Now at last a benchmarking exercise has been completed and it will be possible to get a handle on how well your shop is doing compared with the average.

The average women's wear store turns over £8,388 a week or £436,176 a year according to the research carried out by Drapers.

The survey showed stores are, on average, 2,239sq ft in size, which equates to a sales per square foot performance of £5.37 per week.

Half of those surveyed said they were trading down on last year, while 25% were up and 25% were in line with 2007.

The average transaction was £225 and the average number of transactions a week hovered around the 60 mark.

The average store stocks 19.35 brands and introduces 2.23 new brands per season.

To read the results of the survey in full, check out this week's issue of Drapers magazine.