If you are a small retailer, all I can say is I'm very very sorry. Sorry that you are struggling to compete on price. Sorry that you are battling with low margins. Sorry that many of you are working over 80 hours per week. Some of you will be making slow progress, others will be treading water or even slowly sinking. It can be a lonely, sole destroying business. The only other people that understand what you are going through are fellow small retailers. Your customers and your suppliers cannot begin to appreciate the daily struggle you are involved in. This article is the start of a series that will examine the ways in which a small retailer can make changes for the good. It may mean the difference between staying afloat and going under.

Small retailers that are struggling at the moment can probably be categorized three ways:

A. Those that are beyond redemption

B. Those that are just getting by and the owner is happy to leave things as they are (perhaps close to retirement?)

C. Those that are willing to take a risk and make radical changes

Category A: Your business may have shown a steady decline in turnover and profits over the last few years. If you have no tangible assets - even amounting to a small sum - to invest in the business and you are living hand-to-mouth and you cannot see light at the end of the tunnel, it may be time to consider giving it up. For the small percentage of retailers who own their own building it may be possible to re designate it as a dwelling. If you are in a high property value area, you may be able to convert the shop into a house - or apartments - and sell up. In any case, if the game's up then it is better to quit as early as possible rather than manage a painful decline.

Category B: If you are coasting along and awaiting retirement, or are simply happy to leave things as they are - struggle or no struggle - then fine. Carry on. If you don't want to change things and have a routine that you are happy with, then, as long as you are not trading at a loss (in which case you are in category A), then that is fine. There is a lot to be said for this approach, if it suits you. If you are in either this category, or category A, then you need not read any more of this article.

Category C: If you have some tangible assets, and/or can invest some money - even a small amount - in the business, then read on. It is important to stay positive and look at how you can best exploit your situation to maximum advantage. You may also need to consider taking a gamble. In this series of articles we will look at the following aspects:

1. Go local: how do make the most of your locality
2. Strategic pricing: an increase here, a decrease there
3. Customer service
4. Home Delivery
5. Refitting and merchandising
6. Range extensions and new ranges

The problem with running a busy store is that you never have time to see the wood through the trees. There is insufficient thinking and planning time. You can find yourself caught in a daily routine that has you tied to a counter, making deliveries, negotiating with suppliers, cleaning, merchandising goods etc etc. When you finally finish for the day your are virtually brain dead and are not in a position to think things through. Just time to go to bed to be ready for another day of the same treadmill. You do not have the time to take the initiative and implement this idea or try out that new concept. The trouble is that the world is changing around you and you must be alert to new ways of doing things. This lack of thinking and planning time puts you in a vulnerable position. You are prey to other people's initiatives and schemes as you don't have time to grasp the nettle and implement your own. Be mindful of the slick salesman who promises you generous returns on a new product that "will fly out". The national promotion for the product you have been led to expect may be not materialize. You may be stuck with redundant stock because you grabbed at a new product idea without taking control of the situation. How can you do otherwise when you are too busy to think?

It is very easy to blame others. You may be unhappy that the large retailers have taken away your trade. Well that is what they are supposed to do. It is churlish to complain about it. The large retailers are not a social service, they run their business along the same lines as you run yours. They maximise their returns. This means grabbing as much market share as they can while maintaining, or increasing profitability. Most large retailers were once small and most of them have gone through periods where they have had to fight to survive. In the UK, supermarket Tesco went through a lean period in the 1970s. They were at the low end of the market and had a reputation for poor quality and poor customer service. Their productivity was poor and their distribution system was outdated and costly. After a failed investment into the Irish market they were in trouble. They could have carried on struggling and faced a future that would have ended in decline or in a takeover. Instead, they took a gamble. They managed to secure a loan and decided to invest in the business. They gave their retail staff a very large pay rise, invested heavily in their distribution infrastructure and crucially in quality control. The quality of their staff intake improved dramatically leading to improved customer service, their high staff turnover was significantly reduced and they managed to reduce distribution revenue costs, although this took some time to realize. Their greatest achievement, though, was to install a quality control function that dramatically improved the fresh food offer in their stores. They recognized that customers were attracted by well displayed, high quality fresh produce. Sales - and reputation - were driven by fresh food sales, especially in the south east of England. This brought the customers in the door to the benefit of the rest of the products on offer. Fresh foods offered high margins and so good profits eventually followed.

If you are running a small retailer you may not see the relevance. My point is that, although Tesco was not a small retailer, they were struggling just as much as many small retailers are today. They had faith in the business and went for it. If they can do it then so can you. Just like Tesco, you may need to consider taking a gamble. If you do not have the faith in your business to do this then perhaps you should put yourself in category A or B.

Still with me? You may need to borrow money or sell assets. One way or another you need to invest in the business. If you are doing all the work and have no thinking time, you may need to take on an extra member of staff, or give some existing staff more responsibility - and pay them appropriately for it. This will free you up to make the structural changes in your business that will put you in a higher league. On the face of it you may not see any logic in spending more on staff and turning a thin profit into a loss. You may need to be bold, however. By freeing up your own time, you will now be able to see the wood through the trees and take control of your own situation. In any case, you will be turning a thin profit into a thin loss. So, what's the difference? Just as some people invest in stocks and shares, you are choosing to invest in your own business. Operating at a temporary loss should be seen as an investment if this is to the long term good of your business.

More articles on this subject will follow - watch this space.