| Competing supermarkets |
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| Written by Tom Bowman | |
| Thursday, 01 November 2007 | |
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There were raised eyebrows when a recommendation
of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Small Shops secured a
Competition Commission inquiry (another one) into alleged
anti-competitive practices of supermarkets. It was pointed out that the
register of interests revealed
that the Independent Retailers Confederation (via Quintus Public
Affairs Ltd) provided secretarial support for the group, which cast its
recommendations in another light. The Commission's preliminary findings, just published, are remarkably sensible. As James Harding puts it : Peter Freeman, the Competition Commission chairman, has avoided populist politics and cheap headlines to steer a sensible path. He has not succumbed to heckling from the small business lobby, rejecting the notion that independent, local stores have been hampered by the supermarkets’ growth. Nor has he sought to meddle too much with the relationship between suppliers and retailers. And he has rejected the claims of rival supermarkets that Tesco should be punished for its success.What the preliminary report does recommend is that planning rules be changed so that where there is only one supermarket, it will become easier for a competitor to gain approval. It says that consumers will gain from more competition. Indeed, yes, though I don't imagine that those who engineered this enquiry expected "more supermarkets" to be the answer!
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