The UK government has moved to relax Sunday trading hours across Britain, in a move that has garnered a mixed response from retailers.
In a Budget statement on Wednesday, finance minister George Osborne announced that he was relaxing legislation to allow large stores to open for longer than the current six hours on a Sunday, should local town councils demand it.
Commenting on the move, Joseph Robinson, research director at analysts Conlumnio, said that while he expected "a relaxation of these trading laws will be welcomed by the majority of consumers, […] the reaction among retailers and local authorities will be mixed, leading to significant potential for inconsistency in the way that any changes are brought in across the country, particularly in the short term.
"Local authorities will inevitably come under pressure to match any changes legislated by neighbouring areas, to offset traders in their region suffering the disadvantage of “cross border” shopping."
He added, "Moreover, it is highly likely that these changes will have an impact on the grocers’ burgeoning convenience estates, with increased competition from their own larger stores, and by opening up the Sunday market further for the likes of Aldi and Lidl. To this end, the main winners from these changes are likely to be the discounters, and Asda and Morrisons, the two retailers among the Big Four that are most reliant on larger supermarkets."
Commenting to Reuters yesterday, Asda chief executive Andy Clarke said the move was "common sense".
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones
