How have retailers led the HMR industry in Japan and UK?

Purpose – This study is aiming at providing researchers and practitioners with new insights to analyse how retailers have made a contribution to the growth of HMR market in Japan and UK. Research design – After introduction, the second section will look at the definition of HMR, and then, introduce each county’s case, while analysing how retailers have developed the HMR market and illustrating some implications. Finally, the authors will draw a conclusion. Results – Retailers have established the retailer brand development department with the sophisticated retail information system which has made a considerable contribution to the growth of the HMR market. Also, it enables retailers to accumulate retail knowledge associated with ready-to-eat meals and train top-level experts, whilst helping them to build the trustworthy supply chain relationships by sharing the POS data with food manufacturers. Consequently, the cooperation with food manufacturers has enhanced in the HMR market in both Japan and UK, on the basis of sophisticated delivery system as well as the concept of innovation into the HMR sector. In a word, retailers have played a very important role in the growth of the HMR industry. Conclusions – Retailers have to benchmark Japanese and British retailers’ Knowledge to grow ready meal market in Korea and invest their marketing resources in developing various HMR foods, on the basis of innovative thinking.