailers closed per day last year.

He said: “A common feature of retailers in distress who we are dealing with is that they have too many locations.

“Electricals and bookshops have suffered as these products are now increasingly bought online but retailers in this sector are typically carrying unnecessarily large property portfolios.”

According to a study by Local Data Company conducted on behalf of PwC, multiple retailers have for the first time shown a net decrease of 0.25 per cent from 2009, which saw a net increase of 1.2 per cent.

Bookshops were among the hardest hit in the decline of retailers in 2011, which saw the closure of 1,084 stores in Greater London alone, against the opening of 983 new outlets.

Meanwhile, today’s (February 20th) figures from the British Retail Consortium showed a 1.8 per cent increase in footfall for the three months from November to January.

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