In the late 1940s, Tesco opened its first self-service food store, heralding what was to be the future massive growth in the UK of supermarket retailing.

In the succeeding years supermarket shopping spread rapidly. The stores grew in size and number, and in the booming 1980s larger versions known as superstores began to appear. The range stocked - initially food items - started to expand and it became normal for shoppers to buy household cleaners, toiletries and sanitary products as part of the regular food shop. Soon the initial non-food ranges expanded further to include light bulbs, batteries, films and hosiery.

In the late 1940s, Tesco opened its first self-service food store, heralding what was to be the future massive growth in the UK of supermarket retailing.

In the succeeding years supermarket shopping spread rapidly. The stores grew in size and number, and in the booming 1980s larger versions known as superstores began to appear. The range stocked - initially food items - started to expand and it became normal for shoppers to buy household cleaners, toiletries and sanitary products as part of the regular food shop. Soon the initial non-food ranges expanded further to include light bulbs, batteries, films and hosiery.

Paradoxically, the 1990s brought a change in the continuing development of large superstores. The constant focus on out-of-town development was judged to have had a devastating effect on many town centres, some of which were in danger of turning into the unoccupied brick and concrete deserts found in many US urban town centres. As a result, the government in a dramatic U-turn, exerted political pressure and through the DoE encouraged local councils to use stricter criteria before granting new planning permissions.

The revised planning guidelines presented a major barrier to the expansion programmes of the UK's major food multiples. By the mid-1990s, they were benefiting from the addition of around 8-10% of extra selling space each year and any serious shortfall needed to be replaced by diversification into new market segments and/or expansion overseas.

Meanwhile, in order to survive in the face of the onslaught from the multiples, smaller grocers and CTNs expanded their businesses into a convenience store format, offering "top-up" and late-night shopping from smaller but carefully sited neighbourhood stores. This concept, after a shaky start has now proved so successful that supermarkets have copied it. They are also opening convenience stores, either under their own brands or through marketing agreements set-up with leading oil companies - which discovered that convenience stores on petrol forecourts is a good way to overcome the problem of declining profits on fuel sales.

In recent years, the UK's grocery multiples have steadily been increasing their share of the market in an ever-increasing range of non-food items. Milestones on the way have been major changes in the distribution patterns of newspapers and magazines; an attack on price restrictions imposed on non-prescriptive medicines; the introduction into supermarkets of prescriptive pharmacies and the arrival of customer loyalty cards, followed by supermarket banking and financial services.

By the end of 1999, many of the large superstores throughout the UK were offering rapidly expanding ranges of non-food items including: stationery; greetings cards and gift wrapping; household utensils; cookware and tableware; men's, women's and children's clothing; china and glass; audio and video blank and pre-recorded tapes.

New items are appearing almost daily with computers, bicycles, mobile phones, audio-video products, and fragrances appearing on the shelves; and film processing laboratories standing alongside dry cleaning booths as shoppers enter or leave the store.

During 1999, Wal-Mart, with a market capitalisation of £134 billion, stepped into the UK food market through its acquisition of Asda. The world's biggest retailer has a product range which includes 60% non-food, and its arrival will no doubt have a major impact. However, the move into non-foods by UK supermarketers was already well under way before this new arrival. In Mintel's view, the activities of Wal-Mart while very important, are unlikely to be pivotal to the ultimate success of the drive into non-foods by UK supermarkets.

There are key questions to be answered on distribution; such as:

· How will smaller supermarkets with limited display space, and convenience stores (with even less), be able to bring a wider range of non-food items to their customers?

· How will the products be delivered?

· Will home shopping via in-store catalogues plus direct mailings be an acceptable alternative?

· Will shopping via the Internet or digital TV prove to be popular enough?

· How quickly will enough consumers invest in the required new technology to enable these alternative methods of sale to be used?

· How long (if ever) will it take to change the shopping habits of consumers to buying from a screen-based image, or printed page, without first handling the merchandise?

Probably, as is often the case with such major changes as those currently taking place in UK supermarket retailing, the answers will come from a combination of all the possible options rather than any one single solution. This report examines the present state of market developments in the drive by the UK's major food multiples to become optimum 'one-stop' shopping points, offering a wide range of food and non-food items.

Other Mintel reports of relevance include:

- Special Report, British Lifestyles, 2000

- Special Report, Retail Review, 2000

- Special Report, Customer Loyalty in Retailing, 1999

- Food Retailing, Retail Intelligence, June 1999

- Convenience Retailing, Retail Intelligence, April 1999.