Food Supermarkets

The Japanese food supermarket format is one of the most complex and difficult to unravel. Fresh food is one sector that even the largest chains have almost unanimously failed to modernize or come to terms with. The standards of some stores in even the largest chains would disappoint both retail experts and any holidaying health inspectors from overseas, but, in recent years, a small but growing number of chains have improved to be as good as any food retailer anywhere in the world. There are several reasons for this: The supermarket sector remains highly fragmented with no national chains, but many regional players It is the last major retail sector yet to take the step towards modern retail management systems. Within the sector there are some examples of excellent, modernized retailers mixed with many old fashioned and inefficient chains The sector competes across formats, both with general merchandise stores and department stores, which invariably sell food on one or more of their floors, and convenience stores and fast-food chains fulfilling the role that supermarkets often fulfill in other nations Official and formal definitions of supermarkets are misleading and complicated by terminology