1In West African metropolises, food distribution systems are undergoing profound changes as a result of a combination of factors, including the emergence of a middle class, the diversification of supply sources, and the emergence of new retail formats such as large supermarkets. Most recent urbanisation attests to the vitality of this phenomenon that is both rapid and massive; it has profoundly changed lifestyles, social structures and the economies of African cities (Tabutin and Schoumaker, 2020; Koba, Djoufelkit and Rabier, 2019; Sène, 2018). This recomposition is generating profound transformation of the commercial activities, be it formal or informal trades that develop there. Globalisation also plays a role in increasing migrations, trade, capital flows, and in changing the cultural landscape, most notably regarding food or eating habits (Fumey, 2007; Ghorra-Gobin, 2016).
2In addition to the reorganisation of distribution systems brought about by globalisation, the transformation of urban logistics in developing countries shows a limited cohabitation between a traditional system and a modern system (Mareï and Savy, 2021). Indeed, consumption and its significance in terms of identity take a step forward with globalisation, strongly underlining the relationship between the two. Consumption is becoming a subject of interest for geographers, not only for economic geographers and the geography of commerce, but also for urban geographers and planners (Lemarchand, 2011). Inspired by the work of sociologists on the consumer society, geographers are endeavouring to understand the meaning of places in consumption. In their work analysing the anthropological role of consumption, Mary Douglas and Baron Isherwood (2008) show the extent to which the relationship with the object consumed involves a way of being, linked to culture rather than just economics. Indeed, as the sociologist Vincent Chabault (2017) has shown, consumption cannot be reduced to simple economic exchanges. It should be seen first as a social practice involving rational and/or emotional decisions, purchases and uses. From this perspective, the geographical analysis of the West African urban commercial space is extremely difficult, as it concerns complex systems whose socio-economic and cultural components evolve differently depending on the territory and society.
3In the context of geographical discussion, the emergence of new distribution formats in African metropolises such as Dakar has proved a topic of particular interest. Made up of five departments — Dakar, Pikine, Guédiawaye, Keur Massar and Rufisque (Fig. 1) — the Dakar region had an estimated population of 1,600, according to the first statistics dating back to 1878, before becoming the country’s capital in June 1958, at the expense of the city of Saint-Louis. Today, it is above all the other regions of the country. Thanks to its attractiveness due to the concentration of economic, administrative, political and commercial powers, the region is home to over 23% of the national population (ANSD, 2023), or more than four million people today. In addition to this demographic weight, Dakar is also an urban area, with 96.5% of its population living within the city (ANSD, 2020). This situation largely explains the size of food distribution networks such as large supermarkets, shops and permanent and non-permanent markets.
Figure 1. Dakar, with its five departments and permanent and non-permanent markets.
4My interest in studying changes in the retail environment in Dakar arose from an observation I made during my three years of professional experience as a fruit and vegetable section manager at LIDL France, in Saint-Cloud, then in Fontenay-sous-Bois (Ile-de-France region). I was able to note the importance of large food supermarkets in making food available in urban areas and the social nature of consumer purchasing practices. These observations led me to return to my original context, that of West Africa and Dakar in particular, to understand the process involved in the transformations of distribution methods and their socio-spatial effects. In 2019, as part of my dissertation on Dakar, I found it necessary to study the coexistence between small local shops and large supermarkets. The aim was to analyse the extent to which the establishment of supermarkets posed a threat to those involved in small-scale local and retail trade: shopkeepers in the neighbourhoods, traders in the markets, and women along the roads.
5My methodological approach combined information gathering through a literature review, direct observation in the field, surveys of 300 people (mostly heads of households interviewed at home) and some 15 interviews with shopkeepers and supermarket managers. Questions focused, among other things, on the choice of shopping locations and the adaptation strategies implemented by retailers. The site of my fieldwork was the Dakar urban area, and more specifically the outskirts, observing the exchanges between traders and consumers in the markets, local shops and stalls along the main roads of Greater Dakar. The site was chosen because more than 90% of the country’s formal and informal businesses are located in the Dakar region. Hence the interest in studying this new commercial dynamic and all the socio-economic changes that go with it. This is an interest that will provide a good understanding of how these food stores operate, the working climate that prevails and the power struggles and conflicts of interest that can exist between the various economic actors. Among these actors, those in the informal sector occupy a central place in the political and socio-economic organisation of activity in Dakar.
6Commercial activity in Dakar is characterised by the diversity of the economic actors involved and of the commercial venues, including the markets. The latter are also places where informal facilities are concentrated in and around the city. These economic actors include informal traders. It was with these actors that I carried out some of my fieldwork. In this article, I will first analyse the place of informal trade in the socio-economic organisation of the Senegalese capital, before looking at the policies for setting up large-scale distribution in the Senegalese capital. Finally, we will look at the coexistence of stakeholders and its benefits for consumers, and analyse the adaptation strategies of small-scale traders, particularly shopkeepers and women.
7According to the International Labour Office, the informal sector is officially defined as “a set of units producing goods and services with the principal aim of creating jobs and income for the people concerned. These units, with a low level of organisation, operate on a small scale and in a specific way, with little or no division between labour and capital as factors of production.” With a great capacity to adapt to economic change and international trade (Stamm, Zinsou-Klassou and Desse, 2016), the informal sector also covers different types of employment such as self-employment, unpaid work and disguised unemployment. These activities are characterised by the absence of job security or regularity, as well as low pay and the absence of long-term benefits or benefits other than wages, legislation or trade union protection (Akinboade, 2005). One of these activities, informal trade, employs a large number of people in Senegal, particularly in Dakar. This activity is founded on employment relationships, which, where they exist, are mainly based on casual employment, kinship or personal relationships rather than contractual agreements. It provides an increasingly relevant response to the needs of the local economies of the country’s various cities, and is most often accompanied by a large-scale occupation of the street, in various forms — itinerant and sedentary, temporary and permanent (Steck, 2007). Finally, recent research has highlighted the ambiguous nature of some of this informal trade when it is increasingly integrated into public policy and traders are allowed to sell on local markets when they pay municipal taxes. As is pointed out by Stamm, Zinsou-Klassou and Desse (2016, p. 66): “There are not formal activities on one hand and informal activities on the other, but a continuum from the most formal to the most informal”.
8In Dakar, despite the existence of new, modern forms of food distribution (large supermarkets and mini-markets), the majority of retailing still takes place in local shops, street stalls and markets. These shops, run mainly by women and young people, develop in markets or in the street near the vendors’ homes. Retail remains the most dynamic sector of the urban economy. It alone accounts for around 72% of micro-enterprises and 41.8% of informal jobs in the Dakar region (Diop, 2007). According to Diop, this situation is largely explained by the fact that it is the only sector, along with the craft industry, to offer some employment opportunities to certain categories of the population, the majority of whom are young and unskilled. Informal trade has led to the development of small-scale economic activities enabling migrant populations from the rest of the country (rural areas and inland regions) and surrounding countries, as well as city dwellers with no formal employment, to have a “trade.” This is illustrated on Fig. 2 below, with a strong presence of women from Guinea and the interior regions. Combined with the proliferation of markets and the absence of an industrial base capable of absorbing youth unemployment, informal trade is a source of income for thousands of people, particularly women.
Figure 2. The omnipresence of women at the Castor market.
© Mboup, 2019
9Despite its very important economic and social dimension, informal trade must learn to coexist with new forms of food distribution such as mini-markets and large supermarkets. A growing number of international chains (Auchan and Carrefour) and national chains (Low Price by EDK, Senchan and Elydia, as shown in the photo below) have been developing in the Senegalese capital since the 2010s. They feature a higher level of innovation (diversity of products on offer, more comfortable shopping facilities, more hygienic with greater safety, etc.).
Figure 3. Local supermarkets (EDK and ELYDIA) in Dakar.
© Mboup, 2019
- 1 Associate Professor of Geography at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities at Cheikh Anta Diop Un (...)
10In African cities, particularly Dakar, field observation shows that the spatial distribution of infrastructure and commercial facilities is not uniform. Indeed, a number of research studies show that this phenomenon is dependent on the spatial dispersion of different urban functions: administrative, commercial and intellectual (Förster and Ammann, 2018; Ndiaye, 2015). Traditionally, in Dakar, the first supermarkets were set up in the city centre as part of a central approach. Although there is little documentation on the commercial phenomenon of large supermarkets, my interview with Professor Mamadou Bouna Timera1 revealed that the first supermarkets in Dakar were located in the city centre in the Plateau (Fig. 1) (the main business district and the place where administrative and economic powers are concentrated, etc.). Like the theory of centrality, which is becoming increasingly obsolete in the face of urban dynamics in African cities, urban commercial space follows the dynamics of urbanisation and urban sprawl. The theory of central places attempted to account for the spacing and inequalities in the size of cities (their spatial and hierarchical organisation) through their economic functions (trade and services). Initially formulated by Walter Christaller (1966) and August Lösch (1954), it was subsequently the subject of other approaches driven by urban change. As a result of demographic dynamics, accentuated by the cosmopolitan dimension of African cities, particularly the globalisation of Dakar (Fournet-Guérin, 2017), the change in scale of urban areas and the speed of trade and flows (Lebrun, 2022), we can now dissociate the centre and centralities, and talk about centralities in Dakar (Diop, 2010). This phenomenon is difficult to analyse due to the lack of data and indicators for all Dakar’s departments. To analyse the heterogeneity of Dakar’s social and commercial space, I used data from the Dakar poverty and family structure survey carried out in 2011 and published in 2016. It shows the distribution of poverty rates in the arrondissement communes across the region. The Rufisque area is not well represented. This makes it possible to draw a correlation with the reasons for the location of the Auchan, Carrefour Market and Supeco supermarkets, as illustrated in the map below.
Figure 4. Wealth inequalities in the Dakar urban area.
11As Fig. 4 shows, the policies of location choice for large supermarkets follow diverse, complex and interconnected rationales. Geographically, supermarkets were first established in certain districts of Dakar, but also in the suburbs such as Pikine, Guédiawaye and Keur Massar. More than 90% of the region’s supermarkets are located in Dakar. The majority of these areas are home of a large and affluent middle class. They are also places of business that welcome workers from other departments in the region (Pikine, Guédiawaye, Rufisque and Massar). Interviews with supermarket operators show that these workers see a host of advantages. Workers living in the suburbs do their shopping on their way home from work and avoid long journeys at weekends to come back to do their shopping. Deliveries can be simplified by taking advantage of the proximity between supermarkets and depots concentrated in the south-western part of Dakar, etc. A reality facilitated by new development policies, with the introduction of the Regional Express Train (realized in 2021) and toll freeways (between 2013 and 2016) to facilitate urban mobility. To illustrate this trend, the strategies of the two leading supermarket chains provide interesting examples in areas that are changing.
12While mass retailing historically developed in peripheral areas in the West, it was noticeable that in Dakar, as in other West African urban areas such as Abidjan, it was first established in the central area. The map showing the location of Auchan and Cfao retail supermarkets shows that large supermarkets still have a limited presence in the suburbs: one supermarket for each of the other four Dakar departments : Keur Massar, Rufisque, Guédiawaye and two for Pikine. Auchan is Senegal’s number one supermarket chain, with 35 supermarkets in 2022, one hypermarket and one drive-through. More than two thirds of its stores are located in the Dakar Department, with one supermarket in each of the other departments, while the Cfao retail group, which operates the Carrefour and Supeco brands in Africa, has set up its only Carrefour Market shop in the region in the Point E-business and residential district, and three Supeco shops in less affluent areas: Supeco El Mansour, Supeco Golf and Supeco Pikine (Fig. 4). The development of large supermarkets in Dakar therefore follows the urban dynamic. For decades, economic, political and commercial power was concentrated in the Plateaux District (see Fig. 1 and 4), but today other areas are beginning to polarise much of the region’s economic activity. Point E (see Fig. 1) is an interesting example of one of these emerging central areas. Located in the Cheikh Anta Diop university area, this district, which until the 1980s was mainly residential, very quickly became a district for business, studies, banks and expertise of all kinds, to the point of becoming a major centre of Dakar (Diop, 2007). This new situation competes with the historic centrality of the Plateau District, with its Auchan stores (Fig. 5). Taking advantage of its relative proximity to the historic center, Point E will be home to one of the three Carrefour market banners to be present in the country by 2023 (Fig. 6), reinforcing its polarity and attractiveness.
Figure 5. Auchan Marie supermarket in Plateau and some services in Yoff.
© Mboup, 2021
Figure 6. Carrefour Market in the Point E-business District.
© Mboup, 2021
13Meanwhile, in the distant suburbs of Dakar (Pikine and Guédiawaye in particular), where there is a very high concentration of people with low economic resources, small-scale informal trade still dominates, particularly the permanent and non-permanent markets (Fig. 1). However, this small-scale trade coexists with the new supermarkets that have been set up in the area. The strategic goal for Auchan and Cfao retail is to reach the affluent classes and middle classes in the suburbs. Fig. 4 also highlights the capital’s great social heterogeneity. This includes the historic centre of Dakar, where the poverty of Medina remains attached just at the foot of the wealth of the Plateau District. This is demonstrated by the cartographic work of Marion Borderon (2014), who describes the Dakar urban area as a conurbation with new nuances. The traditional opposition between Dakar and what used to be considered its suburbs (Pikine, Keur Massar and Guédiawaye) is increasingly obsolete. In fact, one of the most striking phenomena in the reshaping of Dakar’s urban space is the boom of new housing estates promoted by the public authorities to rehouse civil servants and the private sector in the departments of Keur Massar, Guédiawaye and Rufisque. There are relocation or property projects that encourage the middle and affluent classes to move to these new places of residence. This is a phenomenon that accentuates the heterogeneous nature of the distribution of social classes in the Senegalese capital. In addition to this phenomenon, there are a number of other factors, including the explosion in property prices in Dakar and the development of road infrastructure that facilitates interurban mobility. Such socio-economic dynamics favour the establishment of supermarkets in these areas. There is a coexistence that redefines the role of the different actors and offers consumers freedom of choice.
14The diversity of distribution networks contributes to the democratisation of commerce in the region. The 2008 food crisis has brought a new urgency to the issue of food supplies for urban dwellers and prices, a situation that has become a political priority in order to guarantee political stability and social peace. In the Dakar region, income poverty is very much a part of people’s lives. According to data published in 2016 by the National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD) on the economic and social living conditions of the people of Dakar, poverty affects more than half the population (54%), a situation that is accompanied by food insecurity and increases social inequalities. Against this backdrop, the opening of large food supermarkets could be seen as an aggravating factor in inequality of access to food. However, during our field surveys, prices were recorded and, for certain food products, we found that Auchan supermarkets were selling them at a lower price than small shops. (Tables 1 and 2). This is a strategy adopted by the company to make these supermarkets economically accessible to customers in working-class neighborhoods, mainly in the departments of Pikine and Guédiawaye (Fig. 1).
Table 1. Fruit selling prices between Auchan and small retailers (FCFA).
|
Locations/Products
|
Local shop
|
Street stall
|
Market
|
Auchan
|
Rosé grapes in bulk
|
Not sold
|
3000 F CFA/kg
|
3000 F CFA/kg
|
2890 F CFA/kg
|
Apple in bulk
|
1200 F CFA/kg
|
1200 F CFA/kg
|
1200 F (€1.80)/kg
|
1190 F CFA/kg
|
Banana in bulk
|
800 F CFA/kg
|
800 F CFA/kg
|
800 F CFA/kg
|
690 F CFA/kg
|
Pears in bulk
|
Not sold
|
1500 F CFA/kg
|
1500 F CFA/kg
|
1325 F CFA/kg
|
1 Euro = 655.95 Francs CFA
Source: author’s surveys (July-August 2019)
Table 2. Vegetable selling prices between Auchan and small traders 07/08 2019 (FCFA).
|
Locations/Products
|
Local shop
|
Street stall
|
Market
|
Auchan
|
Aubergine
|
Not sold
|
350 F/kg
|
250 F/kg
|
575 F/kg
|
Cucumber
|
Not sold
|
300 F/kg
|
200 F/kg
|
525 F/kg
|
Imported onion
|
600 F/kg
|
600 F/kg
|
600 F/kg
|
550 F/kg
|
Local onion
|
600 F/kg
|
600 F/kg
|
600 F/kg
|
525 F/kg
|
1 Euro = 655.95 Francs CFA
Data source: Dakar field survey, 2019
15This situation, which attracts many consumers to the store’s shelves, presents some special cases. While fruit is sold at a lower price, with a difference of between 10 and 200 CFA Francs per kilo (less than 1 to 30 Euro cents), vegetables, which are often highly perishable, are in most cases sold at a higher price than in the markets and on street stalls run by women. For example, a kilogram of aubergine is sold for FCFA 575 at Auchan, whereas it is sold for FCFA 350 on the street and FCFA 200 at the market. These price differences can be explained by a number of factors linked to the growing season — during the rainy season or growing season, price differences remain very significant due to the scarcity of produce — and to the differences in quality between produce sold in the markets and that sold in the Auchan supermarkets. Significant price differences also guide the choice of shopping location for consumers, mainly heads of household. To face up to the competition and ensure their survival, local shops are increasingly marketing fruit (apples, bananas, etc.) and bread sticks.
16The research work I carried out in 2019 highlighted one fact: the increase in the number of supermarkets is having a direct and indirect impact on the economic activity of small shops (lower turnover, loss of customers, difficulties in selling products, demands by customers for quality and hygiene, etc.). Faced with the very fragile economic situation of small traders, the range of products on offer is becoming increasingly diversified, as in the case of local shops that include other food products traditionally sold by bakeries and street stalls, such as bread and Viennese pastries or fruit (Fig. 7 and 8). These are new practices that shops have adopted to diversify, while at the same time offsetting losses on other products such as canned food. However, this practice is only found in shops owned by the Guinean community, which dominates fruit marketing along the main roads and streets of Dakar. Indeed, Guinean fruit sellers often own shops or have family ties with shopkeepers (Mboup, 2019), which creates a network between actors in this community, while facilitating the spread of this diversification strategy. However, this new approach by shopkeepers is still widely criticised by consumers. Some shopkeepers do not respect rules of hygiene, and use the knives used to cut bread to slice soap and other non-food products without disinfecting them. Fearing that their customers will turn to large supermarkets, shopkeepers are taking part in protests to make their fears heard by the public (Fournet-Guérin and Mboup, 2021). In the early days, this protest was led by retailer collectives to denounce competition and the speed of openings (for example, 9 openings in 2017 with the takeovers of Citydia stores, which are often close to traditional markets). Then, more political protest movements emerged with the “Frappe France Dégage” collective. This civil society movement, mainly comprising students, journalists, rappers and public figures, denounces the takeover of the Senegalese economy by French companies.
Figure 7. A shopkeeper selling fruit in Yoff, Dakar.
© Mboup, 2021
Figure 8. A shopkeeper selling baguettes in Liberté 6, Dakar.
© Mboup, 2021
17As well as shopkeepers, women, who are key actors in informal trade, are developing strategies for concentrating a wider range of products throughout neighbourhoods or along main roads.
18In Senegal, women play an essential role in the domestic and national economy. They perform important functions for the well-being of the family. Traditionally, they do the housework and look after the children’s health and education. However, current social and economic transformations are changing this social organisation and giving women greater responsibility for food security and income generation. The development of women’s informal work in sub-Saharan Africa has changed gender relations by placing women at the heart of urban household survival strategies (Bâ, 2013). With the considerable financial resources required to maintain a household, women are forced to turn to new activities that are better suited to their economic and family situation. As a result, women are increasingly obliged to look for income-generating activities to support their families, without moving geographically far from them. In other words, they are looking for an activity that requires little financial investment while remaining close to their families, unlike men who are more likely to consider migrating. Commerce is one of the most accessible activities. These women set up shop, at irregular intervals, close to their homes, at crossroads in their neighbourhoods or along major roads. They are omnipresent in the food sector, selling vegetables, cereals, fish and hot drinks. More exposed to poverty (24.1% compared with 6.2% for men) due in particular to their low literacy rate (19% compared with 51% for men) (ANSD, 2015), women play a very important role in households.
19The women we met during our fieldwork in 2019 chose this sector for one basic reason: it requires few financial resources, little experience and little training, and the economic and political climate in local authorities is favourable because the markets and their stalls represent sources of funding for them. Often learned on the job, these trades represent a real lifeline for these women, but also more generally for many young girls and women who move to Dakar from rural or inland areas. It is the only way to earn a living, managing the cash that circulates from hand to hand, free from any form of taxation. As Fig. 9 shows, informal trade is an alternative activity for young women, who often come from farming areas or neighbouring countries such as Guinea Conakry. This situation is largely responsible for the expansion of this activity in all local communities. While competition is the rule in the markets, in the street stalls, the women join together in groups of two or more to set up tables and do not sell the same products. While one sells vegetables, the next sells fresh or smoked fish, as shown by the installations of the women I met in Guédiawaye (Fig. 9). This strategy, which is very common in suburban neighbourhoods, is often family-based and is characterised by a strong attachment to neighbours who regularly do their everyday shopping at these small markets. It is a strategy that allows women to escape from a situation of economic uncertainty. This economic and social change demonstrates the need to free up women’s initiative in order to kick-start the country’s economic and social development (Dianor, 1997). This is a lever for social inclusion, which presupposes that women participate in the economy as entrepreneurs in the same way as men, and that no sustainable development policy is implemented to their detriment.
Figure 9. Women’s street stalls at a local crossroads in Guédiawaye.
© Mboup, 2021
20However, with the arrival of supermarkets in the Dakar urban area, this way of operating is now being called into question. A demand for food in terms of both quantity and quality is now emerging, posing a new challenge for this informal trade. Hence, beyond its socio-economic dimension, this business has to meet customers’ requirements, such as shopping in safe and hygienic conditions, traceable products and all the comfort they need in a shop, while at the same time keeping up with the competition.
21In conclusion, informal trade plays an important role in Dakar’s commercial life. Admittedly, its socio-economic impact is still very difficult to measure, but it is clear that it represents a vital lever in the fight against youth unemployment, thanks to its accessibility and the economic poverty of thousands of households, which are often maintained by young shopkeepers. The latter are increasingly becoming key actors in the retail sector in general. Informal trade plays a very important role in the country’s economy. It reduces the considerable unemployment rate (24% in 2021 according to ANSD) by providing an essential part of employment for young people. Street stalls and small open-air markets in neighbourhoods remain less organised and less secure, with hygienic conditions that do not encourage customers to frequent them, especially during the winter months (flooding, inaccessible roads, unhygienic markets, insecurity). This is a situation that gives a certain legitimacy to new forms of retailing such as supermarkets.
22The arrival of large-scale food distribution, mainly in the form of supermarkets in densely populated areas, is gradually leading to major changes in retailing in Dakar, forcing small traders to modify their offer. Indeed, large supermarkets have succeeded in finding a way to meet the needs of all social strata with logic based on proximity, while proposing more diversified offers with more favourable purchasing conditions to meet the requirements of emerging customers in terms of product quality and the safety and hygiene of shopping areas. Despite its impact on small businesses, the supermarket sector is entering an era of development. This situation has led to the emergence of new local brands (the low price brands of EDK, SENCHAN and ELYDIA), while at the same time encouraging small retailers to modernise their facilities and local authorities to embark on programmes to renovate and build markets and shopping centres. As for the women along the roads, in front of their homes and in the markets, they play a vital role in the upkeep and resilience of households.
23In view of the social and economic importance of small shops and the urgent need to ensure food safety and accessibility for the population, the State must define a policy for regulating the food trade based on a model that is economically viable, socially equitable and ecologically sustainable. However, the success of this objective also depends on supporting policies, in particular the consolidation of the macroeconomic framework, reform of the labour market, overhaul of the vocational training system, and so on. Initiatives in line with these strategic priorities should be supported in order to build, on a small scale, the foundations of an inclusive and sustainable food distribution system for the region’s economy, and to enable the agricultural production basins in the country’s interior regions, such as the Senegal River Valley, to benefit from it.