Determinants of Food Retailing in Developing Economies: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

The relationship among economic development, public policy, and the food retailing structure is studied using historical data from Turkey. It is found that small food stores are the dominant form of food retailing in Turkey, although the stage of eco nomic development predicts "the supermarket age." It is argued that country-specific demand-side variables, such as consumption patterns and shopping habits; supply-side variables, such as marketing functions performed by stores and market entry conditions; competitive factors; and public policy play important roles beyond the stage of economic development in determining the food retailing structure in developing countries.

The Effect of Liquidity on Financial Performance: Evidence from Turkish Retail Industry

“…This transformation also prepared a base for the enormous development of retail industry in Turkey. Before this transformation, the retail trade was mostly under the control of small-scale, capital-weak, independent and family-owned retailers (Kaynak, 1986), and it might not be possible to discuss any form of integration among them, neither horizontally nor vertically (Kumcu & Kumcu, 1987).…”

Supermarkets vs. traditional retail stores: diagnosing the barriers to supermarkets’ market share growth in an ethnic minority community

“…To increase supermarket market share retailers must penetrate new segments and increase supermarket accessibility. Studies (Appel, 1972;Findlay et al, 1990;Goldman, 1981;Kaynak and Cavusgil, 1982;Kumcu and Kumcu, 1987) show higher socioeconomic status consumers to be more likely to switch to modern supermarkets. The reason: a higher opportunity cost of time is making multi-stop shopping in many small stores more costly than the one-stop shopping associated with the supermarket Gautschi, 1986, 1990).…”

Globalization of Local Retailing: Threat or Opportunity? The Case of Food Retailing in Guilin, China

“…Shultz et al (2005, 32-33) categorized retailers in the former Yugoslavia into ''hopeful desperate,'' who do not have skills or resources to function in the new environment, ''dinosaurs'' who are large government-sponsored workers, ''tycoons'' who enjoy the benefits of government privatization policies, ''oldies but goodies'' who are large and have loyal customers but have not received preferable treatment from government, and ''phoenix entrepreneurs'' who are small but market-oriented. Kumçu and Kumçu (1987) grouped retailers according to size into small, medium, and large, whereas Witkowski (2008) dichotomized grocery stores into global and local players. The different typologies found in the retail literature are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…Finally, in the most modern development, the third situation, supermarkets control the majority share of the retail market. Marketing channels have developed in this manner in Slovenia (Shultz et al 2005) and India (Sengupta 2008;Srivastava 2008), but not in Turkey (Kumçu and Kumçu 1987). Small retailers preserved Aman and Hopkinson (2010) Traditional, modern Type General Goldman (1975Goldman ( /1976 Traditional, combination, economy, Piggly Wiggly, market, emporiums, early supermarkets, conventional supermarkets, discount, superette, superstore Type Food Goldman and Qin (1998) Full supermarkets, partial supermarkets, small supermarkets Type, ownership Food Goldman, Krider, and Ramaswami (1999) Wet markets, supermarkets, traditional Type Food Kaynak and Cavusgil (1982) Traditional, special, supermarkets Type, size General Kumç and Kumç (1987) (Kumçu and Kumçu 1987), indicating that they did not follow the general development path.…”

“…Marketing channels have developed in this manner in Slovenia (Shultz et al 2005) and India (Sengupta 2008;Srivastava 2008), but not in Turkey (Kumçu and Kumçu 1987). Small retailers preserved Aman and Hopkinson (2010) Traditional, modern Type General Goldman (1975Goldman ( /1976 Traditional, combination, economy, Piggly Wiggly, market, emporiums, early supermarkets, conventional supermarkets, discount, superette, superstore Type Food Goldman and Qin (1998) Full supermarkets, partial supermarkets, small supermarkets Type, ownership Food Goldman, Krider, and Ramaswami (1999) Wet markets, supermarkets, traditional Type Food Kaynak and Cavusgil (1982) Traditional, special, supermarkets Type, size General Kumç and Kumç (1987) (Kumçu and Kumçu 1987), indicating that they did not follow the general development path. Because ''the social, economic and cultural factors affect the food retail structure primarily thorough their impact on food retailing institutions'' (Kaynak and Cavusgil 1982, 258; see also Kumçu and Kumçu 1987), supermarkets and specialty stores have been considered signs of economic development (Shultz et al 2005) and affluence (Goldman 1974b).…”