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Not totally unrealistic Professor if Barrie is factoring merchant charges into his equation but if not get a new bank Barrie and quick!

As for undercutting your competition which also happens to be your supplier does not seem totally prudent to me. All it would take is for them to price mark the own label product and or sticker the product with a multi-buy (take a look in a Co-op store already) and that undercutting does not look so attractive or even commercially possible.

Consolidation is happening and it’s time to get on board, there we be lots and lots of benefits and unfortunately there will be some downfalls. Retailers praising the franchise concept should be careful what they wish for, those agreements are not for the fainthearted, and you can forget about your autonomy then.

If we approach this with care and caution as is natural in our sector many of us should see positive results. As the good Professor alludes to, we need to lower expectations to avoid bitter disappointment in the future.