The ACS has commissioned a study to generate key policy suggestions for the government to help secure the future of small retailers, and to determine whether the current competition regime has failed the grocery sector by allowing excessive supermarket development.

Public policy think tank ResPublica has been tasked to compile the report, which will be published within the next couple of months. It will address the future of grocery retail competition and the disadvantages faced by small retailers, and how these could fit into the coalition government’s priorities and Prime Minister David Cameron’s notion of the ‘Big Society’.

ResPublica director Phillip Blond said last year that the current competition regime was “not up to the job”.

“In the name of competition we have happily handed over our high streets to Tesco, strangling local commerce,” he commented. “The more that price is our only measure of competition, the bigger the economies of scale required to compete, and the higher the barriers to entry for small local competitors.”

ResPublica is appealing to Convenience Store readers to contribute to the report by taking part in an online questionnaire. The survey of 30 questions takes around 15 minutes to complete.

Make your voice heard

Complete the survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/futuresmallretailers. For more information contact adam.schoenborn@respublica.org.uk