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Online businesses don't pay local taxes, Sainsbury's boss Justin King argues in a big CityAM interview spread. Unlike the web retail businesses, Sainsbury's  "pay business rates at a local level" and "employ people locally" and "pay people locally" and "they spend their earnings locally". "If we are seeing a shift in consumer behaviour towards purchasing online rather than their local store then the government will have to address that the tax system is being usurped by a change in behaviour," he adds.  The point to notice here is that connection of Sainsbury's with "local shop". It is spin. But very effective spin. As any independent retailers who have talked to their MPs about competition from multiples will know, the grocers are very successful at projecting the "local" benefits that they will bring. Perhaps 10 years ago this was true. But supported by a better supply chain, independent...

The IT revolution that helped Tesco and Wal-Mart leap ahead of the independent channel may have a sting in the tail, the authors of Reshaping Retail , a new book from Wiley, suggest. Stefan Niemeier, Andrea Zocchi and Marco Catena have collaborated on a book that summarises the world view of McKinsey, the giant US consulting firm. Technology has handed power to consumers at retailers’ expense, they write. Smart phones that let shoppers product search and research, purchase and pay, and connect to social media for reviews have destroyed “the monopoly retailers once enjoyed over information about products and prices”. The book’s most provocative assertion is that many retailers simply do not have the mindset to adapt to the new situation. “Too many of those who began their careers operating stores are still trying to squeeze more from their traditional business processes rather than responding to the new world in entirely new ways,” they write. Wholesalers could ask themsel...

My thoughts about traffic lights have been amplified by some comments in Reshaping Retail , a book by Stefan Neimeier, Andrea Zocchi and Marco Catena that explains why technology is transforming the industry and how to win in the new consumer driven world. They write: "With an internet-enabled mobile phone, it is easier to make an informed choice, which need not be limited to the products in the store where the customer happens to be standing." The shopper can look for reviews and compare prices: The RedLaser app lets you scan bar codes and instantly receive information on prices and product reviews Yottamark's Harvestmark Food Traceability app calls up information on the provenance of particular items, shares reviews and gives contact details for farmers. PS The traffic light food tracker from Australia is exactly the tool the UK government could use if it wanted to. For more see www.betterretailing.com .

The Newsagents Federation is calling for the newspaper and magazine industry to be referred to the Competition Commission and will be heartened by the views expressed by Baroness Kingsmill, a former deputy chair of the Commission, in the latest issue of Management Today. "All markets require regulation," she writes. "Market forces are red in tooth and claw and, unregulated, will lead to the survival of the fittest monopolist." Regulators usually restrict their findings to considerations of pure consumer benefits, which are "thought to be synonymous with the public interest". However, Lady Kingsmill argues that there are clear distinctions to the interests of consumers and of citizens. She also says that regulators had fettered themselves. Under the Fair Trading Act 1973 they could have been taking into account criteria such as the distribution of employment and enterprise around the UK - or environmental issues. In more than 20 cases she took part in t...