Halfords says: “On yer bike to small suppliers”
Tracy Ewen, managing director at IGF Invoice Finance, commenting on the news that Halfords is demanding suppliers pay towards its store renovations, said: “Using suppliers to fund growth is endemic of the attitude that larger businesses have taken towards their smaller partners in recent years. The problem has been exaggerated by the pressures put on all businesses by several years of economic difficulty. However whilst large companies offload their financial strain onto their suppliers – demanding help funding growth and holding back payments for as long as possible – those SME suppliers often have nowhere to turn.
Until this attitude is reversed, British businesses are likely to remain trapped by their customers, unable to release the cash they need to drive growth.”
Business Money editor, Robert Lefroy commented: “Whilst a boycott could hurt small suppliers in the long term there are at least five million SMEs out there with widely associated employees with families and friends. A one weekend boycott to make a point just might sharpen the finance director’s sensibilities to the fact that there are proper avenues for funding capital expenditure and that exploiting suppliers is a grotesque misuse of commercial muscle. I am not suggesting one right now but the Christmas shopping weekends when store targets must be met could be singled out for an “e-bay alternative weekend” if this kind of corporate delinquency is to be effectively challenged.”
