The Competition Commission’s claim that small shops are not suffering at the hands of supermarkets, has been condemned by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
An 18-month investigation from the Competition Commission failed to acknowledge the adverse impact supermarkets have on independent retailers.
The FSB believe that certain factors were not addressed sufficiently, including the unfair treatment of suppliers and below-cost selling.
Clive Davenport, trade and industry chairman for the FSB, said:
“Small independent retailers are closing at a rate of 2,000 per year and you’ve only got to walk down your local high street to see the evidence.
“The suggestion that, to increase competition, the planning system should be relaxed to allow more supermarkets to be built is perverse.”
Duncan Swift, head of Grant Thornton's food and agribusiness recovery group,
agreed: “In an industry gloomed by a culture of fear of being de-listed, every man and his dog in the food supply chain knows that supermarkets are regularly demanding ever cheaper products with longer payment periods and other supplier contributions as part of the unwritten agreements they readily pull out of when it suits them.
“Now that the Competition Commission has found evidence itself which supports this, why does it choose to prolong the introduction of any corrective process by failing to make specific recommendations?”
The FSB has called for the Competition Commission to recognise that big food companies such as supermarkets affect independent retailers.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
