Deputies criticise Post’s RockShopper online initiative

The site was launched at about the same time as the company’s MyUKAddress service, which gives local residents the chance to have items that would not normally be shipped to Guernsey delivered to a Portsmouth hub and then brought to the island – a service which Deputy Peter Roffey said had attracted many thousands of registrations.

Deputy David De Lisle said he was worried about the impact that RockShopper was having on local retail.

Of the 409 retailers listed, 98% were UK stores, he said, after declaring his family’s interests in local retail. He said RockShopper undermined efforts locally to promote Guernsey’s own retail industry and called on Deputy Roffey and the States’ Trading Supervisory Board to intervene and take the site down.

Simon Vermeulen, retail lead at Economic Development, said concerns had been raised that the company was possibly acting outside of its powers in encouraging islanders to shop off-island and potentially threatening local jobs.

‘We don’t need shoppers to be encouraged not to support the local shops that are provided in the High Street,’ he said.

But local retailers would never be able to support the wide choice of products available online, said Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller.

‘This is what moving into the modern world looks like,’ she said.

‘This is a kick-in-the-bottom moment for our retail sector to move with the times.’

She supported Guernsey Post’s initiative in providing the service and said it was an opportunity for island retailers to innovate and come up with unique selling points.

Some local retailers were already doing a ‘pretty good job’ of providing an alternative to online, said Deputy Aidan Matthews, who was backed by Deputy Vermeulen.

His own experience with one local shop showed that items could be bought cheaper in the island and had the added benefit of local support if something went wrong.

Trying to stop people buying online would be an anti-competitive move that would not help the local retail industry, he said.

It seemed as if nine out of 10 of the stores listed on the site did not take VAT off at source, said Deputy Chris Le Tissier, who thought that savvy shoppers would not want to pay the tax and would prefer to shop locally. He wondered how much ‘damage’ the service was really doing and how much it was used.

Deputy Roffey, president of STSB, said that every local business could be included on Rock Shopper if it wished, and Guernsey Post would like to see far more doing so.

‘But the idea that if that facility didn’t exist then local people would not be buying so much online is just pure denial of the modern world,’ he said.