Sunday trading consultation: fair or fixed? You decide.

My local council, South Oxfordshire, asked me to complete a survey on Sunday trading as a local resident. The deadline is next week.

The first question was about the current arrangements and what I thought. There were five options:

large shops shouldn’t open
six hours is already too long
current restrictions are about right
large shops should be allowed open for longer
no restrictions.

My answer was the current restrictions are about right.

The next question was about what would happen if the council allowed large stores to open for longer. The menu included 10 options and a space for other.

The options were that it would:

encourage me to shop more in my local town
give me more flexibility
impact on my religious or cultural beliefs
have a positive impact on my business
have a negative impact on my business
increase footfall to my business
reduce footfall to my business
provide more employment opportunities open to me in the local area
mean that I need to work longer hours
and/or no impact.

Under other impact I wrote: “I think it would harm village stores and village cultural events on Sundays. The current arrangements seem to work fine and as they are not broken do not need fixing."

They next asked how I described myself. My answer was individual. The other options were business representative, charity, large business, medium business, small business, micro business, religious organisation, trade union or other.

Finally they asked where I lived. The options were: Abingdon; Botley; Didcot; Faringdon; Henley; Thame; Wallingford; Wantage and Grove; other South Oxfordshire; and other Vale of White Horse. I picked the second from last option.

I look forward to seeing what my local councils make of this feedback. The survey seems fair. Multiple answers to the second question are bound to cause confusion. A summary of the consultation will be made available on the council's web site. I will have to remember to look out for it.

In the covering letter, Phillip Vincent, the corporate consultation officer (yes, they have one of those), promised: "We will use this information to inform the councils' response to government and decide whether to extend Sunday trading hours in the future, should we be granted powers to do this."

Earlier he said: "New proposals are being made by government which would give local councils the flexibility to decide what times shops can open on Sundays. The expectation is that opening hours would be extended in most places."

That second sentence is interesting. While the council wants to consult local people on what they think, it seems all too willing to work to the government's "expectation". What do you think?

Digital disruption in the UK wholesale space

“Twenty years ago I was driving boxes to the post office in my Chevy Blazer and dreaming of a forklift,” says Jeff Bezos in his most recent letter to shareholders. A blink later and he points out that the company has grown from 30,000 employees in 2010 to 230,000 now. But his ambition is the same. “We want to be a large company that’s also an invention machine. We want to combine the extraordinary customer-serving capabilities that are enabled by size with the speed of movement, nimbleness and risk-acceptance mentality that is normally associated with entrepreneurial start-ups.” Amazon is great at disruption because of its customers focus and the fact that the internet means it needs none (or very few) people between its warehouses and the shopper. The threat of Prime, its membership service, is the biggest challenge facing the UK retail market and the wholesale market by extension. It is both a direct threat and an indirect threat in that is inspiring countless numbers of othe...

New look: big copy small?

The owners of B&Q are talking up how they have cut the price of a store refit from £2.5m to £1m by using wood-effect vinyl instead of wood and painted MDF backboards for displays. Managers are learning to live with grey shelving instead of a warmer-looking cream. Shoppers notice the produce, not the fixtures, suggests one executive. Up to a point! Most local retailers will extract the maximum possible life from their fixtures, sometimes taking too long to change equipment that has become tired. As in all business, it is getting the balance right. Shops need to be refreshed and with a purpose.

What do shoppers see

I read a good post (http://www.newsagencyblog.com.au/2009/08/28/what-do-newsagents-charge-for-faxing.html) asking what price local shops charge for providing a fax service. The blogger had attached a photograph of his sign with his prices on it. What struck me was the message on the sign. "You drop, we fax," it said. "Pressed for time, drop your documents with us and we'll do it for you at no extra charge." That is a message that will persuade most shoppers that you want to give them good value, even if they stay to do the copying or faxing themselves.

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