During the 1970s and 1980s, large UK supermarket chains varied widely in the proportion of supplies they channelled through distribution centres.   Some received almost all their supplies from producers directly into their shops, effectively dispersing inventory at a store level. Others required virtually all suppliers to deliver to distribution centres where they centralised their inventory. Most retailers fell between these extremes.   This book chapter explored the advantages and disadvantages to multiple retailers of centralising their inventory and distribution.   It concluded that, for most retailers, the advantages outweighted the disadvantages.   Since then the centralised distribution has become the norm among large UK retailers confirming that there is a large net benefit in adopting this strategy.

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