Industry anlysis of Retail Grocery Industry Essay -- essays research p

Industry AnalysisIn stray to analyze an industry, it is consequential to determine where it is in the industry lifecycle. During the 1970s and 1980s the retail market place industry was expanding at a phenomenal rate. end-to-end this boom period, the number of large grocery stores was rising and forcing the existing milliampere and Pop grocery stores out of the industry.In the early 1990s, the retail grocery industry began leaving the exploitation stage and entered the maturity stage in the industry lifecycle. This was caused by increased market saturation and slowing growth rates. Between 1995 and 1996 the growth rates were the lowest they had been in the past twenty dollar bill years. The main reason for this was the vast number of grocery stores that had been built in growth stage and the emergence of new grocery retail formats such(prenominal) as warehouse clubs and dollar stores. This increased competition forced firms to manage with each other for the same customers by lowering prices. Enter WalMart. Walmart was non even in the grocery industry in the early 1990s but through excellent supply chain management and exceedingly low everyday prices have forced their way as matchless(prenominal) of the dominant players in the retail grocery industry. Industry surveys indicate that the cardinal largest chains (WalMart, Kroger, Costco, Albertsons, and Safeway) accounted for approximately 37.5% of total sales in 2002.The 1990s were an important cartridge holder because of the arrival of new technologies that would change the retail grocery industry. S baseners, Elcetronic entropy Interchanges, and the internet have all sped up and lowered the costs of patronage operations. WalMart was virtuoso of the early adopters of this technology and had a competitive advantage everyplace its competitors. New technologies being pioneered now include self-serve checkouts, RFIDs, and kiosks, they will all finally change how we shop at grocery stores today.Walma rts arrival as the largest grocer in North America has caused quite a stir in the retail grocery industry. Walmarts low prices have caused an industry all-inclusive obsession with consolidation. Many firms are cutting costs any meet they can, forcing some firms to move upmarket. The traditional supermarket concept no longer has a profitable future in most ... ...lay a part in the consumers decision but in the end eggs from one store are the same as eggs from another store. The consumer can also compare prices from various stores to get the best deal on their groceries.Supplier PowerSupplier cause has been pretty high in the past because grocery stores had very few options of where they could get their goods and had even less of a say of how much to pay for these goods. Recently WalMart has started to change the vestibular sense of power away from the supplier. By being so large and having the power of making or breaking a product based simply o if WalMart carries it they can de mand certain prices. Another way to combat high supplier power is to introduce private label brands. For simulation Giant eagle carries its own brand of peas it is not as time-tested of its pea suppliers as it was before carrying their own brand. Some suppliers have inflexible to try and regain power by merging with other suppliers such as Gillette/Proctor & Gamble and Phillip Morris/Kraft. It appears that after a long time of high supplier power the playing field is starting to take itself off and it appears this will continue into the future.