Margin management as a performance factor in retail food sector

Margin management is an important productivity control tool for food retail traders. This is of special importance during the period of economic crisis. Margin levels are, by means of the retail food selling price, reflected on the standard of living of the general population, or consumers. Bearing the afore said in mind, this paper is focused on the research of the gross margin levels in the retail food sector by individual country/region and among food chains, companies, retail formats and categories of products. Results obtained from this research, which was based on the original empirical data, show that the gross margin level in food sector has a slight downward trend under the influence of the economic crisis. In many companies, the gross margin level is below the standard level of 23-30%. With the aim to maintain profit on a targeted level, retail companies should direct their attention to the so-called optimization of costs in their business operations by means of an integrated application of all the new concepts of cost management, including the development of the privately owned labels.