Future in the European Retail Business

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, Comenius University in Bratislava (Management), course: Vorbereitung Dissertation, language: English, abstract: The first considerations of this thesis developed in 2006 during my second degree course for the MBAdegree at the HDU Deggendorf (Germany) and the University of Limerick (Ireland). At the time of thiscourse there was a great discussion at the business schools of the universities that were part of theMBA programme about the influences of the internet commerce on the market potentials in retail. Socalleddisruptive strategies by companies such as Amazon (for books) and Unister (for tourism)created massive upheavals in the respective trade segments. The upheaval hit small retailers asmuch as industry giants. The question for me was if the threats would reach a new pinnacle in thestatic retail business.Already during my first degree course as a university business graduate (MA equivalent) during theyears 1993-1998 (time of the “new economy” hype) there were enormous market redistributions, thenmainly in the financial services sector, but in the early stages already also in the book trade, whichoften could not be fended off by established companies.The questions that I have been wondering about since are: “What will the retail market look like in thenext few years?”, “How will companies have to act strategically under these aspects?” and “Are therethings that endure and never change (so-to-speak anchor points on the market)?”In my research work over the last few years I have tried to find answers to these questions and lookedfor potentials for a successful retail business.