Social Supermarkets-a New Challenge in Supply Chain Management and Sustainability

This article discusses the recent phenomenon of social supermarkets (SSMs) founded in Austria in the late 1990s. In essence, SSMs receive food and consumer products that are still consumable but no longer of merchantable or saleable quality from supermarkets and food processors for free, and sell them to customers who are people living in poverty or at the risk of poverty. Products are sold at significantly reduced prices thus providing an indirect support for a socially disadvantaged group. From a logistics and supply chain management perspective SSMs impose several challenges for all parties involved in the operations. In addition to traditional logistical requirements such as timely information sharing and prompt distribution, the recollection of product also affects reverse logistics and flows.