Speculative inventories in the food retailing industry: a comment on French practices

Examines the reasons driving French food retailers to build major speculative inventories through forward buying from their suppliers. First analyses the origin of the phenomenon and its strategic basis. Then, using the model of postponement‐speculation proposed by Louis Bucklin in the mid‐1960s, explains why forward buying does not conflict with a reduction of in‐store inventories. Finally, offers comments on the future of speculative inventories in the French context, which is characterized by permanently conflicting relations between manufacturers and distributors. To do so, reference is made to information collected in the course of interviews with the logistics managers of ten of the leading companies in the sector.