Arguably the largest investment any retail distribution company can make is to open a new location. In a current situation where opening a new superstore can cost in the region of £1–£1½m, it is clearly vital to identify and examine all the factors involved in such a decision. The writer...

The message from James Lowe's presentation at the FMF Conference came through loud and clear: the UK's performance in comparison with other EEC countries is grim. We are 7th in terms of comparative consumer spending; by 1976 our national income per head will be 7th (with only Italy and Ireland...

“The large store is the future”, states Ian MacLaurin, in a positive affirmation of belief in the superstore. In the hypermarket lies the most practical answer to the problem of reduced costs and lower price. In distribution terms, the advantages of one massive delivery to a single...

Warehousing is a waste of time and money. Goods that are in store are idle goods and the longer they stay in storage the more they cost. The less warehousing, then, the better. A few companies have managed to organise a retailing operation without own warehousing by direct scheduling from...

The current financial crisis is going to make a substantial impact on the pattern of our shopping developments: it seems likely that many expensive town centre schemes will have to be abandoned, and neither shall we see multi‐storey car parking going up on the scale we have become accustomed...

One of the last functions the Commission on Industrial Relations performed before it was wound up towards the end of last year was to produce a report on wage determination in the retail distribution sector. Because of the CIR's dissolution, the report received remarkably little publicity. This...

It is no news that the movement and storage of goods forms a disproportionately large part of the amount the housewife pays for the product. In addition, most organisations of any size are now familiar with the techniques that can be used to improve logistics and the physical distribution...

The cost of raw materials is naturally a significant part of the selling price of Marks & Spencer garments, and cost increases over the past few years have made it increasingly necessary for methods of material control and utilisation to be improved. M & S textile technologists work closely with...

A great deal of money is spent by grocery retailers in various advertising media, but much of it, in Malcolm Hughes' view, is depressingly similar, especially the campaigns which appear in the national daily press. Radio has possibilities, but until boundaries are more clearly defined, it can...

In Dr Walters' last article (RDM, Nov/Dec), he discussed deficiencies in current approaches to site location. A Retailing Unit System was discussed in the context of a total systems approach whereby the retail unit system becomes part of a larger environmental system, which considers the needs...