Why do sole traders find it difficult to compete with large businesses

mainly the cost of purchasing - large business can get far cheaper rates by buying in bulk quantities. The small business usually buys through a middleman/agent and in only quantities they can handle or have storage room for, so therefore they can not offer the cheaper prices either.

Because they can not compete on the basis of price & do not have the imagination to come up with other reasons for people to deal with them instead of the big stores.

A common complaint about the big box stores is that the ''associates'' seem to be almost exclusively surly teenagers who know nothing about most of the merchandise the store sells & r a font of misinformation. So, when competing aganst that big box store the answer is to really know ur merchandise & ask the customers enough questions about their needs & intended use so that u can tell them & sell them. Tell them what they really need & why they need it & then make the sale. Offer something the big box store doesn't.

An excellent example is the convenience store. Every one knows their prices r higher than those of the supermarket on the other side of the parking lot, but the convenience stores all seem to be doing a good business because u can get in, get what u want & get out -- quickly.

Another example, a friend of mine built a rather large deck. He went to the big box store to price lumber & the price was great, but they charged for each delivery & he wanted the lumber delivered in three lots because he did not have good storage facilities. He found out that the local lumberyard, which had higher prices, would not charge for addtional deliveries. The convenience was worth the price difference to him so he dealt with the local lumberyard.

In any line of business an individual merchant can figure out the weakness of the big box store & come up with ways to take advantage of those weaknesses & thrive.

Hope this helps
Jerry-the-bookkeeper