Challenges Ahead for Supermarkets

The story of food distribution in the United States is a remarliable one. As a nation, we are blessed with abundant agricultural resources. We have a national agricultural policy that has emphasized efficiency (output per unit of input). And, perhaps most of all, we tend to believe that markets seive consumers best. This belief has helped produce an industry characterized by change. Over the past several years, many changes have taken place in both industry structure and in the products for sale. The result is that U,S. consumers spend proportionally less and eat better than people anywhere else in the world. Numerous challenges lie ahead for supermarkets. Most will be evolutionary. Supermarket firms that anticipate and respond best to the need for change will survive and grow. Consumers will continue to be well served.