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2 News maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 8 JANUARY 2014 Retail outlets blame online shopping for stagnant sales MIRIAM DALLI ONLINE shopping, poor customer confidence and increase in cost of living were the three top reasons provided by businesses when asked what factors had adversely affected their sales during the festive season. The findings were published in a survey conducted by the GRTU, Malta's Chamber of SMEs, to assess how businesses fared over the Christmas period. Over 200 respondents took part in the survey, completed in four days. The highest percentage of sectors surveyed were beverage distributors, household goods, IT, jewellers, restaurants, hair and beauty salons, footwear, wearing apparel and gifts. Sliema, Valletta, St Julian's, Hamrun, Mosta, Paola and Gozo were amongst the localities surveyed. The survey found that 37% of the retail outlets had registered the same sales as they did last year, with 46% admitting that they had not expected otherwise. A staggering 45% had however expected an improvement, which sadly did not materialise. Over half of the respondents said they had extended their opening hours. Unsurprisingly, online shopping was mostly blamed for the stagnation in sales, with 25% expressing their belief that this had adversely affected their sales. Respondents said they felt themselves at a disadvantage against online shopping, also because of the taxation and specific schemes advertising the delivery of goods from UK stores. However, 22% blamed poor customer confidence, 14% the increase in cost of living while a further 14% said the stagnation was down to local competition. Discount sales are always important to retail outlets if they want to see an increase in sales: 27%, marking the majority, said the reduced prices had positively affected the sales. 23% said the quality of tourists had improved while 15% said customers had more disposable income. The results have also shown that while 36% were exclusively retailers, another 35% also imported the goods they sell directly. "This is very much in line with the trend at EU level, where retail- ers are now becoming very important players of the supply chain and import and distribute directly to become more efficient and control their costs," the GRTU said. In general, the major localities such as Valletta and Sliema complained of lack of parking, but those retail outlets situated in Hamrun complained that the locality suffered from lack of or- ganisation even in relation to the distribution of Christmas decorations in the streets. The results shows that sales pick up on 13 December, a national holiday, while Christmas Eve and its eve were "very good selling days". With many outlets introducing different levels of reductions on Boxing Day, a number of respond- 3% increase in employment as average gross salary estimated at €15,772 A 6.7% unemployment rate registered during the third quarter of 2013 had a 45% of the unemployed who had been seeking work for at least 12 months ents said they had been negatively affected by those outlets introducing reductions at such an early stage. The changes to the Valletta CVA system have been welcomed by the Valletta Business community, but retailers still complained that, while customers were attracted back to Valletta, there was no parking available. Driver in critical condition after Burmarrad crash MIRIAM DALLI DURING the third quarter last year, labour force survey estimates indicated an increase of 3% in employment when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2012. However, the rate of unemployment for the same period stood at 6.7%, with the largest share of unemployed persons was recorded among persons aged 25 and over. Among the unemployed, 45% stated they had been seeking work for at least 12 months. The National Statistics Office also found that the average gross annual salary of employees for the third quarter last year was estimated at €15,772. The €15,722 figure excluded extra payments such as overtime, bonuses and allowances. Average annual salaries varied from €25,302 among managers to €10,923 among elementary staff. The Labour Force Survey estimates indicated that during the third quarter last year total employment stood at 179,476, accounting for almost half the population aged 15 and over. Unemployed persons stood at 12,827 (4%) while inactive persons totaled 168,429 (47%). The activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 66%. When compared to the previous year, the activity rate among women in- A 28-year-old Spaniard suffered life-threatening injuries when his vehicle crashed into an electricity pole in Burmarrad Street, St Paul's Bay. The incident occurred at around 2am on Tuesday. The car was being driven from Mosta in the direction of St Paul's Bay, and it reportedly overturned on impact. Workers from Enemalta were on the scene to remove any possible danger caused by the crash. An inquiry is underway. Download the MaltaToday App now creased by 3 percentage points, while the male activity rate rose by 1 percentage point. The highest activity rate was recorded among persons aged 25-54 (78%). Out of every 100 persons aged 15 to 64, 61 were employed. The rate increased by 2 percentage points compared to the corresponding quarter in 2012. The highest employment rate was recorded among persons aged between 25 and 54, at 74%. Employed men were mostly engaged in wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities (32%). On the other hand, employed women were mostly engaged (38%) in public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities. Self-employed persons accounted for 14% of the total employed population. The majority of the employed worked on a full-time basis and totalled 151,526. An estimated 23,065 (13%) had a part-time job as their primary employment. A further 4,885 were working on a full-time with reduced hours basis.

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