The Americanisation of distribution and its limits: the case of the German retail system, 1950–1975

Abstract

The change in European distribution systems, exemplified by West Germany, represented a general change from a more cooperative towards a more competitive way of thinking and behaviour in everyday life. Substantial parts of the change towards a more competitive, more dynamic approach can be understood as Americanisation, an adapted and always selective process. Besides, in self-service we find Americanisation in supermarkets. These were no longer within walking distance but situated outside the cities, where customers needed a car in order to shop – a total break with European traditions. Mail-order business learned a lot concerning organisational matters. Channels of Americanisation were mainly travels by managers to the US and brochures, specially written for a distinctive branch of business. Americanisation also had its limits. Wholesale stayed neutral but unchanged. Other sectors, such as the institution of weekly private local markets, or of mobile retailers, resisted stubbornly. Some attempts failed utterly, for instance the attempt to introduce automats on a large scale. Also ignorance occurred: the discounter Aldi failed to recognise American experience in this sector, and consequently had to ‘reinvent the wheel’. In spite of failures, ignorance and neutrality we have to acknowledge a wave of Americanisation in retail trade during the boom period of the 1950s which did not start to peter out before the late 1960s.

Keywords:

• retail
• self-service
• Americanisation

Notes

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 2. Röper, Burkhardt. Die vertikale Preisbindung bei Markenartikeln. Untersuchungen über Preisbildungs- und Preisbindungsvorgänge in der Wirklichkeit, 42. Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1955.

 3. Nieschlag, “Strukturwandlungen,” 499.

 4. During the 1950s Americanisation in retail was represented by the introduction of self-service. I have dealt with that before, and will concentrate on other the aspects in this contribution (“‘Revolution in Trade’: The Americanization of Distribution in Germany after WW II.” In German and Japanese Business in the Boom Years, Transforming American Management and Technology Models, ed. Harm G. Schröter, Akira Kudo and Matthias Kipping, 246–67. London: Routledge, 2004.

 5. For a more general overview on Europe or single countries see: Americanization of the European Economy. A Compact Survey of American Economic Influence in Europe since the 1880s, Harm G. Schröter. Dordrecht: Springer, 2005; Isabelle Lescent-Giles. “The Americanization of Food Retailing in Britain and in France since the 1960s.” In Americanization in 20 ^th Century Europe: Business, Culture, Politics, ed. M. Kipping and N. Tiratsoo, 291–308. Lille, 2002; Strasser, S., C. McGovern, and M. Judt, eds. Getting and Spending: European and American Consumer Societies in the Twentieth Century, 59–84. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 6. See in the introduction to this issue (Schröter, Harm G. “Economic culture…”, idem. “What is Americanization? Or About the Use and Abuse of the Americanization Concept.” In Américanisation en Europe au XXe Siècle: Économie, Culture, Politique. Americanization in 20 ^th Century Europe: Economic, Culture, Politics, eds Dominique Barjot and Isabelle Lescent-Giles and Marc de Ferrière le Vayer, 41–57. Lille, 2002; Moen, Eli, and Harm G. Schröter. “Americanization as a Concept for Deeper Understanding of Economic Changes in Europe, 1945–1970.” In idem, eds, Entreprise et Histoire, no. 19, Paris, 1998, 5–13, 6.

 7. Kipping, Matthias, and Ove Bjarnar, eds. The Americanization of European Business: The Marshall Plan and the Transfer of US Management Models, Routledge Studies in International Business no. 5. London and New York: Routledge, 1998.

 8. Gloor, Max. “Ausblick auf zukünftige Distributionsformen.” In Neuzeitliche Distributionsformen, ed. M. Gloor et al., 103–15, 104. Berne: Paul Haupt, 1963.

 9. Since I have published on self-service, supermarkets, chain stores, and discount markets elsewhere, these parts will be here be presented only to the extent that the reader can follow the whole line of argument which was not fully put forward elsewhere (see note 4).

10. Henksmeyer, Karl-Heinz. Die wirtschaftlichen Leistungen der Selbstbedienung in Europa, 11. Köln: Verlag für Selbstbedienung, 1961.

11. European Productivity Agency. Productivity in the Distribution Trade in Europe (quoted from: Henksmeier, Selbstbedienung, 11).

12. Eklöh, 17.

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16. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, November 21' 1953.

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21. The first of such methods transferred from the US we could trace was the so called lifo (last-in-first-out) form of calculation, the last one was the rfmr-formula (recency, frequency, monetary ratio) for evaluation of customers (see Wagenführ, Horst. “Die volkswirtschaftlichen Leistungen des Deutschen Versandhandels.” Ms, lecture given at the members assembly of Bundesverband des Deutschen Versandhandels on March 11, 1952, 10; Kirchner, G. Versandhandel, Gestern, Heute, Morgen, 162. Stuttgart: Forkel-Verlag 1975.

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23. Nieschlag, Neuzeitliche Distributionsformen, 97.

24. Kirchner, 225.

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26. Otto, OTTO-Gruppe, 249.

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38. Tietz, Konsument, 360ff.

39. De Bernardi, Mario. “International tätige Handelsunternehmen.” Selbstbedienung und Supermarkt, no. 12 (1975): 47–51, 47.

40. ‘We all have to learn how to get along better with each other’ (Wir müssen alle lernen, uns miteinander besser zu vertragen). Versandhandel, no. 12 (1953): 5.

41. Erker and Pierenkemper. Paul Erker and Toni Pierenkemper thought Volker Berghahn's periodisation of an Americanisation of business elites wrong, because it is based on only a handful of case studies. According to them the change in the heads of managers took place, rather, in the second half of the boom, not in the first. (Berghahn, Volker. The Americanization of West German Industry, 1945–1973. New York, 1986); Schröter, Harm G. “Cartelization and Decartelization in Europe, 1870–1995: Rise and Decline of an Economic Institution.” Journal of European Economic History 25, no. 1 (1996): 129–53; idem. “Der Verlust der ‘europäischen Form des Zusammenspiels von Ordnung und Freiheit’. Vom Untergang der deutschen Konsumgenossenschaften.” Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 87, no. 4 (2000): 442–67.