Reacting to the Competition Commission's provisional
Groceries Inquiry findings Matthew Knowles, spokesman for the
Federation of Small Businesses, said “This is the third inquiry
in seven years but sadly it is not third time lucky. The
initial findings miss the point entirely. Competition
between the Big Four supermarkets is not the same as free and
fair competition across the whole grocery sector. The
initial findings focus on declining grocery prices while ignoring
the huge reduction in consumer choice that results from the
number of small shops falling dramatically. The devastating
impact of the current unfair grocery market can be seen on high
streets across the country.
“Competition is about consumer choice as well as price and
it does not matter how cheap mainstream items are at a
supermarket if the only outlets for other goods have closed
down. Small retailers and suppliers are being squeezed out
because of practices such as selling items below the cost of
production, bullying suppliers and increased parking charges in
the high street compared to free parking at supermarkets.
Once again the shopping public as well as small retailers and
suppliers have been let down by the Competition Commission, who
seem unable to see past the huge lobbying resources of the Big
Four supermarkets.â€
A
more detailed response from the FSB will follow later
today. The report can be found at www.competition-commission.org.uk
