Abstract:

This paper deals with the reorganisation of agricultural distribution in France and the implications thereof on marketing research in the agricultural field. Due to internal as well as external factors, the current structure of agricultural distribution in France is bound to change. Previous boundaries between agricultural and mass distribution are fading away. New powers, new actors will appear in the game. These changes call for an extension of traditional approaches, such as going from the monography study of a type of distributor to an extended monography survey of all the actors in the potential new structure, i.e. agri-distributors (coops and dealers), mass distributors, veterinarians, pharmacists, etc.