Concentration in food retailing: manufacturers have the short end of the stick
DIW Berlin Weekly Report 13 / 2011, p. 2-9 13 / 2011
Concentration in the German food retail sector continues to progress and is increasingly bringing the issue of buyer power into the focus of competition policy discussions. In contrast to supply power, there are hardly any empirical findings on the existence, extent and consequences of buyer power on the procurement markets of the food retail trade in Germany. A survey of branded goods manufacturers in the consumer goods sectors of food, non-food and near-food from 2009 now shows that manufacturers are in the worse position in negotiations with retailers. It remains unclear how this buying power of retailers affects the economy as a whole and consumers.
- Topics