Restructuring Food Supply

In just a few decades, supermarkets have become central locations for selling and buying food. ¹ In the US and the EU, but increasingly also in developing countries and countries in transition, supermarkets dominate food retail. This rapid spread of supermarkets is the consequence of different dynamics combined, including rising incomes, urbanization, increasing female participation in the labor force and the desire to emulate Western culture, accelerated by media and advertising. The rise in supermarkets’ size and number, in combination with the globalization in food provision, has resulted in supermarkets becoming the obligatory passage point for most food sales. Also most ‘sustainable foods’ are nowadays sold via supermarkets, although dedicated shops, farmers’ markets and other distribution mechanisms remain important as well. For instance, countries where most organic products are sold via supermarkets tend to be countries where the market shares for organic food are the highest as well.