The wholesale trade has reached a crossroads and will have to act to take advantage of the opportunities it is presented with, or face continued decline, the sector was warned last week.
Krys Zasada, policy development manager at the National Association of British Market Authorities, told market representatives at the WUWM congress that immediate action is needed.
He talked through the main obstacles that have set back the UK trade, with complacency at the top of the list, followed by resistance to change from the traders, poor management and the local government perception that markets are a nuisance.
Zasada, pictured, said: “Charles Handy, who wrote The Empty Raincoat: Making Sense of the Future, told us that for businesses to survive and modernise, they need to intervene while still in their growth curve. In the UK wholesale sector, we passed this before it dawned on us that things were going profoundly wrong.
“There are WUWM member markets that are at different stages of development, but don’t wait until you are in decline before you start thinking about what you need to change.”
But he was keen to emphasise that the tide is at last turning in the UK at least, once a number of market leaders started to emerge “out of desperation” and celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall backed markets as vibrant sources of fresh food.
Tools from the high street such as footfall counters and mystery shoppers are now being used to push the retail market sector forward.
A series of government reports referring to the role and value of markets are also gaining momentum.
