It seems to be a proven fact that the big grocery chains use predatory pricing to drive competitors out of business - and once this is achieved their pricing regime exploits profits.
There have been numerous enquiries and we supposedly have laws in place to prevent the big end of town pricing below cost to disadvantage a competitor and cause them business loss.
One sure way of achieving protection for small traders would be legislation to require multi store outlets to offer the same discounted price in all their shops, but this has been rejected because it would create more problems than it would solve.
It is a fact of life that store managers must adjust prices to quickly move a perishable item when the " use by " date is approaching, and once this form of price control is in place the tendency would be towards the higher end of the price scale.
Probably the only relief for small competitors would be a complaints forum with the power to inspect purchase invoices. If a particular store was consistently selling below cost to disadvantage a small competitor that forum should have the power to impose a heavy fine and direct this to compensate the competitor.
So far this problem seems to have been consigned to the " too hard basket ". Trying to draw a line between legitimate commercial activity and predatory pricing falls into the category of " how long is a piece of string ! "
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