Market Structure of Retail Industry in Australia

Running Head: Market Structure of Retail Industry in Australia
Economics for business
Market Structure of Retail Industry in Australia

Market Structure of Retail Industry in Australia 1
Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................2
2. Need for Market Structure.....................................................................................................3
3. Economic Analysis.................................................................................................................3
3.1 Monopoly.........................................................................................................................3
3.2 Duopoly............................................................................................................................3
3.3 Oligopoly..........................................................................................................................3
3.4 Contemporary World Situation........................................................................................4
4. Recommendations..................................................................................................................6
5. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7
6. References..............................................................................................................................7

Market Structure of Retail Industry in Australia 2
1. Introduction
Market structure in retail industry refers to the number of firms selling close or similar
products in a given market or geographical area (Hamilton, 2018). Coles and Woolworths are
Australian retail firms and are a part of retail industry of Australia. The industry has giant
super-market firms providing all sorts of products to the consumers. Coles and Woolworths
rule the market and face competition at various levels. The market structure helps them to
analyse their strategies and policies.
Market structure in any market can be of two types, perfect competition and imperfect
competition. Imperfect competition includes monopoly, oligopoly (includes duopoly) and
monopolistic competition. Perfect competition has large number of sellers selling
homogeneous products at a market determined price (Bernell, 2015). On the other hand,
monopoly has single seller and sells a unique product. Oligopoly has few competing sellers
with differentiated goods. Duopoly is a type of oligopoly with two sellers and differentiated
products. Monopolistic competition has many sellers with slightly differentiated good.
Figure 1: Types of Market Structure
Market
Structure
Perfect
Competition
Imperffect
Competition
Monopoly Oligopoly
Duopoly
Monopolistic
Competition