Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner says the latest British Retail Consortium push for an overhaul of the tax system is the result of 'spin' and bricks and mortar retailers should 'stop moaning'.
He said the debate surrounding Amazon and Starbucks has been used as an excuse by retailers to complain once again about business rates.
He told City AM that the fact some of the multinational firms were online businesses had prompted retailers to 'jump on the band wagon' and call for the burden of business rates to be shifted to online firms.
'We mustn't allow some struggling bricks and mortar retailers to use it in a different argument and spin it into and online-offline one,' he said.
'Why would you penalise a great business like Asos because some UK retailers are complaining? We should support businesses that make a difference in the long-term,' he told the newspaper.
The Guardian newspaper reported Steiner as saying: 'It is nothing to do with online retailer that is causing the problems in the UK and we shouldn't burden online retailers. Bricks and mortar retailers need to shut more shops and stop moaning about it.'
Ocado last week reported a £3.8 million loss in the six months to May 19 compared to a £200,000 profit in the same period a year earlier. The firm blamed the loss on the opening of its second distribution centre in the Midlands which it has leased to its new business partner Morrisons.
The British Retail Consortium's campaign for a 'level playing field' on rates coincides with the latest review of the high street's problems by a Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee. Boots executive Alex Gourlay, a BRC member, told the committee last week that business rates were causing 'significant structural problems' for high street shops.
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