Modern distribution, with its different levels and networks, as well as its horizontal and central sales, storing and packaging, and its insistence on quality and price, presents itself today as a trend which is part of the dynamics of progress that the different aspects the economic and social activity has seen for two decades now.

The proof is that new international supermarket chains are eying Morocco and seeking to benefit from the opportunities that the country offers in this respect.

Last month, Carrefour Hypermarket, the first European distributor and the second at the world level, opened its first store in Salé city, north of Capital Rabat.

On Thursday, Turkish low-cost retailer BIM said it would open 40 stores in Morocco in 2009 and invest about USD 63 million in its operations.

To face up to this competition threat, Marjan and Acima chains, Morocco's leading supermarkets, had decided to unite to be up to the new era.

The supermarket business first appeared in Morocco in the 1990s, with the conversion of a number of retail shops into mini and medium self-service ones.

These businesses then developed into larger units under different trademarks (namely Marjane, Makro, Aswak Assalam, Label'Vie and Acima) in the country's big cities.

This development has largely led to a big change in Moroccans' both shopping and consumptions habits. Shopping in one of these supermarkets has even become a way for showing off.

However, in spite of the considerable transformations in terms of productive structures, standards of living and consumption habits, distribution networks in Morocco are still largely dominated by traditional small shops, with a significant proportion occupied by the informal sector.

Although this informal sector has the advantage of proximity to consumers, most of the traditional sale outlets do not meet the new requirements of modernity, mainly security, hygiene and economic effectiveness.