Groceries Order to be dropped

mike65

Story in todays Sunday Times is promising...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2765-1838800,00.html

The abolition of the ban on below-cost selling could reduce the grocery bill of the average Irish household by almost €500 a year, according to the Competition Authority (CA) that polices the retail trade. John Fingleton, the watchdog’s former boss, said repeal would save Irish consumers about €577m.

Mike.

damien

About bloody time. Micheál took his time, but I guess they have to counter the Eddie Hobbs supporters if they want to keep people happy.

Paddy20

Excellant and inevitable.
P.:cool:

Dr. Evil

I think it is absurd to pay such high prices for groceries.
I am looking forward to watching the prices fall.

Cheers.

OfflerCrocGod

Good! Now all we need to do is stop subsidising farming and that will add up to a nice saving on our part.

jrey1981

If you think prices will fall by that amount you are living in a dream world...a few basic items will be cheaper. The main reason for higher costs when surveys of product prices are done tends to be related to transport and distribution

On alot of items in the UK prices are the same in any of the big 4 supermarkets. It is a means to grow their power and market share creating an oligopoly

Cabaal

Prices ain't going to drop by much, maybe bread, milk etc but don't expect a massive saving, coming from a background of a family shop I think this spells the end for smaller shops

dahamsta

Cabaal wrote:

I think this spells the end for smaller shops

Final nail in the coffin. A pity so many people want to dance on their graves, it'll bite us and them in the arse in the long run.

Pure selfish greed, completely ignorant of long-term economics.

adam

parsi

Dr. Evil wrote:

I think it is absurd to pay such high prices for groceries.
I am looking forward to watching the prices fall.

Cheers.

Pull up a chair because I'm sure you'll have a wait. Remember the budget when the VAT rate was dropped to 20% ? Remember what happened ? Nothing happened and the rate went back up the following year because all our beloved retailers who are begging for the order to be abolished just so they can pass on discounts decided not to bother passing on that particular discount and left prices as they were...

Eoin

Cabaal wrote:

Prices ain't going to drop by much, maybe bread, milk etc but don't expect a massive saving, coming from a background of a family shop I think this spells the end for smaller shops

From what I can tell in Dublin, the family owned shop seems to be a thing of the past as it is with the likes of Spar, Centra etc.

Supermarkets are probably cheaper than convenience stores at the moment, and people - in particular, professionals in their 20s and 30s - know this and still go to convenience stores to save time.

As other posters have said, certain products will indeed drop in price: the products that people know the value of. However, according to a survey (by IBEC I think), the average person only knows the going price for 10% of the items in their shopping basket. This means that the supermarkets can increase the prices of most of their products and people will be none the wiser.

The supermarkets will be delighted to see the grocery order axed, as this will greatly increase the footfall through them. They are not a charity, so you can be sure they will not be losing any money.

Speaking of charities; St Vincent de Paul are in favour of the grocery act. I am not sure why this would be the case, as I can't find any particular reference to this online, but it suggests that abolishing the order may not be the great thing some people thing it will be.

mike65

eoin_s wrote:

From what I can tell in Dublin, the family owned shop seems to be a thing of the past as it is with the likes of Spar, Centra etc.

Most are owned by individuals as part of a franchise, its also common to have 'mini-chains' owned by a family. They obviously feel that being part of a brand is better for buisness even if it means playing by the rules of The Mugrave Empire.

Mike.

Paddy20

mike65 wrote:

Most are owned by individuals as part of a franchise, its also common to have 'mini-chains' owned by a family. They obviously feel that being part of a brand is better for buisness even if it means playing by the rules of The Mugrave Empire.

Mike.

Good point, retail floor space is worth a lot of money in todays high Street, whether it be a small retail outlet, or a large one, and I do not believe that it would prove in the best interest of grocery product producers to allow ' The small grocery outlet's demise, rest assured that this issue has been considered in depth by retailers behind closed doors.

Hence TESCO's entry into the 'Corner Shop' business on a large scale in the U.K. ?.;)

P.:cool:

Cabaal

eoin_s wrote:

From what I can tell in Dublin, the family owned shop seems to be a thing of the past as it is with the likes of Spar, Centra etc.

Not forgetting the hundreds of family owned shops through out Ireland, its going to make life very hard for them.
Makes me glad my parents sold up our shop/bar setup and retired a few years back

Tazz T

People are always going to need corner shops. You're not going to go the whole way to the Supermarket for a loaf of bread if the shop at the end of the road has it. That's why they're called convenience stores - they're a completely different marketing proposition from a supermarket.

Anyway most of the small stores are owned by huge companies anyway.

I don't expect prices to fall greatly but it means that the opportunity to be competitive is there for those who wish to use it to their advantage.

eth0_

There are feck all 'corner shops' left in Ireland anyway, they've all been taken over by Spar, Londis, Centra, Mace. And these shops are more expensive than the supermarkets!

Eoin

eth0_ wrote:

There are feck all 'corner shops' left in Ireland anyway, they've all been taken over by Spar, Londis, Centra, Mace. And these shops are more expensive than the supermarkets!

If you look at previous posts, it seems that they are privately owned, and franchised out.

But, as already said, they are more expensive already, but people will still use them rather than go into a supermarket - I think IBEC described these customers as "time-poor, money-rich".

Paddy20 wrote:

Hence TESCO's entry into the 'Corner Shop' business on a large scale in the U.K. ?

Tesco express I think they call them - they are over here now. There is obviously, and still will be, a market for these types of shops.

I am still trying to find some information on why St Vincent de Paul support the grocery act. I would be interested to see what their reasoning is - as in all of Eddie Hobb's programs, I think an overly simple version of things were said (or quite possibly, entirely inaccurate).

jrey1981

The idea that the abolition of the grocery order will increase competition and lowers prices is a myth.

As Paddy20 rightly pointed out Tesco are entering the corner shop market, buying up smaller chains etc. in the UK.

The barriers to entry and start-up costs for new entrants to the market are such that you need similar economies of scale to Tesco and the like who dominate the market to compete.

Short of Walmart coming here - which I for one would not welcome, it aint gonna happen.

When you have most of the grocery shops and supermarkets in the hands of a few owners, prices are more often than not going to increase rather than decrease. Welcome to the world of oligopolies.

I would be interested to see the St. Vincent de Paul report - my guess is that supermarkets are increasingly diversifying eg Tesco cheap clothes lines - this makes the type of clothes SVdP offers less attractive to some extent and thus makes it a tougher market for them to operate in which will have a direct effect on the revenue they get through their retail operation, the majority of which goes to their charitable causes.

I am surprised other charities did not register their opposition.

Eoin

jrey1981 wrote:

I would be interested to see the St. Vincent de Paul report - my guess is that supermarkets are increasingly diversifying eg Tesco cheap clothes lines - this makes the type of clothes SVdP offers less attractive to some extent and thus makes it a tougher market for them to operate in which will have a direct effect on the revenue they get through their retail operation, the majority of which goes to their charitable causes.

I didn't think of it from that angle actually. I assumed that they were making the comments on behalf of poor people in general, rather than as a shop in their own right.

jrey1981 wrote:

I am surprised other charities did not register their opposition.

I know that another one did, but it was during a radio show so I don't have any links or sources.

Random

Feed yourself for a week on a fiver - life will be cheap. Excellent.