ABSTRACT
We have stressed that the distribution system is extremely dynamic and the changes which have occurred in the last 10 to 15 years have probably been greater than in any comparable period in the past. These changes, however, while manifest in the form of new retail and commercial developments, are not only the result of innovations from within business itself but reflect on adaptations and responses to new pressures from the consumer population. Most consumers, taking a broad perspective on the last two decades, have continued to become increasingly more affluent, more mobile, more knowledgeable and more independent, displaying an ever-burgeoning range of tastes and demands. Whether the distribution system actually progresses mainly because of these external forces or through its own internal initiatives is a question that is often posed. The answer is that it moves forward largely on the interactions between both, that there is a complex mixture of cause and effect.
