FOREWORD. 
“HE need for a more thorough study of the retail demand for 
Empire products has been emphasised both by the Imperial 
Economic Committee and by the Agricultural Economics 
Committee of the Empire Marketing Board. It is of considerable 
importance to oversea producers to understand the working of the 
agencies through which their produce passes, and to ascertain as 
closely as possible the preferences of consumers in the matter of 
quality, grading and presentation. 
The retail trade constitutes a particularly difficult problem for 
study since so little exact knowledge is available. The number of 
retailers selling foodstuffs is very large, and they do not specialise in 
the sale of a few commodities as in the wholesale trade. Further, 
retail shops differ greatly in size, type of management, class of trade, 
and in many other respects. It is impossible, therefore, by reference 
to a few firms only, to obtain a clear picture of the variations in 
conditions and in policy ; it is necessary to study the practice of a 
large number of shops before reliable knowledge of the retail marketing 
of even one commodity can be obtained. 
The Empire Marketing Board has accordingly set on foot a 
systematic study of the retail demand for certain Empire products, 
starting with those on which the Imperial Economic Committee have 
already published the results of their more general survey. 
The present report on the Demand for Empire Butter is the second 
of the series, and follows a similar study published a year ago on the 
Demand for Cheese in London (E.M.B.22). The object of the enquiry 
was to examine the position of Empire butters in the retail shops of 
the main centres of population in the United Kingdom, and to 
estimate the extent and nature of the competition from butters of 
foreign origin. The investigation extended over the greater part of 
the year 1929. 
The information was obtained by interview with the proprietors or 
managers of the retail shops visited, and the Board has been gratified 
with the sympathetic response with which the enquiry has been 
received by the Trade. Acknowledgment and thanks are here given 
to members of the wholesale and retail distributive trades for the 
assistance they so willingly afforded. 
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Economic Section, 
Empire Marketing Board. 
October, 1930. 
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