In this ambitious guide, earlier versions of which have been reviewed in these columns (RR 1998/18), market leader Euromonitor attempts to chart the world of global retail. In total, the guide covers 2,100 companies across the world. No organization with fewer than five outlets has been included unless it is a famous significant shop: Harrods and Harvey Nichols are both included, for example.
Following an extensive table of contents which, although very detailed, is a little difficult to read due to the font style and size, the first section examines some key retailing trends and developments. The trends include changing lifestyles and shopping habits; shopping as leisure; the importance of convenience; globalization technique; health, safety and ethical concerns; high street versus out of town; and new shopping formats such as television and Internet shopping. The influence of store cards and smart cards is outlined. There is also a short section on retail technology, which explains such terms as EPoS (Electronic Point of Sale) and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). This section also looks at opportunities for expansion and charts some major events that have shaped the world we now live in, for example the Asian financial crisis in 1997‐1998, the collapse of the Russian economy in 1998, and the impact of the Euro. There is also brief coverage of some legislative frameworks such as restrictions on foreign investment. The first section concludes with good, clear tables containing a wide range of information for the period 1996‐2000 on such topics as global retail sales, number of outlets, and food versus non‐food sales, all given by continent.
From section 2, information is given in tabular format by country, either for the period 1996‐2001 or for 2001. All sales figures are given in $US billions. The tables give information for the food and non‐food retail sectors by country. Tables are also available for retail market percentage shares.
Section 3 is the heart of the guide, with more detailed information on a country‐by‐country basis for major retailers. This section includes the ranking of the top ten retailers for each country in $US millions (unless otherwise stated). Typically information on retailers includes contact details, activities, parent company, year established, number of outlets/operations, notes, financial information, and the number of employees where available.
Euromonitor made a deliberate decision to focus on the emerging and newly developed markets of Eastern Europe and Asia. It is noticeable that although these sections have been expanded the information is still extremely sparse compared to well‐established countries such as France, Spain, the UK, Canada and America. Where a French company such as Vivarte has a whole column, for example, with very detailed notes, not one Chinese company has more than a very short paragraph. Information is generally very limited for those countries where the mother tongue is not a major European language. On the UK side many companies such as Thorntons; Primark; Peacocks; Monsoon and Oddbins have been excluded ‐ all of which have more than five outlets. If there was a deliberate decision to exclude franchise operations such as Thorntons this is not explicitly stated.
The guide has a Yellow Pages section, Key Retail Information Sources, which has useful information on some magazine publishers and the areas they cover, international and pan‐European organizations, and Web sites. Again, however, there are some surprising omissions: neither Which? nor the Consumer Association rate a mention in the UK section. The guide concludes with an index which is detailed but would benefit from further cross‐referencing, e.g. Arcadia is listed but not Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge or Burton. To have an entry under both parent and brand name would be extremely helpful.
Unfortunately there are occasional typographical errors throughout the guide which were apparent without close scrutiny, e.g. in the Iceland Frozen Foods entry on page 427 and the Ottakar's entry on page 432. There are also some small inconsistencies: Robert Dyas is described as “diy retail” while B&Q is described as “DIY retailer”. The guide would benefit from having the inconsistencies and typographical errors eliminated.
This guide is not cheap, although it is extremely difficult to think where else this breadth of information could be found in one place. It is an extremely ambitious undertaking, and still a relatively new guide, particularly when compared to some of Euromonitor's other offerings. Future editions of the guide will undoubtedly show considerable improvement.
