The efforts of groceries to survive aganist the discount stores and local chains

The purpose of this study is to examine the efforts of the grocery store, as the main pillar of traditional retail, for surviving despite the increasing discount stores and the fast-growing local chains, and to determine the today problems of grocery shopkeepers in this context. In this regard, a pre-structured questionnary was applied by survey method to grocery shopkeepers selected by random sampling method in five provinces of Ankara. The obtained data were analyzed by the statistical application program. The analysis results include findings about grocery shopkeepers on their demographic information, the duration of their activity in the sector, their sales and promotion methods, their preferred distribution channels for product supply and the problems they are facing, their customer profile, their activities related to the increasing competitivity in the retail sector and the changing market conditions, the payments they are required. According to the general assessment of the research results, the traditional retail structure, especially the groceries with increasingly decreasing numbers, is losing strength day by day. Grand surface- Büyük yüzey retailers operating in the sector thanks to their capital and equipment advantages, have monopolistic competion. The product option offered by the grocery shopkeeper in sales area is limited due to insufficient capital. Because of the reasons such as purchasing power from the supplier and low discount rate that can be obtained in supply, the grocery shopkeepers are obliged to offer to consumers at a high price products they had to buy also at a high price. On the other hand, discount stores, as they are pricing private labels lower than the market, are increasingly preferred. The current problems that are facing grocery stores subject to our research are that, as family-owned businesses they are moving away from specialization and failing to catch up with the evolving technology in the retail space as well as the lack of financial support provided by the state and the gaps in legal regulations with sanctions and in their practices for creating a fair and equitable competitive environment. The grocery shopkeepers' effective continuity in their commercial activities will be possible by establishing effective retail alliances that will strengthen them in areas such as procurement, promotion and financing within the retailing system and enable them to apply technological developments