Malta’s shop owners had plenty to celebrate come the end of the year, reporting steady sales figures throughout 2016, preliminary data collected by the Chamber of Small and Medium Enter-prises (GRTU) showed.

The GRTU’s vice-president, Marcel Mizzi, told the Times of Malta yesterday that, while the Chamber was still compiling the official data, the initial reactions were positive.

The majority of shop owners, Mr Mizzi said, reported steady sales figures throughout the year, and while some did not note any significant increase from previous years, only a few reported a decline in sales.

As to what could have led to this, Mr Mizzi said that most owners claimed to have introduced more new products and services last year, while some also attributed the increase to consumers having better spending power.

The festive season also yielded positive results, Mr Mizzi went on, explaining that the busiest days remained those closer to Christmas.

Some 75 per cent of the owners said they do not offer their services online

“When owners were asked whether their busiest days were Black Friday, the two public holidays or the week before Christmas, the vast majority pointed to the latter,” Mr Mizzi explained.

While Black Friday – a US phenomenon in which shops offer discounts the day after Thanksgiving – had in recent years become more popular with Maltese shop owners, Mr Mizzi said that the day was still not as popular as it was in other countries.

“Shops did offer reduced prices, but in general, Black Friday has not yet picked up, and most shop owners still did not report any significant increase on that day,” Mr Mizzi went on.

While willing to introduce new products and services to boost sales, Mr Mizzi lamented that owners were still reluctant to move their business online.

“Some 75 per cent of the owners said they do not offer their services online. Despite this, they still complain that their biggest competition comes from the web,” he said. He added that this did not come as a surprise, as the GRTU had for years been working with the business owners in an attempt to encourage them to shift to online platforms.

The GRTU has been working on helping retailers integrate this more-recent phenomenon into their existing practices. Some were very flexible and were willing to also move their businesses online, but others hesitated, and the GRTU was striving to get them on board.

The Chamber said it would be issuing a detailed report in the coming weeks.