I have to admit this rather confuses me.

The High Street Britain 2015 report, seen by the
Sunday Telegraph, shows the low regard in which supermarkets are held
in Parliament. It concludes that the grocery sector will have
"dramatically altered" by 2015 if supermarkets are not restrained.

The
findings will increase pressure for government intervention in the
£120bn sector. The Office of Fair Trading is already carrying out a
separate probe into whether the supermarket sector should be referred
to the Competition Commission for a full inquiry.

The
report says the increased size and buying power of the big four
supermarkets will lead to a "collapse" in the supply chain as
independent wholesalers – who sell goods to small stores – are edged
out of the market. As a result, thousands of small shops could
disappear "overnight".

Knock-on effects will
include a "small to medium reduction" in the number of people employed
in Britain and a "sharp reduction" in the number of individuals opening
small shops.

A reduction in employment in the retail sector? That’s a good idea isn’t it? Freeing up the labour to go and do something else? Isn’t that what we call an increase in efficiency? A path to greater wealth for the society as a whole?

(Think of it this way. We used to have x people doing retail. Now we have x-y doing retail. Thus we have all of the same retail plus the output of y people doing something else. That’s more output than we had before to share around.)

What also slightly worried me is this idea that the supermarkets are acting in concert. Now I’m sure that it is possible for those four companies to act as an oligopoly, carving up the market between them, to the detriment of the consumer. The question is though, are they?

Tesco and Asda will start a price war this week by cutting millions of
pounds from the cost of hundreds of food and non-food items. Tesco is
dropping the prices of hundreds of lines by up to 50 per cent, while
Asda will make £40m worth of cuts.

Doesn’t look like it, does it?

I also find this rather odd:

The report goes on to express "serious concerns" about supermarkets
shunning unprofitable city centres, leading to an increase in so-called
"food deserts".

So they’re acting as such ruthless suppressors of competition that they’re leaving vast swathes of the country open for others to compete in?