THE FOOD RETAILING REVOLUTION

Food retailing began to change in the early 1950's with the introduction of self selection in shops. By 1987, this self selection accounted for 72% of the grocery trade. The abolition of retail price maintenance in 1964 was another important factor in the retail revolution and now just five large multiples dominate our food buying (see Table 1). Table 2 shows the impact of multiple retailing which has led to a rapid reduction in the total number of shops and an increase in the number of superstores which offer the consumer considerable breadth and depth of choice.