Going liquid: French food retail industry experiencing an interregnum

Maud Herbert (), Isabelle Robert () and Florent Saucède ()
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Maud Herbert: MERCUR - SKEMA Business School, Université de Lille, Droit et Santé
Isabelle Robert: MERCUR - SKEMA Business School, Université de Lille, Droit et Santé
Florent Saucède: UMR MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - Montpellier SupAgro - Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier, Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier

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Abstract: By calling the present condition of the French food retail industry an interregnum, this research considers the impact of liquid modernity on this sector and looks for signs of a new order at a designing stage. Nine experts representing large retailers and entrepreneurs using alternative modes of food retailing were interviewed. An interpretive analysis reveals a wide diversity of changes. Following Bauman's liquid metaphor, we identify shock, transformations, and crisis in food retailing, which we describe as phases that mark the dynamics in the shift from solid to liquid retailing. We discuss how retailers are adapting and deploying tactics both to respond and belong to these liquid times and how retailers can regain some legitimacy by claiming a role in territorial sovereignty.

Keywords: Zygmunt Bauman; liquid modernity; elite; interview; food retail; crisis; société liquide; retailing; consumers; circuit de distribution; commerce de detail; consommateur (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Published in Consumption, Markets and Culture, 2018, 21 (5), pp.445-474. ⟨10.1080/10253866.2018.1462169⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04213972

DOI: 10.1080/10253866.2018.1462169

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