Changing consumption patterns: impacts on retailers and their suppliers

New consumption patterns – expressed in demands for increasing variety, quality and individuality in the goods purchased – are said to be developing. They are held to be leading to an increasing demand for flexibility in supply, both in meeting variations in the size of order and in meeting rapidly shifting demand patterns for particular products. Where these changes in demand are occurring, they will be articulated through the demands made by retailers on their suppliers and through the attempts of manufacturers to provide retailers with the goods they believe the consumer is now demanding. This paper examines how these changing patterns of consumption and demands for flexibility of supply are altering the formof retailer-supplier relationships in Britain today. It draws on empirical evidence from the hosiery and bread industries. It also engages with current debates concerning the directions of retail restructuring in contemporary Britain.