Get behind Sunday trading!

Monday 16 June 2014

Jersey shops have been told to embrace the opportunities presented by both the internet, and opening on a Sunday. The island's Minister for Economic Development, Senator Alan Maclean, made the comments at the 2014 Awards for Enterprise at Fort Regent.

Senator Maclean will shortly bring proposals to the States to allow all shops to open on a sunday, for a trial period of eighteen months. If agreed, Shops with permits will be able to open for up to six hours between 10 am and 6 pm.

He used his introductory remarks at Friday night's event to issue a rallying call to retailers, telling them to get behind the new opening hours, and to embrace new online trading opportunities. He said that his department was coming forward with really radical plans for reform of the sector, which continues to return tough official trading figures.

Sales fell again in the most recent figures, with a 1% drop in the last 12 months. The fall is the tenth in the last 11 quarters, according to the Retail Sales Index.

But the same figures have also thrown up a conflicting message – they say that the value of sales has increased by 2%, the biggest 12-month increase recorded since the middle of 2011. They also say that food sales were up slightly higher than non-food sales over the last 12 months.

The figures – compiled by the States statistics unit – follow an online survey earlier this month that said that Jersey households are spending an average of £7,000 a year online, and that total online spending by Islanders per year is around £258 million.

Technology company C5 Alliance collected this year’s top accolade at the Awards ceremony. The company received the Award for Enterprise Excellence, sponsored by JT, and was also named Large Enterprise of the Year. In addition, the company’s Chief Executive Mark Loane was named 2014 Entrepreneur of the Year.