일본 유통업의 발전과 재구조화 : 종합 슈퍼(GMS)를 중심으로

Abstract

This Study reviews the factors which have influenced the development and change of supermarket industry in Japan focusing on general merchandising store(GMS) which has been a leading sector in Japanese retail industry since 1960s. GMS is a very unique Japanese retail sector combining fresh food commodities and non-food commodities within one shop. GMS could be a leading sector because it had a clever insight on Japanese consumption pattern (ie. desire for freshness, small package and one-stop shopping) and took on the challenge for low prices. But GMS has met crisis and lost the leading power, because market structure, family structure, and desire of consumer have changed and demanded more specialization. GMS is too mammoth to the recent demand. Government policy is another factor has influenced the development and restructuring of GMS. Government policy supported GMS until 1960s, but for the protection of small retailers against GMS's rapid expansion, Japanese government made the Large Retail Store Regulation Law in 1973, and restricted the new open of GMS stores. And the Large Retail Store Location Law in 2000 deprived the GMS's competence against other retail sectors once again. The third factor influencing GMS's development and restructuring is economic cycle. GMS had seen a rapid growth in the rapid growth of Japanese economies, was fatally damaged by the shock of long deflation in the 1990s. In the result there were so many bankruptcies of GMS sector's top companies since late 1990s. Certainly the future of GMS is not bright, but GMS will never perish. GMS will survive with the power of Japanese uniqueness.