Procesy konsolidacji w handlu hurtowym w okresie spowolnienia gospodarki
Processes of Consolidation in Wholesale Trade in the Period of Economic Slowdown

Summary/Abstract: The contents of the article are presentation and assessment of the course of processes of consolidation in wholesale trade in consumer goods in Poland after the year 2008. The author focused in it on the three issues. First, he showed that in the period of economic slowdown and declining expenditures of consumers there grows the number of bankruptcies of enterprises (and particularly wholesaling). There ‘disappear’ from the market mainly distributors operating in the segments where profit margins are very low compared to the costs incurred. Second, there can be observed a growing interest among domestic wholesale agents in merging their strengths or in seek of robust partners. This is aimed at increasing of purchasing strength towards suppliers and at expanding their scope of activities. Third, parallel to the processes of consolidation among wholesale agents, there goes on tightening of cooperation with the retail segment. This mostly takes place by way of developing the network of shops in the organic manner (on the principles of franchise or by way of launching own retail outlets). These actions – particularly in the period of economic slowdown – facilitate retention of domestic distributors in the market. The article was prepared mainly on the grounds of analysis of the desk research data. This was dictated by lack of statistical reporting in this area.

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