Will Wellcome and ParknShop merge? It seems Hong Kong’s two biggest supermarkets have decided that they are single and ready to mingle. But if coupled, critics have warned that grocery prices will skyrocket and their duopoly will become a monopoly.
In my opinion, these quite dire predictions are understandable, if perhaps over-exaggerated. I am not saying they are like Chicken Little in cautioning the sky is falling, but I suspect the people making such claims do not actually do their family’s weekly shopping – or at least have not gone on a grocery run for about five years.
The reality is that savvy consumers have lots of choices beyond the two mega chains. Like many sectors, the entire paradigm of food retailing is shifting unpredictably. As much as the taxi industry was transformed by upstart car-hailing apps and the traditional media altered by online content start-ups, how we buy produce is changing.
