Member Article

Small businesses cautious over Sunday trading plans

Small business owners across the UK are showing opposition to the proposed changes in Sunday trading laws, according to a new survey.

XLN Business Services surveyed 487 small businesses, asking “would you like the Sunday Trading Laws to be ditched forever after they have been relaxed for the 2012 Olympics?”

49.4% said they would not, compared with 31.1% who said they would, and 19.4% who did not know.

Steve Harold, owner of Suffolk Pots, commented: “Small businesses cannot afford the labour costs incurred from Sunday trading, so we are not able to compete on a level playing field with our big competitors.

“This will squeeze our share of sales even further.”

Christian Nellemann, CEO of XLN Business Services, said: “Our research reveals that business owners are worried that the suspension of Sunday trading laws during the Olympics will be the beginning of a slippery slope towards permanent changes.

“There seem to be two main reasons for the opposition to permanent changes. Some small business owners make a lot of money on Sundays and are anxious about losing trade to big businesses, who currently can only trade for 6 hours.

“Other businesses, on the other hand, can’t open on a Sunday as it is the owner’s only day off and are worried about competition with larger, more flexible labour cashing in while they are having their day of rest.

“We would like the government to ignore the big business lobby and return things to the status quo after the Olympics and thereby protect small business owners.”

The question formed part of XLN’s Q1 2012 Small Business Opinion Survey, covering current issues and factors affecting their business and forecasts for the future.

Overall business sentiment for the last 6 months was low, with business owners rating all factors affecting their business with an average 4.49/10, compared to last quarter’s survey which averaged 4.45/10.

Some optimism was offered regarding forecast increased sales due to the upcoming Olympics and Diamond Jubilee.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .