Going liquid: French food retail industry experiencing an interregnum

Developing a strong sustainability research program in marketing

“…Recent scholarship has identified BM innovation as a necessary part of societal transitions because they have "the potential to disrupt entire industries, because they connect multiple actors, [and] mediate between the production and the consumption side of business" (Bidmon and Knab 2018, 903). Herbert et al (2018) show the urgency for food retailers to find new marketing strategies due to increasing pressures in the upstream supply chain and changing consumer preferences. They identify a change in large retailers' stance toward SA, from seeing local producers as competition to be smothered, to seeing them as potential collaborators and even reaching out to small producers to start a dialogue around creating a robust local food system.…”

“…However, most of these “new” strategies are actually strategies to remain viable in the growth-based economic system that led to the current issues, with firms trying to shore up their status quo, and small entrepreneurs exploring new strategies. Hypermarkets and traditional food retailing is declining and firms across the agriculture industry are challenged to identify new strategies (Herbert et al 2018 ).…”

“…I select agriculture as an industrial example to illustrate SSR because there is already a large body of CCT work addressing sustainable agriculture (SA) that explores the culturally, socially and historically embedded practices of SA production, consumption and exchange (Batat et al 2016; Chaudhury and Albinsson 2014; Giordano et al 2018; Herbert et al 2018 ; Mars and Schau 2017 , 2018 ; Press and Arnould 2011a , 2011b ; Thompson and Coskuner-Balli 2007 ; Press and Arnould 2014 ; Smith Maguire et al 2017 ; Thompson and Press 2014 ; Visconti et al 2014; Watson and Ekici 2017). It tends to look at SA as an alternative to the big agriculture/corporate food system (Thompson and Coskuner-Balli 2007 ; Giordano et al 2018) that builds personal connections (Mars and Schau 2017 ) and counteracts feelings of risk and helplessness (Press and Arnould 2011a ; Thompson and Coskuner-Balli 2007 ) and explores local food as expressing “ideals of civic agriculture and just sustainability” (Visconti et al 2014, 4).…”

Retailing, Consumers, and Territory: Trends of an Incipient Circular Model

“…Shopping is more of a game and is hybridized with leisure, in other words, from 'buying provisions' to simply 'enjoying shopping'. As Herbert et al (2018) suggest the French food retail industry is experiencing an interregnum. At this point, it is also worth mentioning how virtual retail is looking for a more solid reality, especially in recent years.…”

“…The changes in grocery stores have taken place with the supremacy of the nearby supermarket against the large hypermarket (Verhetsel 2005;Albecker 2010). This format has become a close geographical area and sensitive to the intra-specific relationship between competition and association, reconfiguring the urban space (Herbert et al 2018). These places are enabling a reorganization of local stores allowing "chrono-mobility", omnichannel retailing (Zorrilla 2016a), and the optimization of logistics.…”