A hypermarket is very large store, usually over 50 000 square feet, typically on one level and selling a wide range of food and non foods products. Hypermarkets are usually located on the edge of town or in retail parks.
The first hypermarket was developed by French retailer Carrefour in 1963. The concept quickly spread within France and throughout Europe through the internationalization efforts of French operators who were sharing their expertise and establishing joint ventures.At the end 1980s the share of food sales through hypermarkets was estimated as approximately 20 per cent for the UK, however, a changing focus in UK planning regulation meant a move away from large out of town developments, thus inhibiting the growth of hypermarket sales.
Hypermarkets remain an important feature in French food retailing. Despite the legislation aimed at restricting the growth of hypermarkets, 58% of grocery sales and 31% of specialty retailing is commanded by supermarkets and hypermarkets.
Originally strongly price focused, the leading hypermarket chains have responded to the advent of pan-European hard discount formats and the introduction of pricing laws which prohibit loss leader prices, thus inhibiting deep discounting, by turning to geographical expansion into rural areas.
Hypermarkets operators have also continued to internationalize. In recent years, French hypermarkets changed their marketing approach and started to make individual departments look like local shops to break up the scale of the store, which can otherwise be perceived as intimidating.
Hypermarkets
