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Sure, they take the same space. That doesn't mean you need a sprawling store with an eatery to buy them in, nor do you need 12ft (3.6 meters) of a single laundr

Sure, they take the same space. That doesn't mean you need a sprawling store with an eatery to buy them in, nor do you need 12ft (3.6 meters) of a single laundry soap nor a full shelf of one type of ketchup. Store layout and the space allotted for each product differs between places, in other words. I'm going to assume things like shelf height does as well. When these things are in the back room, they don't take up space in the same way as the sales floor. Also, it is quite possible that many retailers simply do not have the same sort of selection as they do elsewhere: If you sell fewer things, you don't need so much space.

ethbr0 5y ago
If we're interested in the viability of retail across nations, revenue/sqft & cost/sqft seem the two most relevant metrics. I.e. How affordable is a business' retail space? This would have the side effect of including varying levels of foot traffic (in revenue) and real estate price (in cost), which seem the two biggest differentiators.
nitrogen 5y ago
12ft (3.6 meters) of a single laundry soap nor a full shelf of one type of ketchup. This allows them to have smaller back rooms, fewer warehouse deliveries, and to restock only once a day.
- bluGill 5y ago
  Right, but where real estate costs are high compared to labor costs you will restock more than once a day to save on real estate. Where labor is high compared to real estate you use less labor. Note that compared is key above. Real estate and labor are both more expensive in dense cities, but comparatively real estate is more important to optimize and so you pay the higher labor. Even though labor is cheaper in suburbs you sill optimize that because real estate is so much cheaper.
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    And the statistic we're discussing doesn't take into account warehouse space. So the UK may have a similar amount of space devoted to retail throughout the supply chain, just much more in the backend and smaller front end.

ethbr0 5y ago

If we're interested in the viability of retail across nations, revenue/sqft & cost/sqft seem the two most relevant metrics. I.e. How affordable is a business' retail space? This would have the side effect of including varying levels of foot traffic (in revenue) and real estate price (in cost), which seem the two biggest differentiators.

nitrogen 5y ago

12ft (3.6 meters) of a single laundry soap nor a full shelf of one type of ketchup. This allows them to have smaller back rooms, fewer warehouse deliveries, and to restock only once a day.

bluGill 5y ago
Right, but where real estate costs are high compared to labor costs you will restock more than once a day to save on real estate. Where labor is high compared to real estate you use less labor. Note that compared is key above. Real estate and labor are both more expensive in dense cities, but comparatively real estate is more important to optimize and so you pay the higher labor. Even though labor is cheaper in suburbs you sill optimize that because real estate is so much cheaper.
- HWR_14 5y ago
  And the statistic we're discussing doesn't take into account warehouse space. So the UK may have a similar amount of space devoted to retail throughout the supply chain, just much more in the backend and smaller front end.