Food Marketing Systems in Yangon: The Unexpected Success of the Supermarket Model

Until the 1990s, agri-food systems in the global South were dominated by traditional markets, diverse networks of independent entrepreneurs who work through a variety of channels to bring food to consumers. Over the past two decades, supermarkets have made dramatic inroads into many of these agri-food systems and affected major changes to accepted norms of production and consumption. Current scholarship on supermarkets has pointed to an interconnected group of demand and supply factors such as urbanization and real income growth, but Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is considered the most pivotal factor in their recent expansion. Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the world and receives almost no FDI. Contrary to expectations, however, supermarkets are growing in Myanmar. After analyzing the role of supply and demand factors, I argue that the growth of Myanmar supermarkets proves the versatility the supermarket model in adapting to local conditions. I also note that the supermarkets operating in Myanmar have developed the presentation aspects of the supermarket model but not the integrated supply chain management which is observed in modern supermarkets around the globe. Due to the limited size of their elite consumer base, Myanmar supermarkets have not yet caused a dramatic restructuring of the agri-food system