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Sat, May 25 2013
Opinion: Are supermarkets doomed?
Photo: Reuters
The last two decades were the era of hypermarkets - massive superstores that could dazzle customers with an astonishing array of standardized products. But there are signs that the superstore's age of dominance may be over. In recent months, hypermarkets around the world - Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour - have announced results that fell short of expectations. Conventional wisdom is that this reflects the economic cycle, but it may be the first sign of a more fundamental shift.
The world's economic history can be seen as a race between transportation and communications. Transportation innovations allow supply chains to carry increasingly large quantities, which encourages standardization. Communications innovations, on the other hand, allow for better specification of design, quality, quantity and time of delivery, which tends to encourage customization. The dominant economic model of any era emerges from the relative evolution of these two technologies.
Read more at The Prague Post
The world's economic history can be seen as a race between transportation and communications. Transportation innovations allow supply chains to carry increasingly large quantities, which encourages standardization. Communications innovations, on the other hand, allow for better specification of design, quality, quantity and time of delivery, which tends to encourage customization. The dominant economic model of any era emerges from the relative evolution of these two technologies.
Read more at The Prague Post
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I tend to agree. Supermarkets have squeezed out most of the smaller players and have monopolized the market and I don't see supermarkets disappearing anytime soon.
Please, get real. What real choice do any consumer now have since the small shops and high streets have been decimated to non existence and even the remaining ones cannot compete with supermarket prices. Any shortfall in sales is a temporary blip as people tighten their belts, and if anything supermarkets are expaning not retracting. Reality is within 10 years in Bulgaria consumer will have little choice than the cartel of supermarkets.....