Supermarket work is a professional field within the retail sector, concerned with buying and selling goods to meet customers’ everyday needs. It encompasses many roles, from the youngest shop assistant to those responsible for entire chains, as well as specialist roles within shops and support functions such as distribution and marketing.
Employees are central to the retail sector. Historically, they were self-taught, but today trained retail staff and assistants make up most of the workforce, alongside students and employees with experience in other sectors. Increasing numbers of people with higher education qualifications work in head office roles.
The work is organised in many ways, from discount shops to independent grocers offering a personal service, and from supermarkets with carefully selected product ranges to online retailers offering home delivery. The sector is shaped by legislation and regulations on working conditions, the environment and food, as well as local factors such as infrastructure.
The project ‘The supermarket – people, culture, past and future’ examines contemporary supermarkets and the retail sector from a historical perspective and with an eye to the future, as new technologies, groups of employees and customer demands shape the sector.
Professor Leeds University Business School
Anton Clausen, a history student at the University of Copenhagen. Anton has worked on the emergence of discount retailing in Denmark.
Anne Larsen, a political science student at the University of Southern Denmark. Anne has worked on educational and careers guidance and how retail features within it.
