Structure of the retail industry in Australia

Abstract

This chapter does not have an abstract. The following is the first paragraph of the chapter.

In past decades in Australia and most OECD-Countries the retail sector has undergone a significant concentration of ownership in retail trading. A few very large and dominant supermarket chains, franchise companies and shopping centres has lead to a trading philosophy of "Anytime, everywhere,everything the same". This trading philosophy characterised by Wolfgang Fischer which means that large supermarkets as well as warehouses have centrally driven procurement policies; they demand bulk orders from specific price competitive producers and farmers, nor do these retail giants acknowledge special local features (Fischer, 2004, ix). The result is a monotonous shopping atmosphere at these venues. For example in Australia there are numerous franchise business shops with cheap and often low-quality products from China and elsewhere. The public activities of several campaigns to "Buy Australian Made" had little impact on consumers'purchasing decisions in times when household budgets were getting tighter (Fischer and Byron,1995).