Retail NZ is urging the next government to take \u201cbold and decisive\u201d action to restore confidence and boost the economy.<\/p>\n
The organisation has outlined seven priorities in its 2026 Election Manifesto, calling on the policy makers to:<\/p>\n
Invest in infrastructure that improves connections between consumers and retailers while creating accessible and vibrant town centres.<\/p>\n
Level the playing field so all businesses operate under the same rules.<\/p>\n
Reduce the cost of doing business by addressing high energy prices and payment card fees.<\/p>\n
Update income tax thresholds so employers and retail workers retain more of their earnings.<\/p>\n
Maintain the focus on retail crime to improve store safety.<\/p>\n
Create more employment opportunities for young people to help build workplace skills.<\/p>\n
Progress recycling initiatives and establish trans-Tasman packaging, recycling, and labelling standards.<\/p>\n
Retail NZ CEO Carolyn Young said the country\u2019s 29,000-strong retail sector has endured difficult trading conditions in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cLowering the cost of doing business and tackling the cost of living should be central to the next government\u2019s plans, alongside revitalising our town and city centres,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
The organisation said that measures such as improving infrastructure, reducing energy and payment costs, and helping more young people into work would support retailers while delivering longer-term benefits for consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen retail is succeeding, so is our country,\u201d added Young.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retail NZ is urging the next government to take \u201cbold and decisive\u201d action to restore confidence and boost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69,211492],"class_list":["post-595942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-retail-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}