Britain: An official handbook > 1956

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BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
INTERNAL TRADE
The internal trade of the United Kingdom can be divided into two broad
categories: trade in raw materials, capital goods and intermediate products (such
as steel plates) which do not reach the hands of the public; and trade in consumer
goods. An account of the supply and distribution of consumer goods is given below.
Methods of distribution are varied and complex. On the basis of some pre-war
researches,1 however, it would appear that 10 to 15 per cent of sales (by value) are
made to consumers through producers’ own selling organizations, including their
own retail shops, and in about half the remaining sales the producers sell direct to
retailers. Where wholesale channels exist, they take a number of forms. Fish, for
example, is auctioned at ports mainly to port wholesalers to sell to inland wholesalers
at certain main distributive centres, who in turn sell to retailers, although a significant
number of retailers buy direct from port wholesalers. Most producers of fresh fruit
and vegetables (many of whom are small growers) market their products through
a wholesale market where most of it is handled by selling agents on a commission
basis. Wholesale distribution of consumer goods is not, however, generally
centralized.
WHOLESALE TRADE
Returns published in 1955 in the Census of Distribution and Other Services ig§o
were made by 55,701 wholesale establishments—about 92 per cent of the total
number. The returns show that 790,266 persons were engaged in wholesale trade,
and that the wages bill, excluding the incomes of proprietors, was £297,666,000.
Table 37 summarizes these returns with regard to wholesale establishments by
method of trading.
The greatest numbers of wholesale establishments are found in the clothing,
footwear and textiles trade (7,019), and the groceries, confectionery and drinks
trade (6,946).
RETAIL TRADE
Retail outlets of the United Kingdom can be classified into four types: (a) the
independent shop, (b) the departmental store, (c) the multiple shop, and (d) the
co-operative society. There is an increasing number of self-service shops in the
United Kingdom. Street and market traders, though relatively numerous, are not
believed to do a large volume of business.
Types of Shops
One-half of the retail trade of the United Kingdom is handled by independent
shopkeepers in ordinary small retail businesses consisting of a single shop or a few
shops. Such retailers usually serve customers in the immediate neighbourhood, often
supplying a great variety of commodities. Some specialist shops, however, have a
widespread and even an international clientele.
A departmental store is a shop having a number of departments for different
types of goods, while a multiple shop is a branch of a firm which owns or controls
a considerable number of similar retail outlets. Some shops are multiple depart¬
mental stores, i.e. they belong to a firm running several departmental stores.
Similar to these in their wide range of goods are the variety chain stores, which
1 An indication of the general pattern of distribution before the war is given in some
pioneer unofficial studies, including The Distribution of Consumer Goods, by James B.
Jefferys, published in 1950.