As Easter approaches, the discussions about whether independent retailers and convenience stores can really compete with the big multiples where Easter Egg sales are concerned are nearing fever pitch.
The last few years have seen the big supermarkets selling eggs for £1, on impossible-to-compete-with multi-buy deals and at prices that are, in many cases, less than indies and c-stores can get them from their own wholesaler from.
The temptation to buy them from the supermarkets to put them on your own shelves had been difficult to fight, but from speaking to retailers last year I know that many had simply accepted defeat where eggs are concerned, and instead chosen to focus on the raft of impulse products – Malteaster Bunny, Cadbury Crème Egg, Aero Lamb etc – that are ideal for the smaller store.
A story broke yesterday that proved that it’s not just the smaller convenience retailers suffering – across the High Street, even household names are fighting loss-leading sales by names like Tesco.
Staff at GAME were allegedly told to buy new consoles from a local Tesco store and stock them on their own shelves. The cost was simply too good to ignore, it seems.
When a leading computer game seller such as Game – at last count it is part of a group that owns 1,367 stores worldwide and in 2009 had a net income of £85.4million – has to sink to that level, it’s obvious that what Tesco is doing is painful to everyone on the High Street.
Of course I’m not advocating that any independent retailer does a similar thing, merely highlighting a story that you might not be aware of that might make c-store owners aware that they have allies in the suffering shadows of the multiple retailers.
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