The vice-president of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services and Navigation of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Victoria González, warned this week that “local commerce continues to lose ground due to the impact of the tax franchise on online purchases.”
That is to say, for many goods with a global value of less than 150 euros, the IGIC does not apply to the import of goods to the Canary Islands, many of them being e-commerce.
He made this statement during the presentation of the Sectoral Report on Trade, corresponding to the fourth quarter of 2025, where he assured that “Canarias closed the year with a positive performance in terms of sales and employment, but its business fabric continues to face the boom of e-commerce and the validity of the fiscal franchise for low-value imports”.
According to his explanation, the sector "continues to advance in affiliation and reduce unemployment, but it does so concentrating on fewer and fewer establishments," a trend he considered "worrying" for the sustainability of local commerce on the islands.
In this regard, he recalled that, for many months, “Canary Islands was one of the communities that led sales growth nationally, a boost that allowed us to recover activity, consolidate employment, and project an image of economic dynamism”. “So we have gone from being at the forefront of growth to occupying a more moderate position”, so Victoria González explained that it is necessary to understand the elements that explain this moderation.
In this way, the report notes that the Retail Trade Index registered a 3% year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter, driven by good performance in October. For the whole year, Canary Islands trade sales increased by 3.9%, a figure slightly lower than the national average (4.1%) and which places the Canary Islands in the tenth position in the ranking of autonomous communities.
In labor terms, the sector closed December with 171,955 affiliations, 2,592 more than a year earlier, while registered unemployment fell to 23,709 people, which means 1,555 fewer unemployed than in December 2024. The Retail Trade Employment Index rose by 0.7% in the quarter and 1.6% on an annual average, above the national figure (1.4%).
However, the number of commercial companies with workers registered with Social Security continues to decrease. In December, 13,332 companies were counted, 328 fewer than a year earlier, a drop of 2.4% concentrated in retail trade. “While local businesses pay rent, salaries, taxes, and generate employment here, large platforms can sell without paying taxes or investing in the Canary Islands. It is, quite simply, the world turned upside down,” he stated to justify the loss of companies.
González compared this situation to the debate that arose around the entry of Mercosur products. “If we ask for equitable conditions for those who produce here, we must also guarantee that products entering through e-commerce compete under the same rules. It is not about stopping anything, but about making the system fairer, clearer, and more coherent for everyone”.
The vice president also called for specific support programs for the technological and physical modernization of the establishments to accompany them in their modernization, making them more competitive and more attractive not only to the local population but also to the tourists who visit us, adding value to the destination.
