The alternative view

It is time that the SME Retail population of the UK was truly represented by a single effective voice to enable it to respond with a generally more considered opinion to the policy makers. At present there are a plethora of organisations and trade associations who claim to be 'the' truly representative group - but are they?

Take the British Retail Consortium, for example; they claim to be the mouth-piece of all retailers, including SMEs - but it costs around £3000 to join their ranks. Yet they are extremely influential at the highest levels - that, by the way is not a criticism, simply an observation.

There are literally dozens of other organisations, yet many concentrate on particular product sectors - the cycle trade, bakers etc; then there are the more general SME organisations, within which the particular needs and problems of SME Retailers are subsumed. All of these organisations have their individual strengths, but none can really claim to be the true representatives of SME Retailers with their interests alone to be considered.