E16: How to fix retail? - Price Spreads Report part 6

11/24/22 • 19 min

This episode is perfect timing. We're looking at the recommendations the Price Spreads Commission is making to try to fix the retail industry in the 1930's, and on November 17, 2022 our Federal Government announced a review of our current Competition Act. A lot of the recommendations made in the 1930's are still relevant, and we can make today. Listen to this episode and learn what ideas we need to reuse.

Links from today's episode:

Links from today's episode:

Previous Episode

E15: What were they actually doing? - Price Spreads Report Pt 5

We're getting near the end of the discussion on the department and chain stores. This episode will be a look into the specific actions of the chain and department stores that worried the Commission. These behaviors were lumped into mass buying and price concessions, and competitive practices in retail trade. Price concessions are between mass buyers and suppliers, retail trade is between mass buyers and other retailers.

This is a perfect time for this episode - the Canadian Competition Bureau just announced a market study of the Canadian grocery industry. Basically, the Competition Bureau is going to look into 'competitive practices in retail trade'. again.

Note: It was 2013 when Future Shop closed.

The behaviors the Commission looked into are:

Mass Buying and Price Concessions
- Trade Discounts
- Cash Discounts
- Quantity Discounts
- Free Deals and Premiums
- Advertising Allowances
- Demonstrators
Competitive Practices in Retail Trade
- Loss Leaders
- Deceptive Packaging
- Short Weighing
- Misleading Advertising

Links from today's episode:

Next Episode

E17: Roll-Up Those Newspapers

Today's episode is all about local newspapers. I've had a long history with them, every Saturday my Dad would buy 4 different papers and we'd all sit around and read them. When I was 9, inspired by adding to my hockey card collection, I called and got myself a paper route delivering the Chronicle Herald. Little did I know, I was going to be running my own little business.
More importantly, I want to talk about some of the common stories about why local news died, and I want to add a couple of my own to this list. In my mind, the biggest culprit was companies buying up and consolidating all the local newspapers, in Amherst's case this was Transcontenintal Media Group.

This episode was inspired by my Grandmother and the scrapbooks she kept full of all newspaper articles mentioning anyone in our family. I found a scrapbook from 1943-1945 that was full of articles about my Grandfather from when he was a labour leader at the Canada Car and Foundry plant in Amherst. This plant manufactured airplane parts during WWII.

I hope you enjoy this episode, and I wish you all a Happy Holidays and a successful 2023.

Links from today's episode:

One note: It turns out I mis-remembered one of the stories. My grandfather didn't go to the Newspaper office because he had the chicken pox, there was another story about him having his appendix removed.