The recent news of retailer’s association threatening action against wholesalers is surprising.

They want to bring in monopoly in an open market, which gives the liberty to the shoppers to buy his/her needs from anywhere he/she chooses to.

How can we take a step back in an open economy? The retailers must become more efficient and competitive to get patronised. No sane person will ever think of putting any restriction on buyers, to buy any of the material of his/her choice from a particular shop. In an open economy the rule is competition and hard work. The more you are innovative the more you get patronised and become popular. Retailers must learn that bringing in some innovation and hard work is the key to surviving in the present competitive world. Thinking of any restriction would be a silly course of action to take.

To argue that Seychelles has a population of only a hundred thousand is illogical myth. At any time the population of Seychelles would be around 150,000, when we include the expat, their families and the visitors. Only competition brings development, where new innovative ideas originate. Some of many ideas to ponder could be Loyalty Card, reduction in margin of profit or giving some incentives to the shoppers… Retailers will have to find ways and means to attract customers instead of asking for monopoly and expecting wholesalers not to involve in retailing.

In fact the retailers should have asked for some mechanism to register all the trucks selling any goods. Of course all the trucks involved in sales should be registered as being done for the vendors and spot checks are needed so that government does not lose the tax revenue. All trucks selling goods must be asked to display their registration number clearly and public should buy only from trucks registered and not from the pirates.

Source: Seychelles Nation