During
this session Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that more than €200 million was
spent on online shopping last year highlighting the need for Maltese businesses
to become more consumer-centric.
He said
that although the country's finances were on the right track and employment was
on the increase, retail trade was down. This was because, as statistics for
2013 on online trade showed, people were buying their goods online.
"This
trade is underestimated in national statistics. It is an illusion to introduce
some form of tax on this apart from being illegal. But this shows how the time
of middlemen is over. Nowadays people are doing things themselves. Local
businesses have to go for a customer-centred approach, offering a better
after-sales service," he said.
Philip
Fenech on this regard was pleased that Dr Muscat sympathised with the problem
caused by online trading. He also expressed that the problem with the retail
trade is that these business owners are engulfed within their business which
has caused them not to observe the big shift to e-commerce. It is essential
that discussions at a national level are organised to assist this sector to
reposition the way business is executed.
Mr
Fenech also mentioned that before the MEP election, GRTU appealed to the MEP
candidates that it is important that MEPs get in contact with the organisation
to discuss issues that are affecting SMEs. Since then Mr Fenech was pleased to
announce that MEPs from both sides of the political parties have met with GRTU.
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