Food retailing in the eighties— technological opportunities and social constraints

The closing decades of the 20th century will see radical changes taking place in the socio-economic structure of the U.K.—socially, with the growing displacement of labour due to the increasing use of ‘intelligent machines’ and coincidentally with a continuing reduction in the economically active population: economically, with the growing polarization between the industrial North and the post-industrial South. Such perceived developments, closely related to each other, will demand a positive response from U.K. retailing which could lead to a significant re-structuring of the industry as a whole.