Algeciras, October 9, 2020. Antonio Gallardo recalls that, if supporting local commerce is an obligation of all political groups, this year due to the severe crisis that Algecirean merchants are experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the support must be total and seamless, since commerce is one of the main economic activities of our city.
The spokesperson for the VOX Group in the Algeciras city council, has regretted that once again, the government team is late in designing a strategy that allows Algeciras merchants to face the Christmas campaign with expectations of recovery and not with fear of the closing their businesses, since for many establishments, the income generated on these dates represents a significant percentage of their annual turnover.
Gallardo has emphasized that this Christmas campaign is not going to be, far from it, the lifeline that other years have been for traditional commerce. Neither will the sales. Because on the one hand there are consumers who will be reluctant to spend, there is also a change in consumer trends and on the other, many will flee from large crowds, in this situation, it is necessary that, both from the government team and from the rest of the political groups, a common front is made to save the Algecire trade.
"In this Christmas season, we are going to see much more marked inequalities between small businesses and our markets compared to large stores and electronic commerce, and we cannot remain in our awareness that we could do something to help merchants in the city that generate employment and wealth for Algeciras with its economic activity and its taxes, and we did not do it, ”Gallardo denounced.
Our markets cannot cope with a Christmas campaign in which e-commerce is expected to be one of the main purchasing routes, with a deficit web portal that was already reported months ago by our group and has not yet been renewed by the government team ”,“ facts like this are the ones that once again reveal the policy of photography and headline carried out by Landaluce and that he does not seek the real solution to the problems of the people of Algeria, but rather to sell an unreal image of what is happening in the city ”has criticized Gallardo.
As we have learned through Google, 57% of Spanish consumers will use the online channel more than in other years, while 74% will search online for gift ideas. No one doubts that at this point, when the proximity of the Christmas campaign and the incidence of the virus are greater, it is likely that the percentages of purchase intention and online search will increase significantly.
“We have not yet heard from the government team any strategy to support Black Friday that will take place on November 27, or Cyber Week that will begin on November 30, nor have we seen any type of programming to boost the city and consumption in our markets for the Christmas holidays, and we are almost in the middle of October ”, lamented Gallardo.
For this reason, from our Municipal Group we are going to register a series of measures to boost trade in the Christmas season, among which the following stand out:
- Energize the week of Black Friday, from November 20 to 29 with the following performances:
- Pink window contest. In a campaign that is more supportive than ever, we propose to hold a shop window contest during the week of Black Friday to support women from Algeria who suffer or have suffered from breast cancer.
- Creation of the "Crazy about shopping" passport, to encourage consumption during the campaign, and the holding of a raffle at the end of the Black Friday period among all users who have completed the passport of an attractive prize subsidized by the city council.
- Carrying out an advertising campaign through Onda Algeciras and the municipal social networks to show every day the offers that businesses in the city present during this campaign.
- Launch the “My neighborhood at Christmas” campaign in collaboration with neighborhood associations and merchants in the areas furthest from the center.
- Create a specific strategy to boost consumption in our food markets during the Christmas period.
- Improve Christmas lighting, especially in peripheral areas to encourage consumption.
- Create a calendar of actions, provided that the prevention measures against the coronavirus allow it to rotate through different areas of the city in order to boost consumption not only in commerce but also in hospitality establishments.
