COMMENTS from some of the island’s retailers that they are looking to provide a quality service and aftercare package to try to counter the growth in online shopping is an acknowledgement of the pressures faced by this important sector.

Rents, rates, labour, freight and comparatively small turnovers all combine to put enormous cost pressures on shops and High Street premises invariably make it difficult to stock a big selection.

And those criteria – price and choice – are the two biggest reasons why many islanders elect to go online in preference to supporting local retailers.

A survey by Island Analysis earlier this year showed that, for locals, cost was 80% of the driver behind using Amazon or other internet provider and that choice was more than 50%.

Yet convenience was cited as under 30% of the reason, which suggests that people haven’t lost the physical shopping habit.

IA’s April study, consumer confidence and internet shopping, does not make the happiest reading for traditional retailers – and it ought to ring warning bells for consumers, too.

By comparing the three Crown Dependencies, it is easy to see how the vitality of each island’s main town directly affects online habits: the better the choice the less internet shopping there is.

Twelve months earlier, a retail study for the Commerce and Employment Department insisted on describing internet and catalogue shopping as ‘leakage’, when it was clearly mainstream for many islanders.

The wider point, however, is that the retail sector is hugely important for Guernsey in terms of the economy, employment and the visitor offering and that islanders ought to support it after making a reasonable allowance for the effects of freight etc.

Unfortunately, the States refuses to set a lead in this and rejected an earlier ‘back Guernsey’ call from the Chamber of Commerce, Institute of Directors and Confederation of Guernsey Industry.

Despite that, the survey also indicated retail has opportunities by being different to other UK towns, and by ensuring that shopping becomes more of a social, enjoyable experience. It also suggests that 5-9pm might increase in importance for in-town trade.

While the sector can help itself, it is still a case for local shoppers of use Town or risk losing it.