The growth of large supermarket groups such as Tesco during the last few years has left the future of the small high street shop continuously in doubt.Yet despite the fact that the small shop sector is one of the parts of the Welsh economy that has been continuously under threat for the last decade, very little has been done to address this issue by business support organisations.
Indeed, what has always surprised me is the scant amount of specific business advice and support which has been provided to small retailers during the last 20 years, especially compared to other sectors of the economy.
It is as if Welsh policy-makers have decided that small retail firms are not important to the future of a Welsh economy which seems to bend over backwards to accommodate out-of-town retail developments. Whilst public resources have been used to support the development of these large retail projects, this has usually been at the expense of existing local retailers, many of which were left to fend for themselves in an environment of increasing rents and rates.
What can support agencies do to help small shops to compete effectively with larger retailers? A major issue for many small independent shops is the development of staff training. The interface between the small shop's staff and the customer is the most important aspect of the business. It is usually vital for its success, and training of staff to improve customer care, support and service is a crucial element of this. However, it is probably true of many small retailers in Wales that few of their staff have received any formal training in dealing with customer related issues.
Whilst this may be due to time pressures on the small business itself, it is also the case that there are very few specific training courses offered locally that are geared towards increasing the abilities of staff within small retail outlets. As such, it is crucial that the local training agencies develop initiatives that improve the customer focus, and thus the competitiveness, of local shops.
Another issue which needs to be addressed is marketing, which is far more than putting an advert in the local paper. Important though this may be, marketing actually relates more to an understanding of your customers' needs and requirements and meeting those needs.
For example, how many small shops actually know who their target customers are and what they are seeking from the shop? How many retailers know why customers shop at their business - is it because of convenience, personal attention, excellent service, dependability, quality, price, promptness? How many retailers try to re-establish lost or inactive customers? Many owners would say that they are too busy running the business to have time to answer any of these questions in any depth. It is therefore important that business agencies provide support to small retailers in developing their marketing strategies.
Without such help, the pricing structure of the business can often be wrong, the promotional techniques are unfocused, distribution methods are inefficient, and the wrong customers are targeted. As a result, businesses become less profitable, affecting, in time, the wealth within the local economy.
After considering what could be done to help the sector, you may now be wondering, 'so what?' Why should we help small shops - after all, it is the large supermarkets which provide employment within many local towns, not small firms. Well, let me correct this myth that small shops are not worth supporting, and the widely held belief that they make an almost negligible contribution to the Welsh economy.
You may be surprised to discover that statistics show that they make up one of the largest sectors in the Welsh economy, and many are stable family businesses providing long term and relatively well paid jobs for local people and recirculating much of the wealth generated within a locality.
More importantly, the retail sector still continues to have a vital role to play in developing and serving a sustainable tourist industry within the Welsh economy - imagine the fate of any local town where the small shops had all closed and in their place you had row after row of chain stores. Each town would be very much the same as the other, much to the detriment of the local economy and the tourism industry in particular.
If it is true that the agricultural sector is the backbone of the rural economy, it is equally true that small shops provide the contrast and character that lead to wealth and employment within many small towns throughout Wales. Let us all hope that this continues to be the case.
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