Omnichannel and Traditional Retail: Platforms to Seamlessly Connect Retail, Service, and Delivery

Millions of nanostores, small, independent and family-owned and operated stores, flock the cities in emerging markets and other developing countries. Fransoo et al. (2017) estimate that there are about 50 million nanostores globally. In developing markets in Central and Latin America, Africa, and Asia, they represent a large share of the consumer market. In this chapter, we focus in particular on consumer packaged goods. Nielsen (2015) estimates that in these markets on average about 50% of the sales of consumer packaged goods reach the consumer via this traditional retail channel. The market share, however, varies widely: in countries like China and Brazil, the organized channel has captured well over half of the CPG sales, while in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, along with the likes of Pakistan and Bolivia, the nanostore share exceeds 80%. In particular, consumers at the base of the pyramid (Prahalad and Hammond 2002), which in many developing countries represent more than two-thirds of the population, buy at nanostores. Since most of the growth in sales of CPG is in this market segment, the large manufacturers and brand owners of this world, ranging from Coca Cola to Heineken, and from Unilever to Danone, spend considerable effort serving this channel.