The British Retail Consortium has told its members to call a truce and cease the public row over calls for an online tax.
The group on Monday held a meeting of finance directors and other representatives from its 30 largest retailers to thrash out details of its proposal to the government on business rates.
However, the group is understood to have broadly agreed that a row over online tax has become increasingly 'damaging'. The BRC is now hoping to devise a proposal that will encompass online retailers - Asos, for example, is a member - rather than penalise them.
In a statement sent to the Guardian after the meeting, the BRC's director general Helen Dickinson said: 'There was consensus that the idea of seeing parts of the retail industry in conflict isn't in the interests of the industry and, most importantly, it isn't what customers want.'
The attempt to define a new accord at the BRC is also a tacit acknowledgement that most of its members will be relying heavily on online revenue for the majority - if not all - their growth in the coming years.
Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King has been the most vocal advocate of an online tax so far. However, online-only retailers have reacted sharply to his comments. Tim Steiner, chief executive of online grocer Ocado, said bricks and mortar retailers should 'shut more shops and stop moaning'.
Dickinson said in the statement: 'Business rates is the core issue for UK retail and there was broad consensus that the steep successive rises of the last few years are impacting on retailers' decision-making like never before, especially against a backdrop of the industry's total tax contribution having risen significantly.'
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