ABSTRACT
Understanding the structure and behaviour of the retail channels through which goods and services are transacted is an important issue in less-developed countries. By comparison with its study in the developed economies current understanding of how retailing is structured and operates within less-developed countries is far less complete. However, one feature is clear, that the network of retail types and channels in less-developed countries is highly diversified and does not necessarily conform to the expectations derived from western models. Thus, in China Mun (1988) reports how recent developments in Chinese retailing do not conform to the wheel of retailing hypothesis, which, while not without its critics, has been an influential model within western analysis. Nonconformity in the Chinese case is due not only to the planned nature of the economy, clearly distinguishing it from market-led western retailing, but also to a factor more common to retailing in less-developed countries in general, the undersupply of high quality goods. When these are available they account for the new types of outlet, rather than the lowmargin, low-status, low-price operators appearing as the next cycle within the wheel hypothesis.
