Speciality retail markets and efficiency in 1988

The study examines the market structure and efficiency of speciality retail trade in Finland in 1988.

The study covers three sectors: consumer electronics, sports goods, and hardware and building materials retailing. The analysis is timely, as EEA and EC integration is placing these sectors, previously sheltered from international competition, in a new competitive environment.

Efficiency and market structure are analysed from four perspectives: a comparison of chain-affiliated and independent outlets, differences in operating conditions across localities of different sizes, the relationship between store size and economies of scale, and differences in the cost structure of profitable and loss-making outlets. In addition, the structure of wholesale trade and distribution channels is examined.

Although the data are from 1988, the study also seeks to assess the effects of the subsequent deterioration in the economic situation and integration developments on the operating conditions of speciality retail trade. (AI translation)

• ISSN: 0358-5980
• ISBN: 951-9282-54-8