COVER STORY
created with huge investments and great planning . They have the best network of roads , rail , airports , ports , internet connectivity , telecommunication , etc . There are 5,217 public airports and 14,702 private airfields . No other country has even 10 % of these ! They have 7,309 commercial jets .
Military muscle . The US has the thirdlargest military and spent $ 778 billion on the military in 2019 . The secondhighest spender on the Military is China spending hardly one third . India spends 10 % of that , Pakistan ’ s GDP is much smaller than that budget .
Geographic size . The third-largest country in the world in land size .
Natural resources . The U . S . is the second leading country , based on natural resource value , after Russia . The total natural resources were valued at $ 45 Trillion . Among the main contributors are coal , timber , natural gas , gold , and copper .
Rich agriculture . In the year 2019 , the agriculture sector contributed $ 1.11 Trillion to the US GDP which was 5.2 % of the total US GDP .
Power of currency . About 38 % of the global trade is done in the US dollar . Only Euro competes strongly with near equal share . The everflourishing economy of about $ 19.5 Trillion in the year 2020 . It is 65 % more than the number two in the world , China . The per capita income makes it one of the richest countries in the world with a per capita GDP of more than $ 68,310 .
These things act as the magnet for pulling talent from all corners of the world . American society and leadership successfully created a conducive culture . America became a center for excellence .
Battlefield - Geography
Earth has 57.5 million square miles of land but about 95 % of the human population inhabits only 10 % of that land , ( World Bank 2009 World Development Report ). Geographically , America is a gigantic country , ranked 3 rd in the world , in size . The total area is about 3.7 million square miles . It is 6.4 % of the total land on earth . ( Russia is the largest with 6.3 million square miles followed by Canada , just ahead marginally ). America is bigger than 30 European countries put together . The United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states , a federal district , five major territories , and various minor islands . There are four time zones in America , Eastern , Central , Mountain , and Pacific .
Battlefield - Demographics
The population density of the US is 93 persons per square mile . Australia is at 8 , Canada at 11 or Russia at 23 . Putting it in better perspective , China has 397 and India has 1202 . The population of America is 328.20 million . But only 2 % of the land is densely habited with more than 80 % of the population residing in it . Such scale , density and economic prosperity fuel the retail demand . America is ranked 35 th in the average age of the population ( 37.4 years ),
“ Retailing in America played a key role in arousing aspirations . Increased intensity of stores combined with the state of art ambience , and visual merchandising supported selling innovative merchandise on an unprecedented scale .”
about the same as China though way behind India ( 29 years ) but ahead of Japan ( 46 years ) and most of the European countries , well above 40 . The life expectancy is high at 79 years . About 69 million people are older than 60 ( 21 %), 22 % of the population is below 18 years of age . Thus , 57 % of the population is fit to work .
Pandemic - Inflaming Battlefield Further
The Covid-19 pandemic that erupted in February 2020 created a deep impact on America . It became the most affected country on all counts . As of September 2021 , about 219 million people got infected , globally and 4.55 million lost their lives . In America , 41.3 million people got infected ( 19 % of the global infections ) and 662,000 people lost lives ( 14.5 % of the global casualties ). In the pandemic , 40 million Americans lost their jobs . Hardly 50 % of the population was working . It ’ s the first time after the 2009 financial crisis that the American economy shrunk ( by 3.5 % if taken annually ).
The pandemic hit both supply and demand sides . Many food services were closed down . Options to eat out or on the go have been reduced drastically forcing Americans to cook and eat at home . Income breaks have changed food habits . People have realized during the pandemic that homemade food is healthier , cheaper and faster . The food-at-home market share had declined from over 60 % in 1992 to under 50 % around 2014- 15 . But it bounced back in pandemic creating an edge over foodservice by 12 % ( the ratio is now 62:38 ). Food retailers get the benefit when the food at home share increases . HoReCa ( Hotels , Restaurants and Cafeteria ) get benefited when food away from home share climbs up .
During the pandemic , the food at home share increased drastically benefiting retailers by $ 100 billion-plus , at the cost of food services ( HoReCa segment ). How food retailers will hold on to this gain will define their future growth . This is important because more than 11 % of the households are ‘ single person ’ households who have a natural tendency to eat away from home due to paucity of time and lack of cooking skills . Closure of offices , the emergence of work-from-home culture and constraints imposed by the governments on the human moment had a negative impact on the demand for the HoReCa segment . Post-pandemic this trend is likely to be reversed again favoring food services sectors if food retailers don ’ t offer the right solution .
Chain Stores - Battling Mom-and- Pop stores
Chain stores came to America in the 1920s . Initially , they did eat the market share of Mom-and-Pop stores which were the only shopping destination . But at some point in time , they became two separate market segments with a minimum overlap of interest . They have a few loyal families shopping exclusively . Some customers shop both at a chain store and Mom-and-Pop stores . Chain store is used for primary shopping trips ’ Mom-and-Pop stores are frequented for the Top-up s and also sudden pop-ups . Chain stores focus one-stop-shop , discounts , ambience ,
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