Lockvogelangebote und Rabattschlachten : der Bierverkauf des Lebensmitteleinzelhandels in den 1970er und 1980er Jahren

Previously undiscovered market studies show that the sale of beer as a loss-leader offer was already used as a competitive tool in food retailing in the 1970s and became an important feature of aggressive competition among retailers in the 1980s. The article illustrates the specific assortment and pricing policies in beer retailing and makes clear that increasing beer sales at low dumping prices led to profit losses for the stores. This highlights another facet in the development of the West German mass consumer society and the structural change in food retailing: the hallmarks of the growth and concentration process were not only the procurement and financing advantages of the large retailers, but also loss-leader offers and price undercutting in certain product groups, of which beer was demonstrably one.