Letter to Prime Minister demands more support for green shoot businesses

SOUTHAMPTON, UK. 9 December 2009: Dominic Monkhouse, UK MD at PEER 1 Network Enterprises, Inc. (TSX: PIX), the global online business hosting provider, has written to Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, urging him to provide more support for Britain’s online retailers.

In his letter, Monkhouse cites the potential of this sector as a key component in Britain’s economic recovery and calls for more to be done to help businesses overcome the impact of the global economic downturn and factors like the postal strike.

Monkhouse said: “2009 has been a tough year for British e-tailers, many of whom are independently owned and provide a world-class service. These businesses, often the brain-child of Britain’s finest entrepreneurs, would under normal circumstances be flourishing. They have the potential to create jobs and stimulate the economy, often exporting internationally and bringing in much needed revenue to the UK.

The credit crunch, global downturn and postal strike have all worked against these businesses that have so much potential. I urge the Government to do its bit to nurture these green shoots by considering tax incentives that will help these businesses capitalise on the momentum that they have built up. Britain offers advantages in terms of infrastructure, language, time-zone and geographic location which means that we can become the world leader in terms of online retail across Europe and North America. A small investment and the right stimulus package could create a world-leading sector. The time to act is now.”

The CBI report, OFT Market Study on Online Shopping: CBI Submission, highlighted the strength, potential and fragility of the UK’s e-commerce sector: “The growth rate of online commerce is unparalleled in any other industry, growing twenty times faster than the overall UK retail market in 2005. Furthermore, the number of online shoppers grew by 25.5% to 14.6 million, with the number over the age of 55 doubling to 2.7 million. Forrester Research predicts that UK shoppers will drive UK e-commerce from €43bn in 2006 to €76bn in 2011, accounting for 29% of total European Internet retail.

“The Internet is and will continue to be an increasingly important sales channel for retail companies. The UK has much to celebrate in being a networked hub for many of the value- adding online services associated with online commerce, and for having a large and growing market for online shopping. This reflects the Government’s appetite for the UK to become the world’s e-capital. However, the Internet is subject to the full forces of globalisation like no other commercial platform, with time and location becoming increasingly irrelevant in service delivery and much service innovation taking place amongst a mêlée of individuals, SME’s and large corporates." *1

PEER 1 offers a range of managed hosting solutions tailored for the e-commerce market. It hosts 1% of the Internet and over 10,000 online retail businesses and is an example of one of the many businesses that benefit from a successful e-commerce sector.