Food retailing: from farmers' markets to retail hybridization

Sanda Renko (Department of Trade, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia)

British Food Journal

ISSN: 0007-070X

Article publication date: 5 February 2018

890

Citation

Renko, S. (2018), "Food retailing: from farmers' markets to retail hybridization", British Food Journal, Vol. 120 No. 2, pp. 254-254. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-11-2017-0639

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited


Food retailing: from farmers’ markets to retail hybridization

This themed section of the British Food Journal is dedicated to food retailing and its changing nature and why academics and industry practitioners need to understand it to predict new trends in consumption. This theme continues on from the publication of two papers in Volume 120 Issue 1 concerning food retailing – one by Stanton and colleagues and the other from Sahu et al. Taking into consideration the diversity of the food retailing system, both within and between countries, we have identified many subjects worthy of investigation. Accordingly, this editorial, the six papers in this themed section, in conjunction with the previously published two papers, will help readers to understand the history of food retailing, from corner and general stores, as the backbone of food retailing, via supermarkets and hypermarkets to the ability to order foods online. Moreover, it explains the reasons why informal markets (street markets, farmers’ markets or wet markets in Asia), flea markets and bazaars still remain an important part of life for many cultures. Specifically, farm shops as one of the innovative distribution channels used by farmers to sell regional products directly to consumers, and the factors that influence consumers’ shopping behaviour from farm shops in Germany have been examined.

Special attention is also given to explain the factors affecting the economic fruit supply bazaar locality in India. In the context of dynamism of food retailing within the last decade, the papers contribute to the understanding of the characteristics of the organic food market in emerging markets in the Southeast European region, as well as the involvement of self-service technologies in Turkish food retailing. Moreover, the papers tracing the development of food retailing formats in the Central European market, such as the Polish food retail market, and the evolution of modern food retailing in the Eastern African market, such as Tanzania are presented.

As this themed section of the British Food Journal covers papers from very different countries and markets, I hope that it helps readers to create a worldwide holistic and clearer picture about the developments in food retailing.

I would like to thank the authors who submitted their manuscripts for consideration and hope that with their interesting approaches they will inspire others to extend the research and to provide some new insights into developments in food retailing. Also, I thank the reviewers for their hard work and efforts, who through a double-blind reviewing process, helped the authors improve their manuscripts. Lastly, I have to point out exceptional assistance of the Editor, Chris Griffith, and the Editorial Assistant, Corene von Holy, to whom I thank for their support and help during the entire process of creating this themed section.

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of a special section “Food retailing: from farmers markets to retail hybridization”.

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