Small retailers can, however, find niche markets, such as serving convenience needs and local tastes.

In India, for example, there is fear that small mom and pop retailers will be crushed when Wal Mart enters the market in the next few months. But policymakers must recognize that there are ways to protect small retailers without stifling competition.

The Government has implemented a special programme (PYMECO) to support small retailers through training in management and distribution processes.

At present most Vietnamese retailers are small, family run outlets, offering a limited choice of products to their customers.

The government can, say, impose zoning regulations, help small retailers find specialized niches in the market, or provide skills training to displaced workers.

In the context of a market with a high number of small retailers this practice can be seen as a barrier to entry.

Informal retailers could become the suppliers or the customers of formal retailers, or their franchises.

In other words, small shops may be more than capable of holding their own against big retailers if they adapt to the new environment.

Eventually, they themselves become formal retailers.

Xtify lets its users mostly small retailers and service providers offer real time pricing or discounts with the added precision of targeting by real time geo location.

That s exciting news to retailers looking for new markets.

Retailers could exercise their power in setting prices at the local level.

Further, the Commission's investigation established that Panamco Tica was lending refrigerators to retailers and attaching exclusivity clauses to the contracts, which required retailers to use the refrigerator for Coca Cola products exclusively.

Opponents point to how big retailers decimated the traditional retail segment in the West.

The distribution sector includes commission agents, wholesalers and retailers who act as enablers of trade.

The Euro Retailer Produce Working Group (EUREP) is a European based trade organization for retailers.

Its membership consists of growers, product marketing organizations and growers' cooperatives, food manufacturers and retailers.

It employs more than 90 of the workforce and is home to 75 of the retailers.

In the case of Greece and Portugal, for example, the tourism industry might absorb some unemployed retailers.

Growing use by retailers of own brands and discount retailing have also been driving prices down significantly.

Retailers are able to access and tap different cost structures in different countries and are becoming global.

These goods are sold to local consumers via car dealers and a whole chain of traders and retailers.

This affected all the producers, distributors, and retailers whose plans and contracts were based on now obsolete expectations.

Other experts stressed that modern retailers usually integrated backwards and could then help improve manufacturing processes and packaging.

The Commission was of the view that as Coca Cola products were among the markets leaders, and given the importance of selling a cold product to the consumer, this practice had a direct effect on small retailers, which had no space to install a second refrigerator.

So India s political debate over the entry of foreign retailers into the market, while heated, is probably already outdated.

In the Colombian market large scale retailers coexist with SMEs, each one serving a different segment of the market.

Criminal groups attack the websites of web retailers and Internet payment systems, extorting payment to make the attacks cease.

Economic Census figures for 2002 show that 48.5 of merchandise sales are made by just 688 businesses ( Big Box retailers).

It is primarily a company that manufactures, bottles and resells the finished product to wholesalers and retailers in Costa Rica.

Since stakeholders are concerned about the rapidly increasing presence of foreign retailers, there is a need to bridge the fear factor .

So we've started roundtables where we bring together the entire value chain, from producers all the way to the retailers and brands.

Right now, US inventories held by manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers are valued at around 1.7 trillion or about 10 of annual GDP.

The challenge is that the rise of online shopping will increase competitive pressure, regardless of whether big foreign retailers enter the market.

Instead of suing foreign retailers like Wal Mart, India should be finding ways to emulate and benefit from their hyper efficient methods.

On these platforms which resemble eBay and Amazon Marketplace manufacturers, retailers, and individuals offer products and services to consumers through online storefronts.

With regard to food distribution more specifically, the industry is composed of many agents, including supermarkets, quick service restaurants and specialty retailers.

Twice delayed, Dubai Mall opened on 4 November 2008, with about 635 retailers, marking the world's largest ever mall opening in retail history.

The main market players related to distribution are consumers, retailers, wholesalers and other intermediaries, as well as suppliers of goods and other services.

Consumers worldwide are finding that they can access virtually unlimited choice on the Internet including customized goods and services that big retailers simply cannot deliver.

This provides an incentive for retailers to conceal sales and engage in tax arbitrage by sharing some of the illicit tax savings with the final consumer.

Anti trust legislation is a guarantee against possible abuses by foreign companies adopting and implementing such legislation should allay local retailers' fears about foreign company presence.

An interesting development is the agreement reached in 2003 between retailers and their suppliers, setting certain parameters on issues such as prices, sales and advertising campaigns.

The size of the retail market in Ecuador might not make it attractive for new entrants, as no leading international retailers are active in the country.

But does Amazon s success mean that traditional brick and mortar retailers are slackers for not upgrading their stores, or for not building new stores in better locations?