• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.39-45
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• 2011

The Korean distribution industry is gearing up for an endless competition. Greeting low growth era, less competitive parties will be challanged seriously for their survival. But for large discount stores, they have shown steady annual growth for years. However, because of the saturation for numbers of stores, the difficulty of gaining new sites, and the changes in the consumer's consumption behavior caused by the recession, now they are seeking for a new customers-based business formats. Accordingly, a large corporate comopanies made supermarkets which are belonged to affiliated companies of large corporate comopanies. They based on the strong buying power, focused on SSM(Super Super Market) ave been aggressively develop nationwide multi-stores. The point is that these stores are threatening at small and medium-sized, community-based private supermarkets. Private supermarkets and retailers, who are using existing old operation systems and their dilapidated facilities, are losing a competitive edge in business. Recent the social effects of large series of corporate supermarkets for traditional markets has been very controversial, and commercial media, academia, and industry associated with it have been held many seminars and public hearings. This may slow down the speed in accordance with the regulations, but will not be the crucial alternative. The reason for this recent surge of enterprise-class SSM up, one of the reasons is a stagnation in their offline discount mart, so they are finding new growth areas. Already in the form of large supermarkets across the country got most of the geographical centre point and is saturated with stages. Targeting small businesses that do not cover discount Mart, in order to expand business in the form of SSM is urgent. By contrast, private supermarkets are going to lose their competitiveness. The vulnerability of individual supermarkets, one of the vulnerabilities is price which economies of scale can not be realized so they are purchasing a small amount of products and difficult to get a quantity discount. The lack of organization and collaboration, and education which is not practical, caused the absencer of service-oriented situations. As a first solution, making specialty shops which are handling agricultures, fruits and vegetables and manufactured goods is recommended. Second, private supermarkets franchisees join the organization for the organization and collaboration is recomaned. It can be meet the scale of economy and can be formed a alternative business formats to a government. Third, the education is needed as a good service will get consumer's awareness. In addition, a psychological stores operating is also one way to stimulate consumer sentiment as SSM can't operate. Japan already has a better conditions of their lives through small chain expression. This study includes the vulnerabilities of private supermarkets, and suggests a competitiveness reinforcement strategies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.43-53
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• 2014

Purpose - This study suggested a practical model for super supermarkets (SSMs) and small- and medium-sized stores to grow together. Super centers expanded their business. However, after the retail distribution law was revised in 2009, mutual cooperation between large and small enterprises resulted in social issues and people raised the issue of profitability. Research design, data, and methodology - This study investigated cases of regulation over distribution in Japan, France, and other countries to reveal implications and recommendations. Results - This study demonstrated how SSM and middle and small supermarkets could grow together by franchising and using cooperative society law. Franchising was a mutual growth model whereby the franchiser provided franchisees with large enterprise systems and utilities while franchisees could provide the franchiser with local information. They could thus build trust in each other to facilitate a mutual growth model. Further, the voluntary franchise system's model facilitated the mutual growth model. Conclusions - This study demonstrates that the franchise system and cooperative society could constitute an ideal model whereby large enterprises and middle and small stores could rely upon each other and grow together.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1-18
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• 2010

Recent rapid growth of Super-Supermarket(SSM) may be the last process of penetration of big retailers' into the grocery market where small supermarkets have dominated for the past several decades. Anti-SSM movement led by small supermarket owners is mainly due to the fear of shaky viability. The authors believe that the ultimate solution should be strengthening the competitiveness of small retailers. This study concludes that satisfying customers will make small retailers more sustainable. The study suggests the improvement of merchandising and customer services. In particular, the study performed an ideation survey for developing services suitable for supermarket customers. The study suggests service alternatives optimal for small retailers through confirmation survey of 300 consumers.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.61-70
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• 2012

Purpose - The entry of Super Supermarkets (SSM), operated by large corporations, into the retail distribution market weakens the competitive power of local supermarkets (SM) and their families leading to a rapid collapse of the local-SM market. Accordingly, this is a very sensitive and urgent issue in Korean society and politics. Therefore, the government is required to take steps to activate a local-SM market and regain the loyalty of their customers. However, in spite of the urgent need of a comparative study on the advantages and competitive power of local-SM in relation to the SSM, little research has been done on this issue to date. One purpose of this study is to analyze the differences in store characteristics of the local SM and SSM, and to explore the relationships amongst various store characteristics, such as consumption emotion, relation quality, and store loyalty between store types to provide an efficient solution to activate a local-SM market. Research design, data, methodology - To analyze the differences in the evaluation of store characteristics between store types, and to test the moderator and mediator effects, data were collected from 488 customers in Seoul, Incheon,and Gyeonggi Province. The theoretical model consists of four hypotheses, and data was processed to test these using factor analysis, t-test, regression analysis, hierarchical regression, and the three step regression proposed by Baron and Kenny. Results - First, the analysis shows that local-SM customers evaluate location characteristic factors significantly higher compared to SSM customers. However, SSM customers evaluate quality of merchandise, sales promotion activities, and store environment significantly higher. Yet, there are no significant differences in the evaluation of consumption emotion, relation quality,and store loyalty between the store types. Second, the analysis of moderator effects of the store type show that sales promotion and store atmosphere factors have a significantly negative moderating effecton positive consumption emotion, while positive consumption emotion has a significantly positive moderating effect on absorption of relation quality, while there are no significant moderating effects between consumption emotion and store loyalty. Third, while both trust and absorption of relation quality are partially mediated between consumption emotion and store loyalty, only absorption is partially mediated between positive consumption emotion and store loyalty. There are no significant mediating effects of absorption between negative consumption emotion and store loyalty. Conclusions - We strongly recommend that location restrictions on entrance of SSM into local-SM market should either be further strengthened or sustained for the activation of the local store market. Government should strengthen financial support to improve the quality of merchandise, sales promotion, employee education, store environment of the local-SM by providing appropriate business consulting. Moreover, the result implies that the owners of alocal-SM should take measures to increase customers' absorption and store loyalty, such as store cleanliness, maintaining a delightful atmosphere at the store, and training employees on attitudes towards customers. As this study is restricted within Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, care needs to be taken in generalizing the interpretation and application to the national level.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.41-49
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• 2013

Purpose - Currently, the distribution environment has been changing rapidly because of the advent of super-supermarkets (SSM),which adopt the "price break" and "lowest price" strategies. Specifically, a diversification of the distribution environment allowed customers to reasonably decide where to shop. With a broadened range of criteria governing the choice of a store, determining changes in the distribution environment should be based on customer satisfaction surrounding the service levels of SSMs. This study examines the effects of service quality and product quality of SSMs on customer satisfaction levels, and analyzes whether these factors affect customers' revisit intention directly. Research design and methodology - A survey method was used and 127 SSM customers responded to the questionnaires that were developed to measure service quality, product quality, customer satisfaction, and store revisit intention. A multi-regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Results - Except hypothesis 2, the other seven hypotheses were supported. Hypothesis 2 suggested a positive relationship between product factors and customer satisfaction. Conclusions - This study found a systematic effect of service factors and product factors on customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth, and consequently on store revisit intention.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.187-197
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• 2014

The objective of this study is to analyze the travel behaviors of customers accessing to three different types of shopping facilities - traditional markets(TM), hyper markets(HM), and super supermarkets(SSM) - and also to find out the most desirable location for each type of shopping facilities that encourage sustainable transportation and smart urban growth. It also demonstrates what mode has the highest percentage of modal split and what is the access distance for public transport mode by each shopping facilities (SSM: 84.5% walking and 667m, TM: 20.1% bus and 1.6km, HM : 46.2% private car and 4.2km). Among TM, HM, and SSM, statistically significant differences are found in terms of mode choices and other associated travel behaviors. The research findings are expected to contribute to finding future urban planning and transportation solutions that promote walking and public transit uses for shopping trips and thus help support green transportation and sustainable urban growth.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.553-561
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• 2013

This study examined the food purchasing behavior of rural housewives in Bibong-myeon, Hwaseong. The survey targeted grocery shopping for the home, in particular by housewives. The type of grocery store frequented, age, socioeconomic factors, and ease of purchase were compared with interests in health foods. One super supermarket (SSM), three supermarkets (SM), and four convenience stores were examined in the research area, whereas a large-scale discount store and grocery stores were also examined outside the research area. The grocery store visiting rate was 61.5% in the research area and 38.5% in the other area. The SSM (62.7%) and SM (29.9%) in the research area and LDS (57.1%) and SSM (16.7%) in the other area were most frequently visited. Major purchasing products greatly differed according to the grocery store type. Major foods purchased in the SSM were grain, meat, and fish. Major foods purchased in the LDS and SM were processed products and vegetables, respectively. The LDS visiting frequency was 41.7% for 2-3 times per month and 41.7% for <1 time per month. The means of transport were mostly by private car (87.5%), whereas the SSM was visited 1-2 times per week 53.1% of the time by foot. In addition, various grocery stores are absent in rural areas and it is therefore important to find other methods to assess the food environment of rural areas. In future research, it will be necessary to design various ways to perform food environment research.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.23-30
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• 2014

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze the efficiency of retail businesses by dividing domestic retailers into discount stores, super supermarkets (SSMs), and department stores. It suggests retail-business investment strategies by using data environment analysis (DEA) to analyze how input elements such as store area, parking lot area, number of employees, and sales management expenses for the convenience of customers positively affect business performance measurements such as sales and visiting customers per day. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - The DEA model calculates a ratio of the weighted mean of various inputs to the weighted mean of various outputs and measures the efficiency of a specific decision making unit (DMU). The study included 19 companies (five discount store DMUs, ten SSM DMUs, and four department store DMUs). Because the business elements and sizes of retail store DMUs used in this analysis are different, average per-store input and output variables were used. Data were collected from "The Yearbook of Retail Industry in Korea (2012)." DEA analysis was used to determine differences in efficiency among discount stores, SSMs, and department stores in terms of the business elements of each retail business. It was also used to determine what business elements were excessively invested in by comparing and analyzing efficiency by business elements using SPSS software's ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). Results - The CCR and BCC efficiency analysis found that the efficiency of discount stores is low. We believe that the saturation state of discount stores is a major factor. The ANOVA analysis confirms the VRS hypothesis with a statistically significant difference among the three groups, based on an analysis confidence interval of 95%. CRS and SE were not found to be significantly different among the three groups. As for the post hoc test, which concretely shows differences by group, the Scheffe's multiple comparison analysis test found the average differences between group 1 (discount stores) and group 2 (SSM) to be statistically significant. Conclusions - The DEA efficiency analysis implies that investment in input elements, including store area, parking lot area, and sales management expenses, were excessive in the case of discount stores, while SSMs need to invest more in promotion activities such as gifts, events, and coupons for customer management. Department stores have found that small companies invest excessively in input elements. Department stores need to invest in differentiated shopping mall complexes. This study was limited in acquiring statistical data; various input variables which might have shown more secure customer management and promotional expenses could not be applied. As the study was limited in various aspects of the efficiency analyses because financial analyses of the companies and of causal relationships, including satisfaction and loyalty of visiting customers, were not done, these aspects will be examined in the next study.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.7-16
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• 2012

Despite the enforcement of SSM control laws such as 'the Law of Developing the Distribution Industry (LDDI)' and 'the Law of Promoting Mutual Cooperation between Large and Small/medium Enterprises (LPMC)' stipulating the business adjustment system, the number of super-supermarkets (SSMs) has ever been expanding in Korea. In France, however, Super Centers are being regulated most strongly and directly in the whole Europe viewing that there is not a single SSM in Paris, which is emphasized to be the outcome from French government's regulation exerted on the opening of large scale retail stores. In France, the authority to approve store opening is deeply centralized and the store opening regulation is a socio-economic regulation driven by economic laws whereas EU strongly regulates the distribution industry. To control the French distribution industry, such seven laws and regulations as Commission départementale d'urbanisme commercial guidelines (CDLIC) (1969), the Royer Law (1973), the Doubin Law (1990), the Sapin Law (1993), the Raffarin Law (1996), solidarite et renouvellement urbains (SRU) (2000), and Loi de modernisation de l'économie (LME) (2009) have been promulgated one by one since the amendment of the Fontanet guidelines, through which commercial adjustment laws and regulations have been complemented and reinforced while regulatory measures have been taken. Even in the course of forming such strong regulatory laws, InterMarche, the largest supermarket chain in France, has been in existence as a global enterprise specialized in retail distribution with over 4,000 stores in Europe. InterMarche's business can be divided largely into two segments of food and non-food. As a supermarket chain, InterMarche's food segment has 2,300 stores in Europe and as a hard-discounter store chain in France, Netto has 420 stores. Restaumarch is a chain of traditional family restaurants and the steak house restaurant chain of Poivre Rouge has 4 restaurants currently. In addition, there are others like Ecomarche which is a supermarket chain for small and medium cities. In the non-food segment, the DIY and gardening chain of Bricomarche has a total of 620 stores in Europe. And the car-related chain of Roady has a total of 158 stores in Europe. There is the clothing chain of Veti as well. In view of InterMarche's management strategies, since its distribution strategy is to sell goods at cheap prices, buying goods cheap only is not enough. In other words, in order to sell goods cheap, it is all important to buy goods cheap, manage them cheap, systemize them cheap, and transport them cheap. In quality assurance, InterMarche has guaranteed the purchase safety for consumers by providing its own private brand products. InterMarche has 90 private brands of its own, thus being the retailer with the largest number of distributor brands in France. In view of its IT service strategy, InterMarche is utilizing a high performance IT system so as to obtainas much of the market information as possible and also to find out the best locations for opening stores. In its global expansion strategy of international alliance, InterMarche has established the ALDIS group together with the distribution enterprises of both Spain and Germany in order to expand its food purchase, whereas in the non-food segment, it has established the ARENA group in alliance with 11 international distribution enterprises. Such strategies of InterMarche have been intended to find out the consumer needs for both price and quality of goods and to secure the purchase and supply networks which are closely localized. It is necessary to cope promptly with the constantly changing circumstances through being unified with relevant regions and by providing diversified customer services as well. In view of the InterMarche's positive policy for promoting local partnerships as well as the assistance for enhancing the local economic structure, implications are existing for those retail distributors of our country.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.107-128
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• 2013

When Korea's retail industry was liberalized, new store formats such as large discount stores and Super Supermarket(SSMs) have grown. New types of business have borne significant influence on traditional market. Traditional markets have been in gradual decline since they fail to meet to consumer's purchasing behavior. The South Korean government has been making sustained efforts to revitalize the modernization of traditional markets since 2004. This research is conducted to analyze how changes in the distribution of different types of distributors influence the consumer's purchasing behaviors depending on the changes in the market environment. The purpose of this research is to present a policy to invigorate consumer-oriented traditional markets by analyzing the consumption behavior among major retail channels at a point when competition among retail channels is becoming intensified. In order to examine the effect of the spatial competitive landscape among major retail channels on consumption behavior, an empirical analysis was conducted with 613 consumers in 6 cities nationwide, using the multiple regression model. This research identified three main areas of factors. The analysis result indicates that the physical factor (time required to go to the traditional market), socioeconomic factors (the number of vehicles owned and average monthly income), and competitive factors (intensity of competition in spatial locations and average monthly spending in supermarkets) have significant influence on consumption patterns of consumers. The findings present that the Korean government should go ahead with policies aimed to revitalize traditional markets, keeping in mind the factors that influence the consumption patterns of customers based on these results. We propose that the policy supporting traditional markets need to be a customized-strategy, considering traditional market's characteristic.