The weapons are there for you to use

It’s a long way from £4,800 to £4.2bn. But it’s a start.

Retail Express and Better Retailing try to help its readers compete in a difficult market. We offer news on launches, category advice, and hints & tips on how you can get a trading advantage, however small, in a crowded marketplace.

So when an award-winning retailer like Sunder Sandher told us that he had read our story from August 26, followed our step-by-step guide on trying to obtain a business rates rebate – and got a positive result – it justifies brilliantly what we try to do.

His £4.8k victory is a relative drop in the ocean of the £4.2bn owed to the world of independent retail. But as he told me on the phone, it’s the family holiday that he needs. Rather selfishly for me, it’s also the promise of a thank you drink for us.

I read a great article this week on Burnley FC. Manager Sean Dyche was talking about the relative spending power of the club, competing with established Premier League spenders like Chelsea and Manchester United, and how people paint it as “David and Goliath”.

“You know the real story of David and Goliath,” he said.

“It’s always told wrong. Goliath didn’t stand a chance. David had a slingshot. They’re amazing weapons. David didn’t think ‘Oh no, what am I going to do?’ He thought, ‘I’m going to slingshot this right at his head before he gets close to me’.”

Dyche’s attitude is spot on. Being ‘small’ doesn’t automatically mean defeat. It’s how you use the weapons you have.

Retail Express and Better Retailing are just two of the weapons that you have in your armoury.

Use it right, and let us know how it works for you.