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Antecedents and consequences of structural change in North American retailing 1990–2010

In this article secular trends and market conditions in North America are examined and linked to a series of major structural shifts and changes in US and Canadian retailing over the last two decades (1990–2010). Antecedents and consequences of developments, such as the emergence of category management as a new marketing paradigm, formation of a new value ‘Trinity’, and the rapid movement of markets towards dominant lower cost (value) retailers are reviewed, and their collective impact on other competitive market spaces, (for example, the department store industry and shopping centres), are critically examined. The study also reviews the emerging managerial imperatives in retailing – focusing especially on the centrality of inventory management, the rapid movement of merchandise and information, and the significance of new business processes beyond systems and analytics – as the key elements in a new strategic frontier for higher performance. The paper concludes the strategic review of the last two decades with a preview of the next two, as expectations for the North American retailing scene, both locally and globally, are outlined. The authors fear that the ‘extreme market share’ in the hands of a few retailers may be leading consumers to end up with less choice to shop, researchers with less ‘variance’ to examine, and a continent bereft of any significant retailing innovation in the years to come.