TRANSFORMATION OF RETAILING IN POST-COMMUNIST SLOVAKIA IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION

Retailing is a form of exchange, which mediates the movement of goods between the manufacturer, their transfer and sales to the phase of the field of final consumption. For the past 25 years significant transformation processes have been identified in the retailing of post-communist countries that have both an economic and also spatial character. The aim of this paper is to analyze re tailing in Slovakia and its development in the period of 25 years with specific attention paid to the transformation process. In the paper these processes are classified and defined in the time and space context. The conclusions of the study show that in Slovakia some trends in globalization processes can be identified, which are typical in other developed countries. These changes become evident particularly after 1989. The process of atomization of the retail is the first analysed process and it is typical for the transition period from the centrally-planned economy to the market economy. The further processes are related to manifestations of globalization in the Slovakian retail. Those are the processes of internationalization, cooperation, and concentration in the retail. By analyzing all of the changes in the Slovak retail it is then possible to identify several stages of transformation. The characteristics of the globalization processes in the retail sector are more intense in urban areas than in rural. For Slovakia, there is a delayed transition in the processes in comparison with neighbouring countries. The size of the market determines the intensity of the manifestations of the globalization processes. The ultimate consolidation of retailers in Slovakia can be categorized as transformation process in the initial stage of development.