Corner Store and Competitiveness Opportunities

Abstract

Since the decade of the 1960s, the retail trade has evolved in a dizzying way. This has put at risk the permanence in the market of the traditional distribution and final sale models in which the local store is established, and whose existence has favored the development of the urban settlements in Latin America and, particularly, in Colombia. However, at present these may not be sufficient in the face of the development of new business models and technological platforms that have facilitated the acquisition process of products of primary necessity in a market composed of consumers with less availability for purchasing. In this sense, the local store assumes risks that can be addressed through the implementation of strategies that not only depend on the competitiveness conditions provided by the national government, but also on the decisions that autonomously take as a business model, whether as sector or as individual level. The chapter recommends actions to be implemented by the shopkeepers in the search for their permanence in the market.