In recent days, consumers around the world can go to their local supermarket and buy foreign food items easily. And I think it’s a positive development. Because it’s letting the customers buy their desired products instantly instead of taking hassle in terms of personal import. And also this creates competition for local sellers to be better in price and quality.
The availability of foreign food items in supershop made our life easier reducing the hassle of personal import. Food item collection in supermarkets are getting more variety nowadays. Before we used to get only locally produced products such as vegetables, meet, snacks and other day to day items. But now we can try different types of food and choose the best one for us. If we take baby food as an example, we did not have good options here in Bangladesh even few years back. And importing food item individually is costly as well. But now we can just go to a supershop and buy top rated baby food imported from US or Europe. This mass import and availability of food items has made our life easier. Because products are mostly cheaper than online shops and you can select the item yourself using personal inspection.
Another positive side is the competition foreign products create for local market. Without foreign competition, consumers have to buy local products regardless their price and quality. Because their is no other option left for them. But once we started having imported items in supershops, local sellers also started selling better products to stay in the market. Besides, local companies try to dominate the market using their strong chain and syndicate. Creating fake urgency, showing less stock is their common way of increasing price. For example, here in Bangladesh, Onion price increased over 400% in 2023 due to corruption. So the government imported Onions from Pakistan in low cost which forced the corrupted businessmans to reduce price. As a result Onion market is relatively stable, for last 2 years.
In conclusion, I would say the availabilty of foreign food items is beneficial for the consumers in the long run as it ensures good quality and diverse options. It also creates positive competition for local sellers so if they can compete well, users can get local products in their choice too.