Question 1: HAVE SUPERMARKETS BECOME TOO BIG TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY ARE DAMAGING COMPETITION

Question 2: THE DOMINANCE OF THE BIG FOUR SUPERMARKETS IN THE GROCERY MARKET MEAN THAT THERE IS AN INCREASED RISK OF CONSUMERS GETTING A POOR DEAL
A poor deal will have different meaning for consumers for instance consumers with a higher income would not mind paying a higher price for a good quality product and for them this would be considered a good deal however for consumers with lower incomes the same deal would be considered poor as they do not have such a large budget. A poor deal can either mean a product of poor quality which is retail at a higher price with less variety of product so consumers have limited choice or it can mean a poor quality product, retailing at a very low price because the supermarkets are competing with each other to attract consumers and this is affecting the quality of the product. On the other hand this might only be true if the big four supermarkets dominate the market so instead of it being an oligopoly market, the grocery market would be considered a monopoly market. The BIG 4 would be able to this by opening small stores such as Tesco Express around local small convenience stores and making them out of business as Tesco benefits from economies of scales so it can charge a lower price in comparison to the local independent stores, which would make Tesco more attractive to consumers. Also the big four have some sort of loyalty cards deal which offer rewards eg Nectar card and Tesco club card and this leads to repurchases and creates loyalty between locals. A recent study illustrates the increase in smaller convince stores which are being opened by the Big 4(look at figure 2).
The supermarkets support the local community for instance Tesco hold free cooking classes for kids and by funding projects such as gyms or libraries. But would