Mass Merchandisers & Small Retailers

Mass merchandisers, from a historical point of view, are traditionally driven by only one motive: to make a profit. As was aptly described by Finn (1969), insofar as the corporate entity emerged in the twentieth century, public benefit was considered discretionary at best. Citizens no longer had any right to judge the activity of any particular corporation; it was free to engage in any business activity it wanted. The only criterion which remained as a measure of the corporate manager's performance was how much money he or she made for the stockholders.

In the 1960s, there was a marked shift from the simple notion of profit only, to adequate re

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kets will never be able to offer the range of products that natural food markets do. One of the reasons is that, in order to carry a good selection of natural foods, markets have to deal with a lot of local and small, specialty vendors. In addition, the natural foods supermarkets are more open to dealing with new manufacturers that are unschooled in sophisticated marketing techniques. For a natural foods supermarket, a small vendor can approach a retailer directly or through a distributor and get his products on the shelves with relative ease. One of the major ways in which a traditional supermarket can compete against a natural food supermarket is price. Gross margins on most natural food items are about 30 percent, compared to about 22 percent for items sold by conventional supermarkets (Rose, 1995, p. 81). But, while price is important, it is not the primary consideration for natural food shoppers, who tend to be highly concerned with quality and nutritional value. The natural foods industry has already made significant shifts toward widening the range of goods, vitamins, supplements, and personal care products to meet the increasing diversity of consumer lifestyles and interests. A number of trends that will cause changes
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Approximate Word count = 3799
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)

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