To enhance business, it is necessary to invest in facilities and know-how, while association and specialisation are also options for small retailers, it was said.
In 2008, there were 17,403 small retailers but only 11,632 remain, Guild president Boris Vukelic said. He added that construction companies and retailers were hardest hit by the crisis and that the former could expect to recover but the latter hardly.
He said constant legislative changes seriously undermined business, notably among small retailers, and called for reducing red tape.
He also said the purchasing power parity in Croatia was below 5,000 euros, whereas the European average was 12,000 and the German 23,000.
HOK president Dragutin Ranogajec too said that constant legislative changes were a problem for small businesses and that laws were not adjusted to real life and were hard to enforce. He added that the government did not see that small retailers kept social peace.
Small retailers are also very important in tourism and in rural areas with an elderly population, it was said.