Food prices, quality, and quality's pricing in supermarkets versus traditional markets in developing countries.

摘要

This paper first reviews emerging evidence on supermarket-traditional retailer price and quality differentials, and then focuses on a case study of Madagascar that uses unique primary data to examine the quality and pricing of supermarkets versus traditional markets. Available survey-based evidence from ten developing countries plus primary data from Madagascar show a stable and predictable pattern in supermarket pricing and quality offerings versus traditional markets. (1) Supermarkets early-on best traditional retailers by charging lower prices for processed products - taking advantage of procurement systems that allow economies of scale. The poor consumers take advantage of this to buy processed foods and semi-processed foods from supermarkets. (2) Supermarkets early-on sell especially vegetables more expensively than do traditional retailers. Only slowly do they reduce their prices and compete on fruit and eventually vegetable prices. (3) Supermarkets in the early stages tend to focus on packaged and high-quality products. Typically, supermarkets then shift over time toward a variety of qualities and of packaging to add the mass market to their marketing targets. (4) Where the data permit, one can see clear differentiation of price by quality. Sometimes it is clear that supermarkets charge higher prices because they focus on the quality niche. However, sometimes (like for potatoes in Ecuador), it is clear that supermarkets provide both better quality and lower prices.