from David Rae, chief executive, Association of Convenience Stores
Sir; The Competition Commission’s inquiry into the proposed acquisition of Safeway - due to report this week - offers a timely opportunity for regulators to introduce safeguards to protect independent retailers. The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has sought to persuade the commission to introduce two specific safeguards: a ban on predatory below-cost selling and a requirement for transparent buying prices.
In meetings with the commission, and through evidence submitted at the commission’s request, we have set out to demonstrate how independent retailers need these safeguards and how they are essential to their future in an ever-consolidating grocery market. In developing this piece of work, we have consulted widely with members and other trade associations representing independent retailers and have received overwhelming support. We will continue this campaign whatever the commission’s recommendations.
It has been disappointing that the Federation of Wholesale Distributors (FWD), which in a letter to The Grocer last week claimed to speak for the independent retailer, has not joined this campaign.
Why the FWD fails to support this campaign is not clear. Perhaps it is because, far from being a “pure” voice, its own members supply the “giant superstore corporations and oil companies” that the FWD executive believes threaten the future of the independent.
All organisations which genuinely wish to support the independent should act to promote the interests of retailers.
I do not believe that independent retailers are overly concerned about trade organisations or the individuals that run them. What matters is the work that is done to support the convenience retailer.
Sir; The Competition Commission’s inquiry into the proposed acquisition of Safeway - due to report this week - offers a timely opportunity for regulators to introduce safeguards to protect independent retailers. The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has sought to persuade the commission to introduce two specific safeguards: a ban on predatory below-cost selling and a requirement for transparent buying prices.
In meetings with the commission, and through evidence submitted at the commission’s request, we have set out to demonstrate how independent retailers need these safeguards and how they are essential to their future in an ever-consolidating grocery market. In developing this piece of work, we have consulted widely with members and other trade associations representing independent retailers and have received overwhelming support. We will continue this campaign whatever the commission’s recommendations.
It has been disappointing that the Federation of Wholesale Distributors (FWD), which in a letter to The Grocer last week claimed to speak for the independent retailer, has not joined this campaign.
Why the FWD fails to support this campaign is not clear. Perhaps it is because, far from being a “pure” voice, its own members supply the “giant superstore corporations and oil companies” that the FWD executive believes threaten the future of the independent.
All organisations which genuinely wish to support the independent should act to promote the interests of retailers.
I do not believe that independent retailers are overly concerned about trade organisations or the individuals that run them. What matters is the work that is done to support the convenience retailer.
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