(IDEX Online) - US consumers are staying home, as experts warn the coronavirus could lead to a "retail apocalypse".
Malls are braced for a sharp decline in footfall, with 58 per cent of consumers saying they're likely to avoid public areas such as shopping centers and entertainment venues if the outbreak worsens, according to the research and advisory firm Coresight Research.
Its survey of almost 2,000 adults was taken before California announced last Thursday that it was monitoring 8,400 passengers who arrived on commercial flight for the virus.
Coresight quotes Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases as saying: "Forgive me for going biblical on you, but since we've long talked about the 'retail apocalypse' we may as well go all the way to the potential for a retail Armageddon if our public health officials enact such aggressive, proactive measures to halt the spread of the disease."