smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

There is still space for small businesses to compete with larger retail firms on the UK marketplace if they look at offering services that differentiate them from their rivals, an industry expert suggests.

One area for small firms to exploit, according to Shane Brennan, a spokesperson from the Association of Convenience Stores, is the growing desire from UK consumers to have organic and locally-produced goods, which smaller companies should be able to source and sell more easily.

'There is a real opportunity for small businesses to source locally. It is one way they can prove to the customers that they are different to the major supermarkets,' he says.

Mr Brennan also suggests that smaller firms can try and offer a more personalised service in other ways to further help set them apart from the more faceless style of the retail giants.

'Small businesses are about putting themselves in places where people live. Groups like the elderly or those who don't have cars really do lose out if small businesses go out of their areas.'

A report from Defra released earlier this year showed that the UK now produces just 58 per cent of its own food - more than ten per cent less than a decade ago - as bigger retail firms increasingly fill their shelves with imported goods, the transport and storage of which can be both expensive to the consumer and harmful to the environment.

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