At yesterday’s monthly Chamber lunch, president Eliot Lincoln called for the government to update its retail strategy, make ‘off-Island’ online retailers pay full GST on all their products and allow Jersey shops to open on Sundays.
Mr Lincoln said that the government had only made things more difficult for the local retail sector over the past ten years after it had already suffered a number of setbacks.
‘[During the last decade] we have seen a massive amount of change, a significant increase in online shopping, some key brands folding or significantly curtailing their operations,’ he said.
‘What did we do? We decided to implement a retail tax that is higher than that in the UK and gave off-Island online retailers a five per cent boost in the shape of a de-minimus exemption from GST, something which we do not get reciprocation for when our goods head northwards.
‘It’s a one-way street that impacts our high street.’
Under the current rules, GST is only paid on goods worth more than £240 that are sold into the Island by online retailers.
During his speech Mr Lincoln said that renewing the retail strategy should be one of the government’s biggest priorities and criticised the Economic Development Department for their apparent lack of action on the matter.
‘What happened to the retail strategy? It cannot have escaped anyone’s notice that retail is struggling,’ he said.
‘We are witnessing a trend that is playing out in high streets up and down the UK. We have more empty shops now than we have had in well over a decade.’
He added: ‘That is not helped by the absence of a fit-for-purpose retail strategy. The retail strategy was originally released in 2006 and updated in 2010 – and we have not had any sort of review published since that time – almost nine years.
‘In 2014 a Scrutiny review concluded that retail needed more support and recommended the strategy be updated. The Economic Development Department committed to doing this in 2015 – every one of us in this room has a very different outlook on retail than we did nine years ago, yet this most important of publications seems to have floundered.’
Mr Lincoln said that retailers were also suffering difficulties recruiting the staff that they need and ‘increased operational burden’ due to the ‘well-intended’ discrimination and family-friendly legislation, which has been introduced in recent years.
‘Add to that heady cocktail, rental costs significantly higher than the most salubrious sections of most UK high streets and it’s no wonder retail is a real concern,’ he added.
‘Our high-street challenges are complex and some argue that commercial pressures will end up resolving them. But I, for one, do not want to stand by while our high streets and suburban retail spaces become wastelands.’
