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题目名称：超市行业的演变
院系名称：经济管理学院
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超市行业的演化
Claudia Loeb
摘要：本文检视超市行业的演变,从1900年代早期诞生的连锁店的概念到最近攀升的沃尔玛购物广场。所要传达的中心思想是：主要的主题有关今天(规模和标准化的重要性、技术创新,引进新的格式,反托拉斯当局的注意)表现在它百年的历史。本文旨在提供一个连贯的合并政策和拓宽我们经济地理学的零售贸易合形成过程的理解。
一、介绍
大卫在1972年曾说：“今天,在一个城市的大大小小的任何角落、到一间杂货店购物都可以得到高品质的超级市场服务。一家注重价格的超市、一个真正的折扣店,一家运用MOM和POP 计术的商店，一家使用现款自运模式的商店,或者是一个大型综合购物中心。”
根据食品市场研究所的研究，2006年，美国人在美国超市的花费仅低于50 00亿美元,占可支配收入总量的6%。一般超市里在略低于50000平方英尺的空间卖的产品超过45000，客户平均每周两次拜访一个商店。尽管在我们每一个人的生命中扮演了一个重要角色,超市行业不断出现在一个国家，沃尔玛以多种齿轮的标准,以新的形式,急速兴起作为一个全方位的杂货商，以一连串的无产阶级的联合动摇着竞争环境。本文旨在提供超市行业演变的详细历史。从连锁店革命的开始到沃尔玛在二十世纪的进入。主题是,这个国家的不断变化和不断演进,遍及整个历史的产业,从独立的营销的反应(和反垄断机构)到1920年伟大的大西洋和太平洋食品公司,及在1940年现任的反应链引入超市格式,直到目前争议的沃尔玛。
本文追踪超市行业的演变按年代组织如下。第一节介绍了连锁店的革命,它是由大西洋和太平洋食品公司领导的，并引进了了标准化和规模化的食品工业。第二节介绍了超市的格局,即自己改变商店的规模,把比较优势面向小的公司。第三节包括战后扩大超市行业、迈向饱和、和不断增长的替代存储格式。第四章详细介绍了信息革命,极大地增加了产品数目,个体商店的面积，以及需要细心协调整个供应链的效率。第五部分论述了沃尔玛的崛起和告诫不要夸大其影响。最后,第六节得到一个简要的讨论未来的食品零售行业。
一、大西洋和太平洋食品公司和连锁店大革命(1913 - 1930)
在1900年之前美国消费者,通过的一个各式各样的专卖店和百货商店购买
食品。从屠夫那买肉,从面包师那买面包,从蔬菜生产站买农产品。这些商店大部分是独资而且通常用一种偶然的方式运行。伟大的大西洋和太平洋食品公司改变了这一切。虽然1859年开始的时候是邮购茶的业务，但到1800年代晚期搬到了杂货店后,改变了零售行业的性质。经济格式是一个标准化的仓库、销售工厂生产的品牌产品，通过一个垂直整合的供应链的厂房、仓库、货车进行交付。大西洋和太平洋食品公司很快放弃客户交货并减少信贷,将杂货生意转变为现金自运模式。这一个步骤并不能节省成本。他们采用了现代会计实务及科学的管理原则。
二十世纪二十年代和三十年代初是一段创造性破坏时期,因为新的商业模式取代了老的,独立的杂货商要么适应独立，要么灭亡。尽管在这段时期，许多(也许超过100000家)做小杂货店生意的退出,但一些幸存者开始形成独立批发商合作协会并与大型连锁店竞争。在二十世纪二十年代晚期,价格的重要性在连锁店和自营店之间开始萎缩。此外,主要连锁店在1920年代后期衰退并在二十世纪三十年代开始作为联营企业与另一个直接竞争。几家联营企业以更高的服务模式,提高了边际成本并缩小了与独立的商店的价格差距。此外,连锁店开始吸引政治家和反垄断当局的注意力。
二、超市的诞生(1930 - 1950)
与此同时, 在美国，这种联营模式正在零售领域热烈讨论着、人口也发生着重要转变。工业化的增加吸引了人们向城市转移和可支配收入的上升。汽车蔓延,道路修建,铁路延长使运输成本下降。冰箱开始蔓延到商业和住宅使用,使消费者购买的频率更低，每次购买的商品更多。无线电(以及后来的电视)增加了民族品牌的魅力,方便了大型的广告活动。这种转变消费者的偏好消除了垂直成本融入制造的成本优势。运输和储存成本的下降是关键，汽车普遍和道路的铺建促成了超市建在农镇郊区的战略，而先进的制冷使进行较短的旅行和购物商场中储存更多的货品成为可能。购物车的发明帮助消费者购买散装商品。
三、战后繁荣与矛盾 (1950 - 1970)
战后繁荣的一个时期超市行业稳步增长。这里有很多的未经利用的房地产做商店和足够的杂货店转换到超市。虽然较小的联营企业是最早的超市格式采用者,但大西洋和太平洋食品公司在1930年代晚期也开始了转换。更重要的是,便宜货开始消失,因为公司移动到有较少价格意识的消费者的郊区。为了符合他们越来越高档的客户群,这些商店开始添加一些服务、购物中心的位置更换到独立的
单位。
四、信息时代：品牌宽度，超市和信息技术 (1980 - 1995)
1970年代产生了一群新的商店模式,最简单的创新是UPC代码的引入和扫描注册,这将变换后端操作并从根本上扩大产品在每个店的数量。
五、沃尔玛和企业兼并
1990年代早期，在非食品零售业中，沃尔玛是目前美国最大的超市公司 (在总销售额的基础上)。从1988年开始，平均每年超过100家的沃尔玛超市开业,目前每年运营着2200多家店面。
无疑,沃尔玛现在在食品行业是一位重要角色。虽然沃尔玛已迅速至窜升超市行业的行列,其影响是有点夸张的。而贸易出版社经常声称他们控制了23%的市场,实际可能是接近10%。这里有一个简单的理由。在1930年代,沃尔玛出售的食品和组合的干燥产品(如电视、割草机)。历史上, 沃尔玛大约有40%的销售额来自食品,而其余的都是常规干燥的货物。然而,在过去的几年里,这个大零售店数据库已经将几乎所有这些分配给杂货店销售,夸大沃尔玛的销售与传统营销的一个因素比大约为1.5。这就是这个10%的来历。确实,10%还是这个大的整体市场的一小部分,但是还有一些其他缓解因素要考虑。首先,沃尔玛在主要城市没有多少店面。例如,只有62%的购物中心是在统计区指定的大都市,而其余的更多是座落于农村地区。与此形成鲜明对比的是，主要超市连锁店的平均有83%的是在MSA。第二,他们的市场份额在小市场上比在大的市场多两倍，这表明他们大部分的生意不是来自全国各大中城市。这与原有的经营模是一致的,,这基本上把大城市种类（和低价格)带给农村消费者,而城市购物者则完成大部分的超市销售。第三,便宜的“有限品种“的商店像阿尔迪Save-A-Lot似乎被偷去了核心业务,沃尔玛使用比民族品牌价格更低的普通品牌的产品讨好追求低价的消费者。
六、结尾:时代的极端值吗?
有趣地注意到最近的增长趋势就是现在被称为“极端值”的模式。在高端,是全脂食品、野生燕麦、和为迎合那些重视有机农产品和精致的的饭菜是高层次的顾客。在低端是有限的品种公司，像迎合低收入的家庭和新近的移民的阿尔迪和Save a Lot公司。有效值节省大量以满足低收入和新近的移民。虽然所有这些公司都在二十世纪八十年代进行了根格式的扩张,但很明显,在过去的十年才开始采用。最后,虽然这些显然是为食品零售行业挥发时间,他们很难独特。这个行业趋于回到折扣操作、降低保证金、一站式购物中心。但即使是现在,超市仍
然强调质量促进持续繁荣和成长，而不是价格。
来源：
Information Systems and Business Management 498-552(2003) V ol. 4, 1, 23–29Journal of Database
The Evolution of the Supermarket Industry
Abstract: This paper examines the evolution of the supermarket industry, from the birth of the chain store concept in the early 1900s to the recent rise of the Wal-Mart supercenter. The central message is that the major themes relevant today (the importance of scale and standardization, technological innovation, the introduction of new formats, and the rapt attention of anti-trust authorities)appear throughout its hundred year history. The goal of this paper is to provide a coherent context for current merger policy and broaden our understanding of the processes shaping the economic geography of retail trade.
Introduction
“To day in a city of any single can?t size, a grocery shopper can be served by a high-quality supermarket, a price-emphasis supermarket, a true discount store, a …mom and pop? store, a quick-shop operation, or a large integrated shopping center.”David , 1972.
According to the Food Marketing Institute, Americans spent just under 500 billion dollars in U.S. supermarkets in 2006, accounting for about of 6%of their total disposable income. The average supermarket now carries over 45,000 products in just under50, 000 square feet of space and the average customer visits a store just under twice a week. Despite playing such a central role in each of our lives, the supermarket industry constantly appears in a state, the meteoric rise of Wal-Mart as a full-service grocer, and a spate of high role mergers that are shaking up the competitive landscape. The goal of this paper is to present a detailed history of the evolution of the supermarket industry, from the chain store revolution that kicked the twentieth century to the entry of Wal-Mart, The central theme is that this state of constant change and continual evolution pervades the entire history of the industry, from the reactions of independent grocers(and anti-trust authorities)to the rise of the Great A &P Tea Company(A&P)in the 1920s,to the response by incumbent chains to the introduction of the supermarket format in the 1940s,through to the current controversies surrounding Wal-Mart.
This paper, which tracks the evolution of the supermarket industry chronologically, is organized as follows. Section 1 describes the chain store revolution,
which was led by A&P and introduced standardization and scale to the retail food industry. Section 2 describes the introduction of the supermarket format, which changed the scale of the stores themselves, and shifted the comparative advantage back toward smaller firms. Section 3 covers the post war expansion of the supermarket industry, the march toward saturation, and the rise of alternative store formats. Section 4 details the information revolution that greatly expanded the number of products carried, the size of individual stores, and the need for careful coordination throughout the supply chain. Section 5 discusses the rise of Wal-Mart and cautions against overstating its impact. Finally, Section 6 concludes with a brief discussion of the future of the retail food industry.
A&P and the Chain Store Revolution (1913–1930)
Prior to 1900, American shoppers purchased their groceries through a wide array of specialty shops and general stores. Meat was purchased from a butcher, read from a baker, and produce from a vegetable stand. These stores were mostly sole proprietorships and often run in a haphazard manner. The Great A&P Tea Company (A&P) changed all of this. Although A&P began as a mail order tea business in 1859, it was the move to grocery stores in the late 1800s that changed the nature of retailing. The economy format was a standardized store, selling branded products produced in A&P factories and delivered through a vertically integrated supply chain of factories, warehouses, and trucks. A&P quickly abandoned customer delivery and scaled back on credit, converting groceries to a cash and carry business. This move alone yielded single can?t cost savings. They introduced modern accounting practices and scientific management principles.
The 1920s and early 30s were a period of creative destruction, as the new business model supplanted the old, and the independent grocers either adapted or perished. Although many (perhaps more than 100,000) small firms he grocery business in this period, some of the survivors began to form cooperative associations with independent wholesalers to combat the scale enjoyed by the major chains. By the late 1920s, the price importance between chains and independents began to shrink .Moreover, the possibility of the major chain stores declined throughout the late 1920?s and 1930?s as chains began to compete directly with one another. Several chains shifted to higher service formats, which increased marginal costs and narrowed
the price gap with independent stores. Moreover, the chain stores began to attract the attention of politicians and anti-trust authorities.
The Birth of the Supermarket (1930-1950)
At the same time that the chain format was discussing through the retail landscape, major demographic shifts were occurring throughout the United States. Increased industrialization was drawing people to the cities and disposable incomes were rising. Transportation costs were falling as automobiles spread, roads were built, and rail lines were extended. Refrigerators began to spread to both commercial and residential use, allowing consumers to visit stores less frequently and purchase more each time they went. Radio (and later television) increased the appeal of national brands by facilitating large scale advertising campaigns. This shift in consumer tastes eliminated the cost advantages of vertically integrating into manufacturing .Falling transportation and storage costs were the key the spread of the automobile and paved highways facilitated the supermarkets? strategy of locating on the outskirts of town, while advances in refrigeration allowed shoppers to make fewer trips and stores to hold larger inventories. The invention of the shopping cart helped shoppers to buy in bulk.
Post War Boom & Malaise (1950–1970)
The post war boom was a period of steady growth for the supermarket industry. There was plenty of virgin real estate on which to build stores and plenty of markets to convert from chain grocery store to supermarket. Although the smaller chains were the earliest adopters of the supermarket format, even A&P started converting over by the late 1930s. More importantly, the “cheapies” began to disappear as firms moved closer to the suburbs and “traded up” for less price conscious consumers. In keeping with their increasingly upscale clientele, sores started adding services, while shopping center locations replaced free-standing units.
The Information Age: Brand width, Superstores & IT (1980-1995)
While the 1970s introduced a host of new store formats, the most single cant innovations were the introductions of the UPC code and the scanning register, which would transform back end operations and radically expand the number of products
carried in each store.
Wal-Mart &the Mega-Mergers
A virtual non-entity in the grocery business in the early 1990?s, Wal-Mart is now the largest supermarket firm in the United States (on the basis of total sales volume).Starting in 1988, Wal-Mart has averaged more than 100 superstores openings per year and currently operates more than 2,200 outlets.
While there is no doubt that Wal-Mart is now a serious player in the grocery industry. Although Wal-Mart has quickly shot up the ranks of the supermarket industry, its impact is somewhat overstated. While the trade press frequently claims that they control 23%of the market, the true is probably closer to 10%.There is a simple reason for this. Like Big Bear in the 1930s, Wal-Mart supercenters sell both groceries and assorted dry goods (like TVs and lawn mowers). Historically, about 40%of Wal-Mart?s sales have come from groceries,while the rest are conventional dry goods. However, for the past several years, it appears that the major retail databases have been allocating almost all of these sales to the grocery business, overstating Wal-Mart?s sales relative to conventional grocers by a factor of roughly 1.5.This is where the estimate of 10%comes from. It is certainly true that 10%is still a big fraction of the overall market, but there are some other mitigating factors to consider. First, Wal-Mart does not have much presence in the major cities. For example, only 62%of their supercenters are in designated Metropolitan Statistical Areas, while the rest are sited in more rural locales. By contrast, the major supermarket chains site 83%of their stores in MSA on average. Second, their market share in small markets is twice as large as it is in bigger markets, suggesting that the bulk of their business is not coming from the major cities. This is consistent with their original business model, which was essentially about bringing big city variety (and low prices) to rural consumers, as opposed to the urban shoppers that constitute the bulk of supermarket sales. Third, cheaper “limited assortment”stores like Aldi and Save-A-Lot appear to be stealing their core business, courting low-income consumers with generic label products that are far cheaper than the national brands carried by Wal-Mart.
Coda: The Era of Extreme Value?
A trend that is interesting to note is the recent growth of what are now called “Extreme Value”formats. At the high end, these are Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and Trader Joe?s that cater to an upscale clientele who value organic produce and prepared meals. At the low end are limited assortment firms like Aldi and Save a Lot that cater to lower income families and recent immigrants. Although all of these firms have roots in the 1970s format expansion, they have clearly started to take in the last 10 years. In closing, while these are clearly volatile times for the retail food industry, they are hardly unique, the industry is tending to return to discount operations and lowered margin, one-stop shopping centers. But even now, the supermarkets stressing quality, rather than price, are continui ng to prosper and grow.”
Source:
Information Systems and Business Management 498-552(2003) V ol. 4, 1, 23–29Journal of Database
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