Interpreting the Growth of Superstore Retailing in Britain

Abstract

Throughout the 1980s the market leaders of the UK food retailing industry experienced both growth and restructuring. For these market leaders there was an accelerated move to freestanding superstores in new off-centre locations that was accompanied by year-on-year growth in profits. There are, however, clear signs that financial pressures were at least as much the cause of this growth as were new trading opportunities. This paper examines in detail some of the funding pressures that have gone hand-in-hand with the record growth shown by UK food retailers. Business performance ratios are used to illustrate some key aspects of the process and to trace the directions that research is now talking. Severe reservations are expressed about the propeq-dependent nature of much recent growth.