RETAIL can be a tough and unforgiving sector.

Especially given the protracted grim economic backdrop we have seen in the UK in recent years.

As can be seen clearly from the continuing troubles of the big supermarket chains, and the rise of the discounters, household budgets remain under very significant pressure after many painful years of falling real incomes.

So it is always heartening to hear of retailers that have found a niche and are enjoying the kind of success that has enabled them to embark on major expansion.

Last week, The Herald revealed plans by womenswear and handbag designer and retailer Ness to more than treble its annual turnover to in excess of £15 million over the next five years. Ness is setting out on this growth path with the backing of £2.5 million of development capital from the YFM Equity Partners-run British Smaller Companies VCTs (venture capital trusts). And Glasgow-based Clydesdale Bank is providing £1m of banking facilities.

Edinburgh-based Ness, set up by husband and wife Adrienne and Gordon MacAulay in 1997 with its first shop on the Royal Mile, is planning a programme of store openings and ramping up its online retailing operation.

Ness has 10 permanent shops, as well as a "pop-up" outlet at Braehead shopping centre near Glasgow. It has three shops in Edinburgh, including the original outlet on the Royal Mile which Mrs MacAulay describes as her "favourite", two in Glasgow, in the Buchanan Galleries and St Enoch shopping centres, and stores in Dundee, Inverness, York, Bath and Cambridge.

The business is planning to open a further four stores over the summer and autumn, and is focusing its attention on this front south of the Border.

Ness's story is a timely reminder that, while the general retail picture might still be gloomy, there is plenty of innovation and drive among independent Scottish players.

If anyone is in doubt about how tough the sector backdrop is, they need only look at the monthly sales figures published by the Scottish Retail Consortium.

There have been too many months in which these have shown a year-on-year fall in the value of retail sales north of the Border.

The picture south of the Border appears, based on the British Retail Consortium sales figures for the UK as a whole, to have been a bit brighter.

However, it is likely that these UK-wide figures are skewed by the success of the likes of London and south-east England.

Scottish Retail Consortium director David Lonsdale has cited stronger economic growth and a sharper rise in house prices in other parts of the UK, notably London and south-east England, as possible reasons for the weaker sales performance in Scotland.

The generally difficult UK economic climate was highlighted by Sir Angus Grossart, in sage-like fashion, in the latest accounts of his Edinburgh-based Noble Grossart merchant bank. These accounts became available from Companies House last week.

Sir Angus warns that the UK economic recovery is over-reliant on consumer spending and low interest rates.

In his chairman's report on the accounts for the year to January 31, Sir Angus writes: "There was a cautious and slow recovery in financial market conditions and in economies, but that has not diminished the many reasons for continuing caution. Financial expectations are at unduly high levels and value is elusive."

He added: "The absence of real economic growth, masked by low interest rates and consumer spending, which can create a benign impression, is not a reliable foundation for the future."

Sir Angus is right to highlight the fact that the performance of the UK economy, which is receiving a huge stimulus from rock-bottom interest rates, remains unconvincing. UK base rates have been at a record low of 0.5 per cent since March 2009.

In this challenging environment, it is more important than ever that retailers gain a competitive edge by offering great service, good value, and, where possible, something different.

The success of department store chain John Lewis, through the deep recession of 2008/09 and the difficult days since, has been one of the highlights in the retail sector. And it appears to be, in no small part, down to the great customer service arising from its employee-ownership model,

And there is no doubt that Ness is offering something different. Its products, which include bags and purses, coats, jackets and blazers, are created by a sizeable in-house design team. These individuals are behind the unique designs of the likes of the tartans and tweeds that feature in Ness's products.

Retailers with a keen eye for what is becoming fashionable can gain considerable competitive advantage from such an arrangement, enhancing the reputation of their brand in the process.

The MacAulays put considerable effort into working out where in the world is best for the manufacture of particular products.

While highlighting Ness's desire to use UK manufacturers where possible, for the likes of tweed or small runs of knitwear, Mrs MacAulay noted that Outer Mongolia was the best place from which to source cashmere products.

This type of control over brand has stood another Scottish company, Jacobs and Turner, in good stead over the years, as was underlined when it filed its latest annual accounts with Companies House last month.

Glasgow-based Jacobs and Turner, the firm behind outdoor and sport clothing and equipment brand Trespass that now also controls the Nevisport chain, raised pre-tax profits by more than five per cent to £4.23m in its financial year to June 2014 on the back of a 14.5 per cent jump in turnover to £86.2m.

And the business, which is owned by the Khushi family and supplied thousands of uniforms for the Clydesider volunteers at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last summer, signalled it was on course to grow further in the coming years.

The entrepreneurial efforts of brothers Afzal and Akmal Khushi, who own and run the Jacobs and Turner business, represent a great example for others looking to build businesses in Scotland.

Jacobs and Turner is a very significant employer. Its average staff numbers increased to 1,378 in the year to June 2014, from 1,135 in the prior financial year, mainly as a result of a sharp rise in the number of retail employees in the business.

Ness, which already employs nearly 100 people, is set to build its workforce substantially as it undertakes its major expansion programme.

These businesses show, even in this tough consumer climate, innovating from a position of being in control of your own destiny can deliver continued success. It can also provide an important contribution to an economy that needs all the help it can get right now.