Growth, Concentration and Regulation in European Food Retailing

Abstract

This paper extends recent work on British retail change, assessing the extent of corresponding or diverging development trajectories elsewhere in Europe. Ten national markets are scrutinized, with a view to understanding the likely variability in future European retail development. The so-called ‘golden age’ of grocery retailing in Britain, its subsequent demise, and the responses this provoked from retailers provides a benchmark against which to consider the experiences of other European markets. Evidence of retail development crises paralleling Britain’s retail-property-development crisis is weighed as a means of considering the overall limits to European retail development. Strategic responses to the broader economic climate, legislative changes and foreign discounter activity are discussed, highlighting similarities and differences across different national markets. The evidence reviewed is used to identify clusters of national markets exhibiting comparable development trajectories. It is concluded that future development in countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands may be expected to consist of limited consolidation among major players, alongside domestic share gains driven by concept innovation. Elsewhere, consolidation of fragmented domestic markets is likely to progress alongside organic growth and net importation of foreign capital.