But, hey, don’t you know, what a perfect time for Vodafone to take a scythe to the commission it pays to retailers, slashing it to 3.5%. You can see why Spar retailer Kevin Hunt is outraged and why he has set up a website to campaign against the cut. The website appears to be doing very well indeed in attracting so many campaigners to the cause.
Spar UK is none too happy either with Vodafone. Other symbol groups will no doubt feel the same. A revolt is on the cards.
Vodafone, apparently had listened “long and hard” to retailers. I think not.
Vodafone, I suggest, “heard” what retailers had to say but it wasn’t “listening”. Vodafone had leverage. Vodafone was squeezing retailers, because, well, it could.
Perhaps Vodafone is making the cuts because it is feeling the pinch? No.
Vodafone is a big fish with sales up 14.1% to £35.5bn in the year to March 2008. Its operating profits were £10.1bn, up 5.7% on the previous year. Its shareholders did nicely, too, with an 11.1 % increase in dividend.
Go to the Vodafone website and you see the usual corporate guff about looking after shareholders. What about retailers? At the time of writing, the day of protest had not yet happened so it will be mighty interesting to see if this campaign does gather strength and force Vodafone to reverse its decision.
The campaign already has Botterills in Scotland, Gillett’s Callington and Henderson Retail in Northern Ireland on board. So that’s a start. Have a look at the campaign website www.topupratecut.biz and see what you think.
[e=mailto:john.kirwan@nexusmedia.com]john.kirwan@nexusmedia.com[/e]
