The future of grocery retailing in the UK: PART I

Over the last ten years the structure of the UK retail grocery sector has changed substantially, with concentration and centralisation being the key features. Store size has increased; own label merchandising and in‐store technology have both developed; and there has been increasing centralisation at head office level. In order to assess these major changes, the Centre for Business Research at Manchester Business School carried out a survey to examine the opinions and predictions of experts in grocery retailing. These experts included retailers, food‐based manufacturers, and various industry analysts. This article forms Part 1 of a feature on the results of the survey; Part 2 will be published in the near future.