From Traditional Retailing to E-tailing: The Death and Rebirth of the Hypermarket Format? (original) (raw)

E-tailing is slowly but undeniably developing in France for convenience goods. Even if its significance in the next few years will not be as promising as was hoped for, it should represent a new distribution channel partially competing with traditional retailing. This is verified by the fact that the hypermarket format, symbol of the French retailing industry’s world success, has entered a phase of decline. From this observation, the paper suggests using a part of or whole hypermarkets by transforming them into logistical infrastructures for e-tailing. Two alternative models are proposed, which could serve as a basis for reflection for future research on the connection between traditional retailing and e-tailing. Keywords e-tailing, France, hypermarket, logistics, traditional retailing Introduction The United States is often presented as the natural home of the major innovations that have occurred in retailing throughout the 20th century, both for retail formats and marketing techni...