Introduction

Content

Conclusion

What is sociolo and anthropology of food.

What is retailing

How does retailing work

What is food retailing

History of food retail

How it changed the global scenario – examples

Effect on mankind & economy because of global retailing

Conclusion
The sociology of food: eating, diet and culture

Article Abstract:

Food has a sociological significance that far outweighs the attention it has received. Commensality or
the sharing of food, for example, is a central ritual defining membership in social groups.

Author: Mennell, Stephen, Murcott, Anne, van Otterloo, Anneke H.

Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc.

Publication Name: Current Sociology
Subject: Sociology and social work
ISSN: 0011-3921
Year: 1992

Food, Diet, Food habits

Read more: http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Sociology-and-social-work/The-sociology-of-food-eating-

diet-and-culture-What-is-really-rational-choice-Beyond-the-utilitarian-.html#ixzz1AG8gyhIB

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What is Retailing?

It is easy to take for granted the impact retailing has on our lifestyle. IN fact, retailing, which is
responsible for matching the individual demands of the consumer with vast quantities of supplies
produced by a huge range of manufacturers, had made a significant contribution to the economic
prosperity that is enjoyed so much.

Retailing involves selling products and services to consumers for their personal or family use. 
Department stores, like Burdines and Macy's, discount stores like Wal-Mart and K-Mart, and specialty
stores like The Gap, Zales Jewelers and Toys 'R' Us, are all examples of retail stores.  Service providers
and on-line stores, like Amazon.com, are also retailers.

How is retailing done

Retailing, consists of the final activities and steps needed to place a product in the hands

of the consumer or to provide services to the consumer. In fact, retailing is actually the last step

in a supply chain that may stretch from Europe or Asia to your hometown. Therefore, any firm

that sells a product or provides a service to the final consumer is performing the retailing

function. Regardless of whether the firm sells to the consumer in a store, through the mail, over

the telephone, through the Internet, door to door, or through a vending machine, the firm is

involved in retailing.

Dunne, Patrick M. and Robert F. Lusch. Retailing. 5 ed. Mason: South-Western, 2005.

Why is Retailing Important?

As the final link between consumers and manufacturers, retailers are a vital part of the business world. 
Retailers add value to products by making it easier for manufactures to sell and consumers to buy.  It
would be very costly and time consuming for you to locate, contact and make a purchase from the
manufacturer every time you wanted to buy a candy bar, a sweater or a bar of soap. Similarly, it would
be very costly for the manufactures of these products to locate and distribute them to consumers
individually.  By bringing multitudes of manufacturers and consumers together at a single point, retailers
make it possible for products to be sold, and, consequently, business to be done.

Retailers also provide services that make it less risky and more fun to buy products.  They have
salespeople on hand who can answer questions, may offer credit, and display products so that
consumers know what is available and can see it before buying.  In addition, retailers may provide many
extra services, from personal shopping to gift wrapping to delivery, that increase the value of products
and services to consumers.

The Future of Retailing

Advances in technology, like the Internet, have helped make retailing an even more challenging and
exciting field in recent years.  The nature of the business and the way retailing is done are currently
undergoing fundamental changes.  However, retailing in some form will always be necessary.  For
example, even though the Internet is beginning to make it possible for manufacturers to sell directly to
consumers, the very vastness of cyberspace will still make it very difficult for a consumer to purchase
every product he or she uses directly.  On-line retailers, like Amazon.com, bring together assortments of
products for consumers to buy in the same way that bricks-and-mortar retailers do.

In addition, traditional retailers with physical stores will continue to be necessary.  Of course, retailers
who offer personal services, like hair styling, will need to have face-to-face interaction with the
consumer.  But even with products, consumers often want to see, touch and try them before they buy. 
Or, they may want products immediately and won't want to wait for them to be shipped.  Also, and
perhaps most importantly, in many cases the experience of visiting the retailer is an important part of
the purchase.  Everything that the retailer can do to make the shopping experience pleasurable and fun
can help ensure that customers come back.

Copyright © 2000 Judy Harris, College of Business Administration, Florida International University

http://www2.fiu.edu/~retail/whatis.html
food retailing

food retailing is a competitive business in a continually changing landscape. New consumer trends,
growing suburbs, and gentrifying urban cores are all challenging food retailers to keep up with consumer needs.
New retailers and formats have emerged, further challenging existing brands and styles.
One specific challenge on the minds of many retailers and shopping centre owners is the growing presence of
superstores (or hypermarkets) that offer general merchandise as well as a full supermarket and other services a mall
all in one store.
.

A long term perspective reveals that new retailing formats have added to, rather than replaced,
existing choices on the food shopping menu. The widespread expansion of superstores - whether by
Wal-Mart, Loblaws, Carrefour, Target or anyone else - is not going to displace all other formats.

I. INTRODUCTION
food retailing is a competitive business in a continually changing landscape. New consumer trends,
growing suburbs, and gentrifying urban cores are all challenging food retailers to keep up with consumer needs.
New retailers and formats have emerged, further challenging existing brands and styles.
One specific challenge on the minds of many retailers and shopping centre owners is the growing presence of
superstores (or hypermarkets) that offer general merchandise as well as a full supermarket and other services

THE evolution of food retailers has followed much the same expansion and concentration as
other retail segments in the United States. By the middle of the 20th century, supermarkets had
risen to prominence, replacing the smaller, service oriented grocers with a retail format that
allowed consumer to browse and select items themselves. Writing during this period,
Zimmerman estimates that from the 1930s to 1940s 50% of consumers had switched from a “the
long established habit of service, credit and delivery to that of selfservice, cash and carry” [1].
Not only did supermarkets provide a wide selection of items, Zimmerman explains, but they also
had a significant impact on the space of the cities and towns in which they located. In contrast to
small grocers, which were typically located in downtown or city center areas, he states, “The
character of the supermarket makes central location not important. In fact, many of the
flourishing supermarkets are on the fringe of towns, where rentals are low, but where they can
attract the motor trade.” Zimmerman concluded that these stores would expand in size to
approximately 930 square meters (10,000 square feet) in the Midwest region of the United States
and begin to incorporate more and more product lines such as lunchrooms, soda fountains, drug
departments, notions, novelties, and magazines.

Dr. Brian Thomas is with the Department of Sociology at Saginaw Valley

State University, 7400 Bay Rd., University Center, MI 48710, USA (phone:
989-964-7320; fax: 989-964-4565; e-mail: bjthoma1@ svsu.edu).
[1] M.M. Zimmerman, M.M. (1941). "The Supermarket and the Changing

Retail Structure." Journal of Marketing Vol. 5, no 4, pp. 402-409.

http://www.waset.org/journals/ijhss/v5/v5-6-59.pdf

Food retail giants

Tesco,

Sainsbury’s,

Target,

mark and Spencer’s,

big bazaar,

More .

the big apple,

Woolworths supermarkets(australia).

Carrefour,

Shanghai-based Bailian ,

Beijing-based Hualian ,

k mart,

Coop chain.