Dixons boss defends image of UK retailers
Clare criticises retailers-as-villains view
June 10 2003
Dixon chief executive John Clare has defended UK retailers against the range of trials and tribulations lined up against the sector,
Speaking at a Confederation of British Industry business summit, Clare aimed at a range of targets including over-inquisitive analysts, an over-bureaucratic government, and over protective consumer watchdogs.
In a broadside at the City, Clare said: “Retailers’ strategies are being assessed with increasing, and sometimes, alarming frequency, on the back of more and more trading statements and analyst and investor demand for trading information. It’s a fact of life – just one aspect of our “now” society, and a craving for more and more information, perhaps to keep analysts employed in such large numbers.
“However, one of the associated risks is that management can spend so much time thinking about today that we never get around to tomorrow opportunities, or indeed, it threats.”
Clare also criticised the current Competition Commission into electrical warranties. He said: “There seems to be a tide of popular opinion that says that shoppers are hapless innocents preyed upon by avaricious villains,” adding that “bureaucrats must avoid imposing such a regulatory burden that it drives up the prices those consumers will eventually pay.”
Accepting that business needs to operate within a regulatory framework, Clare said business needed “better informed regulators and legislators who make a real effort to understand the businesses for which their actions have such great consequences. I want regulators and legislators that are prepared to work with business, not score points against us.”
Clare also suggested that the government needs to do more to consider the impact on consumer confidence of its policies. today’s world of consumer finances, there are major issues that are affecting confidence. Factors such as pensions. council tax increases and national insurance increases have left consumers “about how these will affect their own personal finances, and, until they know, they will hold back on higher ticket purchases if they are not essential.”
