‘Enough is enough’

Retailers yesterday stated that “enough is enough” when it comes to being restricted to curbside operations only, with many saying if they are not allowed to resume normal operations come November 1, they cannot afford to clear new inventory that has been ordered for the critical upcoming holiday shopping period.

The Bahamas Federation of Retailers (BFR) stressed that its one-hundred-plus members “must be permitted to open to the public by November 1”, noting that curbside – under which all businesses except food stores have been in operation since the beginning of October – only represents 15 percent or less of sales.

“Outside of retailers who cater to the tourism market, most of our members have found that while allowed to open they are at least able to cover their operating costs and keep staff members employed. However, after being either shut down or only permitted to operate online/curbside for five out of the last eight months, retailers were relying on the November 1 reopening date to generate much-needed income during the upcoming holiday season in order to avoid bankruptcy and further layoffs,” the federation noted in a statement yesterday.

“Many retailers committed to orders based on the prime minister’s promise of ‘no more lockdowns’ in early September. However, in addition to the obligations faced by all businesses such as electricity bills, rent, payroll, internet, etc they now find themselves with insufficient cash flow to clear these shipments, meaning that they cannot even outfit their stores with the requisite inventory to sustain seasonal turnover. These measures are choking the local economy and exporting our Bahamian dollars abroad.”

Last week, while revealing the Economic Recovery Committee’s (ERC) plan to rebound the economy, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis said he was disappointed that some major retailers had not incorporated more e-commerce into their models and moved toward online sales.

Retailers said this was an affront to their efforts to find creative ways to survive in such difficult times and called for a nationwide dialogue to address the barriers toward innovation.

“Recently there have been comments in the press expressing disappointment over the failure of some businesses to switch to an online sales format. In fact, we find that many of our members have innovated to try and find creative ways to service their customers during this time, from WhatsApp video appointments to ‘store tours’ via social media. However, it is not so easy as simply fliping a switch to convert your business to an online format. The logistics to integrate your point-of-sale software to become multi-channel requires time and a significant upfront investment,” the BFR stated.

“The many hurdles to the ease of doing business in The Bahamas make it that much more difficult here. Just to name a few, the lack of a stable power source, no functioning postal service, unstable internet connection and unreliable phone service are critical challenges to the development of any online business. Furthermore, our members have frequently cited many hurdles faced when trying to integrate a digital payment platform here, given the challenges associated with e-commerce options at the local commercial banks.”

After four months of complete shutdown, retailers were allowed to finally reopen in June, enforcing strict health and safety protocols, but following a spike in COVID-19 cases the prime minister reimplemented business restrictions and tightened the national curfew at the start of this month.

Pointing to data that showed even the largest companies in the United States have found it difficult to pivot their business to a wholly online platform, the BFR stated that remaining under the curbside and online restrictions are unsustainable.

“For instance, even after their online sales doubled due to COVID-19, Home Depot, a company with over a $300 billion market capitalization, has e-commerce sales equating to just 15 percent of their overall revenue,” the retailers’ advocate group pointed out.

“Local businesses that have the resources have worked tirelessly to launch an online platform since COVID-19 first hit our shores back in March, however even when they do, 15 percent of anyone’s business is still not enough to sustain current operating expenses and overhead. The math just does not add up if the government is going to take the economic threat of lockdowns and curbside restrictions seriously.”

BFR stated that retailers are asking the government to respect the fiscal reality of businesses and their employees by simply allowing the rest of the retail sector to operate as the grocery stores are allowed to, following the protocols put in place.

“Retailers in all categories are more than capable of conducting business responsibly given the new normal. However, enough is enough. These restrictions and lockdowns disproportionately impact the blue collar workers of this nation that do not have the luxury of working from home as other white collar positions in an office job may afford. The fact of the matter is over 20,000 jobs are on the line now,” the statement pointed out.

“That’s 20,000 families. We ask that the policies being contemplated have a heart and a soul. We have remained stagnant for too long and as we all know, COVID-19 will be around well beyond 2020. It is the policies of this nation that will allow it to carry on or not. We need to work together to forge the path forward.”

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/enough-is-enough/