SME Business News

For many years in the UK, we have witnessed the massive growth of supermarket chains decimate the competition from small businesses. By being allowed to develop massive stores out of town, High Street trade in some towns is practically non existent. Not content at that the stores have in a short time turned grocery shopping in to a 24 hour a day experience.

New proposals to improve competition have met with fierce criticism from many quarters, not least the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) ,who claim that consumers have been let down by the competition authorities.

The FSB called for an independent regulator with a wide-ranging retail brief to ensure fair competition in all parts of the sector and reverse the trend of over 2,000 independent shops going out of business each year.

Over 400 MEPs have added their weight to the campaign for more radical action, calling for an investigation of and remedies to “The abuse of power by supermarkets operating in the European Union.”

Clive Davenport, FSB Trade and Industry Chairman said:

“The Competition Commission has consistently failed to be an effective regulator to the retail industry. Three time-consuming, costly and ultimately meaningless inquiries in just seven years tell their own story.

“The idea for an ombudsman to oversee the relationship between supermarkets and suppliers is a reasonable one, but it does not go far enough. There are many more issues, such as below-cost selling and free parking for out-of-town shopping centres that the Competition Commission has failed to address properly.”

“There is a growing consensus of opinion across Europe that something must be done to protect independent retailers from the damaging effects of the unchecked expansion of supermarkets.

“In the UK it’s time for the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading to put out of their misery and for an independent regulator with real power and a wide-ranging retail brief to be set up.”