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Supermarkets in Shetland - prices, ethics and experiences


breeksy
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As for the letter from Vic Thomas it would be against the competition laws to reduce prices for the sole purpose of removing your competition and then increase prices. Case law Laker Airlines v British Airways. I agree big buisness needs to be reminded of the law now and again.

 

Its happened in Shetland before and was gotten away with. Mainland based XXX (now defunct) had had for some years a virtual monopoly in their field, a few locals became agents for another Mainland based competitor selling similar products more cheaply. XXX lowered their prices far enough to make it not worthwhile for the competitors agents to operate.

 

There's a very fine line between price reductions which can be considered justifiable on the basis of giving a competitive advantage, and those which are solely intended to destroy competition. Proving it in law though, I daresay is not the easiest, and also expensive enough few "small" operators can realistically afford to pursue such cases.

 

Where does anyone get the "proof" that someone like Tesco selling product "A" @ £4.99 which independent retailers can only obtain wholesale @ £7.50, isn't taking a nominal profit on ever sale, anyomore than anyone could obtain proof the when Norse Islands started operating and Northlink reduced some freight charges to under Norse Islands' rates, that Northlink weren't still taking a profit on the lower charge.

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Maybe the LCTA should follow Inga's lead and diversify and move with the technology - rather than digging their heels in and trying to force people back through their shop doors.

Many town centre shops trade online already, and have done for years. I know that the Camera Centre http://www.thecameracentre.net - the Shetland Times Bookshop http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/shop/ - and the Shetland Soap Company http://www.shetlandsoap.co.uk/ - have well established and brisk online custom

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Tescos being a large chain could not reduce the prices in Shetland branch alone to remove the competition.

 

Perhaps not for every stock item, but they don't need to drop the price of every one, just a targetted selection of key items.

 

What's to stop them running an extended "promotion" on just enough key products to have the desired effect?

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Last week I purchased a £400 Olympus camera from The Camera Centre. I had already looked it up on the net and couldn't find it any cheaper. Tesco Direct had the identical camera available on their site for £88 more than The Camera Centre. Full marks to them for beating Tesco by such a huge amount. As they say, 'every little helps'! :D

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^ Several local 'niche' shopkeepers claim that Tesco pricecheckers, or whatever their job title is, have been visiting shops to find out which brands they stock and the retail prices

 

Tesco have been touting their new 'asian foods' line, so I'd expect World Tastes will be in for a tough time

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