Going liquid: French food retail industry experiencing an interregnum

ABSTRACT

By calling the present condition of the French food retail industry an interregnum, this research considers the impact of liquid modernity on this sector and looks for signs of a new order at a designing stage. Nine experts representing large retailers and entrepreneurs using alternative modes of food retailing were interviewed. An interpretive analysis reveals a wide diversity of changes. Following Bauman’s liquid metaphor, we identify shock, transformations, and crisis in food retailing, which we describe as phases that mark the dynamics in the shift from solid to liquid retailing. We discuss how retailers are adapting and deploying tactics both to respond and belong to these liquid times and how retailers can regain some legitimacy by claiming a role in territorial sovereignty.

KEYWORDS:

• Zygmunt Bauman
• liquid modernity
• liquid consumption
• elite interviews
• food retail
• crisis

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the special issue editors and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and guidance. They would also like to express gratitude to Pascaline Defives for helping them in the data collection and Isabelle Collin-Lachaud for her help in both collecting data and sharing insights on an earlier version of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The following description is based on an analysis of the UNESCO’s dedicated webpage and the video it contains: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/gastronomic-meal-of-the-french-00437?RL=00437.