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The authors assessed the certification of street food retailers in Ghana in terms of awareness, training, willingness to be certified, determinants, agreement with certification requirements and impacts on performance.

Primary data was sourced from 200 street food retailers. Descriptive statistics, Likert scale, mean comparison test, heteroskedastic probit, inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA), inverse probability weights (IPW) and augmented inverse-probability weighting (AIPW) were applied.

Most uncertified retailers were willing to be certified. Awareness about certification was high. Most of the certified retailers had been trained on certification, while most uncertified retailers had not been trained. Being a female, being educated, being a migrant vendor, possessing experience in retailing, training in certification, trust in the local certification process, the amount spent in preparing food and the number of customers are crucial variables that increase the probability of being certified among street food vendors. Street food retailers agreed to all the requirements for certification. Certification boosts the performance of street food retailers in terms of the number of customers and contracts received. Training on certification is recommended for street food retailers.

The limitation of this study is mainly due to the type of food retailers selected. Street food vending in Ghana is done among those who cook food for selling, those who sell processed products such as drinks and those who sell vegetables and other uncooked agriproducts. Meanwhile, the authors selected unorganised retailers who primarily cook local and regional dishes for sale in this study. Thus, the study did not include organised food retailers such as restaurants. Therefore, generalising the study results for street food vendors should be made with caution.

Several studies have been conducted on street food retailing across the globe on knowledge of food-safety practices, risk practices, bacterial contamination of street retailing food, toxicological hazards of street foods and compliance with technical and hygienic requirements by street food retailers, among others. However, empirical studies on the certification/licensing of street food retailers and its impact have been given little attention. As a result, this study investigates the certification of street food retailers and its impacts on retailers' performance in Ghana.

To extend the research stream that, in the UK and USA has linked supermarket access to consumer diet by focusing on Pathmark, a supermarket chain that operates in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

The paper examines the square footage allocated to fresh produce, fish, meats, snack foods, soft drinks and similar items in Pathmark's Harlem store, and the pricing and promotion of those various foods. It also reviews news accounts of the controversy leading to the selection of Pathmark as the operator of a second store in Harlem.

The allocation of space to nutritious foods and to those with minimal nutritional value as well as the pricing and promotion of those goods at the Pathmark Harlem store is similar to that of suburban supermarkets. The debate over the second supermarket in Harlem further shows that community leaders, food activists, and neighborhood residents recognize that large chain supermarkets may be uniquely positioned to improve access to healthy foods in lower‐income urban areas.

The study examines only one chain in one US city.

The paper uses retail space allocation rather than self‐report data to consider the likely impact of the availability of nutritious foods on shoppers' diets. It also supports growing beliefs that large chains as well as small entrepreneurs may play important roles in urban regeneration.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how food waste management can affect both retail and distribution operators’ efficiency performance and their ability to create value. In particular, the paper shows how optimizing food waste management characterizes best practices and favors the development of sustainability.

Based on a survey of 196 outdoor market operators (including farmers and street food traders) from 27 outdoor markets, the authors analyzed unsold food/food wastage processes vis-à-vis the operators’ behavior and attitude. To provide accurate definitions of the satisfaction levels, a consumer perception survey was carried out, with a usable sample of 2,107 questionnaires. The efficiency performance was evaluated according to data envelopment analysis.

The results showed that farmers operate more efficiently than street food traders and that the traditional management of unsold food/food waste is an important competitive element in this sector.

The sample represents the Greater Turin Area in Italy, i.e., thus, limiting generalizability of the results. In addition, the variables analyzed were limited to certain aspects of selling processes and food waste management.

The results provide some indicators on how a more rational style of unsold food management can improve an operators’ performance and help make a social impact.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyses outdoor market operators’ efficiency, based on the use of food waste as a variable affecting their performance.

In an effort to win back consumer spending that is increasingly being diverted into areas not covered by the retail sector, such as housing, cars, entertainment and holidays, it is imperative that shops develop a clear and winning formula to retrieve the capricious shopper. The task is made harder by the growing competition in the retail sector itself and by the more sophisticated, discerning and demanding nature of today's potential customers. At a one‐day conference, “Retail Strategies for the 1980s”, organised by Mintel Publications and which took place at the Barbican Centre, London, in June, a wide group of retailers gave presentations outlining their strategy options and evaluating their prospects for success. RDM was there.

On‐shelf availability (OSA) is a key challenge for all retailers. Items that are out‐of‐stock (OOS) result in customer dissatisfaction; thus OSA/OOS are important customer service issues. Customer reactions to OOS range from product substitution to seeking products elsewhere. There remains much to do to research factors and causes of OOS affecting OSA from a supply chain perspective in a non‐grocery retail context. This research note aims to report on an exploratory investigation of OSA/OOS of four non‐grocery, high street retailers.

This paper discusses the extant academic and practitioner OSA/OOS literature to develop research questions for the investigation, which was conducted through in‐depth, qualitative interviews. Although a large sample was solicited only four different retailers in the fast‐moving consumer good categories of general merchandise, electronics, books, and mobile phones agreed to participate.

Findings indicate that the four retailers are not as focused on OSA as grocery retailers and that there is lack of collaboration with suppliers. This may have a significant impact on revenues and profitability as extant studies show that 65 per cent of consumers will not purchase in a store if confronted with an OOS situation.

Because of the low response rate only general trends across and within these four categories are reported. Notwithstanding, several important issues emerged for future research in this area and the non‐grocery arena.

Earlier work has provided insight into how supply chain issues affects OSA and OOS in grocery retailing. This paper extends that work to a non‐grocery setting, albeit on a limited basis, but provides scope for future research.

Refers to the tendency in UK supermarkets for diversification into non‐food areas which has emphasized the need to improve how and where the products are presented to the customers. Service diversifications, such as dry cleaners or opticians, have traditionally been situated as separate “shops” behind the checkouts. Contrastingly, product range diversifications such as stationery, entertainment and clothing have tended to be incorporated into the main shopping aisles. Attempts to identify whether consumers would prefer these non‐food ranges to be differently merchandised, and more specifically, whether consumer preferences are different between retailers? Asks what alternative display formats may be used and which specific ranges are considered appropriate for these formats. Using six different retail multiples, examines the perceptions and preferences of 500 shoppers from the results of an attitude survey carried out in two UK cities. Finally, provides recommendations for retail management.

Food retailing began to change in the early 1950's with the introduction of self selection in shops. By 1987, this self selection accounted for 72% of the grocery trade. The abolition of retail price maintenance in 1964 was another important factor in the retail revolution and now just five large multiples dominate our food buying (see Table 1). Table 2 shows the impact of multiple retailing which has led to a rapid reduction in the total number of shops and an increase in the number of superstores which offer the consumer considerable breadth and depth of choice.

For generations, Britain has had a household delivery of fresh milk; from the days before the Great War when it was delivered by a horse‐drawn milk float, with the roundsman often bringing the housewife to the door with his cries of “Milk‐O!”. The float had a churn and milk was delivered in a small can, served out by a dipper. This was the start of the distributive trade, organised between the Wars, from which the present industry has emerged. The trade gave universal acceptance to the glass bottle, returnable for household delivery, only the method of sealing has changed. There have been many demands for its abandonment in favour of the carton, of which recent years has seen a rise in its use in the increasing sales of milk by supermarkets and stores. Despite the problems with returnable vessels, the glass bottle has a number of advantages. The milk, including the cream line, is clearly visible, and short measure is most unlikely, which is a growing problem with carton‐filled milk. The number of prosecutions for short measure with cartons must be causing concern to trading standards departments. There is nothing to indicate the offence until the carton is opened.

In an ariticle last year, (RDM, May/June 1975, p.22, Foodstore Advertising), I deferred consideration of what was then a new advertising campaign—the now familiar “Wonder of Woolworth”. Time has given a new perspective to the task and enabled me to write about developments in retailing which I would scarcely have believed possible eleven months ago.