81. Major Lloydasked the President of the Board of Trade for what reason he has in fact decided to abandon the recognised furniture trade principle that the retail margin is a fixed percentage of the manufacturers' price for utility furniture; and whether his decision was reached in agreement with the trade machinery set up for consultation in such matters.
§ 88. Colonel J. R. H. Hutchisonasked the President of the Board of Trade whether under S.R. & O., Nos. 2122 and 2132, of 1946, the principle of retailers' percentage margins on the sale of utility furniture has been varied; and what is the new basic principle for marginal profit imposed by his Department.
§ Mr. BelcherWe have not yet reached any final decision on the method which will be adopted in future in fixing distributors' margins on utility furniture. This is one of the matters to be discussed shortly with the trade. In the meantime it became necessary to increase manufacturers' maximum prices for certain models to cover substantial increases in production costs. We were not satisfied that this justified an increase in the distributor's cash margin, which was accordingly kept at the current figure.