PIT‐STOP

Abstract

With the launch of Asdadrive, Asda‐MFI, the third largest retailer in the UK, is to start selling cars. The news that Asda is to enter the motor trade, not only selling new cars but also dealing in servicing, repairs, trade‐ins and credit arrangements alongside their existing superstore operations is a perfect example of the daring and imaginative attitude which personifies “headline” retailers today; “jam‐jars” (Cockney rhyming slang for cars), beside jars of jam … whatever next! In fact this development of elastic product policies exactly mirrors another shift in traditional retail patterns — equally major but less trumpeted perhaps — the rapid growth in forecourt shops selling unconventional lines of merchandise. Our contributor looks at this relatively non‐publicised aspect of retailing, now pushed dramatically into the limelight.

Citation

Poynor, M. (1986), "PIT‐STOP", Retail and Distribution Management, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 6-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb018302