SUPERMARKET CHARACTERISTICS AND OPERATING COSTS IN LOW-INCOME AREAS

Whether the poor pay more for food than other income groups is an important question in food price policy research. Stores serving low-income shoppers differ in important ways from stores that receive less of their revenues from Food Stamp redemptions. Stores with more revenues from Food Stamps are generally smaller and older, and offer relatively fewer convenience services for shoppers. They also offer a different mix of products, with a relatively high portion of sales coming from meat and private-label products. Metro stores with high Food Stamp redemption rates lag behind other stores in the adoption of progressive supply chain and human resource practices. Finally, stores with the highest Food Stamp redemption rates have lower sales margins relative to other stores, but have significantly lower payroll costs as a percentage of sales. Overall, operating costs for stores with high Food Stamp redemption rates are not significantly different from those for stores with moderate Food Stamp redemption rates. If the poor do pay more, factors other than operating costs are likely to be the reason.Food prices, supermarkets, low-income consumers, Food Stamps, metro, nonmetro, Marketing,

The Impact Of Private Label Sales Penetration On Category Profitability

This study analyzes the impact that private label brands have on category profitability in supermarkets within the framework of category management. Category management seeks to enhance the overall performance of product categories as measured by profitability. Private label brands have dramatically increased in recent years in supermarkets with a key objective of improving category profitability. This longitudinal study uses Point-of-Sale (POS) data from a supermarket retailer over three years consisting of 39 periods. Data is collected from ten product categories from the center store comprised of dry grocery, frozen foods, and refrigerated dairy. The results of this study indicate that in only two categories, a significant positive relationship existed between category private label sales penetration and category profitability

Consumer Demand for Local Food from Direct-to-Consumer versus Intermediated Marketing Channels

abstract: Consumers can purchase local food through intermediated marketing channels, such as grocery stores, or through direct-to-consumer marketing channels, for instance, farmers markets. While the number of farms that utilize direct-to-consumer outlets keeps increasing, the direct-to-consumer sales remain lower than intermediated sales. If consumers prefer to purchase local food through intermediated channels, then policies designed to support direct channels may be misguided. Using a variety of experiments, this dissertation investigates consumer preferences for local food and their demand differentiated by marketing channel. In the first essay, I examine the existing literature on consumer preferences for local food by applying meta-regression analysis to a set of eligible research papers. My analysis provides evidence of statistically significant willingness to pay for local food products. Moreover, I find that a methodological approach and study-specific characteristics have a significant influence on the reported estimates for local attribute. By separating the demand for local from the demand for a particular channel, the second essay attempts to disentangle consumers’ preferences for marketing channels and the local-attribute in their food purchases. Using an online choice experiment, I find that consumers are willing to pay a premium for local food. However, they are not willing to pay premiums for local food that is sold at farmers markets relative to supermarkets. Therefore, in the third essay I seek to explain the rise in intermediated local by investigating local food shopping behavior. I develop a model of channel-selection in a nested context and apply it to the primary data gathered through an online food diary. I find that, while some consumers enjoy shopping at farmers markets to meet their objectives, such as socialization with farmers, the majority of consumers buy local food from supermarkets because they offer convenient settings where a variety of products can be bought as one basket. My overall results suggest that, if the goal is to increase the sales of local food, regardless of the channel, then existing supply-chain relationships in the local food channel appear to be performing well.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Agribusiness 201

Remedying food policy invisibility with spatial intersectionality: A case study in the Detroit Metropolitan Area

This study examines the intersectionality of race/ethnicity and poverty in terms of geographic access to 2,635 food stores of three types (supermarkets, grocery stores, and convenience stores) in the tricounty Detroit metropolitan area (DMA). Prior research not only lacks an intersectional view of sociodemographic categories in explicating food store access, but it also fails to provide place-based policies to remedy food policy invisibility. The authors explore whether spatial dependencies among food stores exist and whether these are linked to sociodemographic heterogeneity in the DMA. Food stores are clustered across suburban and rural areas surrounding urban boundaries but are less clustered in the inner city. Poor neighborhoods have varying access to different types of food stores depending on the predominant racial/ethnic composition of the neighborhood. This research can assist policy makers in implementing place-based food interventions and policies, especially attracting new supermarkets and grocery stores to the urban DMA

ISTRAŽIVANJE ODANOSTI GENERACIJE X U MALOPRODAJNOM OKRUŽENJU

Despite the increased interest in consumers pertained to Generation X, there is still much that is not understood about this particular market segment. In particular, this refers to their retail-related behaviour as well as the satisfaction and loyalty of customers in traditional brick and mortar retail environment. The purpose of this paper is to expand the knowledge base about Generation X’s retail store attitudes and retail behaviour in order to identify their loyalty in a retail store context. For that reason, an empirical research was carried out using a convenience sample of 153 Generation X members from the Dubrovnik- Neretva County during the period from June 1 to October 1, 2016. To analyse the data, ordinal logistic regression and ANOVA methods were used. The results revealed that several variables were found partially statistically significant, i.e. retail service quality, retail store quality, product price, product assessment, retail store format and frequency of purchase. This paper provides a framework for an improved understanding of Generation X as consumers and their overall store experience. Moreover, it contributes to the existing literature by providing new insights into the loyalty of Croatian Generation X consumers.Unatoč povećanom interesu za potrošače koji pripadaju generaciji X, postoji još puno nepoznanica o ovom tržišnom segmentu. To se posebice odnosi na njihovo ponašanje u kupnji te zadovoljstvo i odanost tradicionalnim prodavaonicama. Svrha je ovog rada proširiti saznanja o stavovima generacije X koji se odnose na osnovna obilježja prodavaonica i njihovo ponašanje u maloprodajnom okruženju s ciljem definiranja razine njihove odanosti. Iz tog je razloga provedeno empirijsko istraživanje na prigodnom uzorku od 153 pripadnika generacije X iz Dubrovačko-neretvanske županije u razdoblju od 1. lipnja do 1. listopada 2016. Za analizu podataka korištene su ordinalna logistička regresija i ANOVA. Rezultati istraživanja ukazali su na nekoliko djelomično statistički značajnih varijabli, tj. kvalitetu maloprodajne usluge, kvalitetu prodavaonice, cijenu proizvoda, procjenu proizvoda, maloprodajni format i učestalost kupnje. Ovaj rad pruža okvir za bolje razumijevanje generacije X kao potrošača i njihovog cjelokupnog iskustva u prodavaonici. Također, rad pridonosi postojećoj literaturi pružajući nove uvide u odanost hrvatskih potrošača generacije X

Consumer food shopping behaviour in Libya

PhD ThesisThis thesis explores consumer food shopping behaviour in an emerging economy, taking the Libyan case as an example. As in many other emerging economies, Libya’s retail environment has been dominated for generations by traditional markets and small independent stores but has recently witnessed the spread of ‘modern’ formats such as supermarkets. The study draws on both qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative research provided evidence of a complex picture, highlighting significant variations, from family to family and geographically, in the social acceptability of females shopping at traditional markets and other retail formats. In Libya, food shopping has traditionally been a task for male household members, with traditional markets regarded as inappropriate spaces for females. However the safer, cleaner, and less crowded environment offered by large supermarkets contributed to some women feeling more comfortable shopping for food and henceforth being able to shop as independent consumers. Traditional culture, rather than constraining the spread of supermarkets, may act as a facilitator of the growing popularity of supermarkets in Libya. The main quantitative research instrument was a self-administered questionnaire of Libyan food shoppers in Benghazi city. 371 completed questionnaires were obtained. Factor analysis revealed 12 factors that underlie the reasons consumers go shopping for food. The application of cluster analysis to the dimensions factor scores revealed six segments of food shoppers. The characteristics of each cluster were described by average factor scores on the dimensions of shopping motivations, demographic characteristics, and behavioural variables. The most important retail outlet attributes in the choice of where to buy food were, in descending order, food safety, quality of products, quality of service, speed of service, and variety of products. The findings also indicated that on all items supermarkets performed the best; except for freshness of products and in-store credit (traditional markets were perceived as superior on freshness of products and independent stores for in-store credit). Only for one attribute (car parking) were differences in the mean scores between supermarkets, traditional markets and independent stores not statistically significant. ii Econometric modelling considered the possible relationships between shopping behaviour and the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents. This confirmed a major finding of the qualitative research - that females were significantly less likely than males to visit traditional markets and spent proportionally more in supermarkets. Supermarket visitors were more concerned with social acceptability whereas, patrons of traditional markets placed greater emphasis on freshness. Heavy users of independent stores placed greater emphasis on in-store credit

Consumption of fruits and vegetables in the Mississippi Delta and the role of the food environment

Differences in the prevalence of obesity are generally associated with disparities in the food environment which partially determine diet quality. In this research, I examine the relationship between the local food environment and the consumption of fruit and vegetables among individuals living in the Mississippi Delta region using survey and store availability data for individuals living in seven counties with the highest obesity rates in the state. An ordered probit model with an endogenous covariate is used to assess the marginal effect of food environment variables on the frequency of fruit or vegetable consumption. I find that longer distance traveled to the nearest full-service grocery store is associated with lower frequency of vegetable consumption, while access to public transportation is generally associated with a higher frequency of consumption. Insights from this study could prove helpful for health officials and policymakers tasked with designing and implementing localized interventions that improve the food environment and increase healthy food access

The Impact of Store Brands on Overall Product Category Performance

A comprehensive store-level data set of 9 dairy product categories across 149 stores of a supermarket retailer chain over 32 weeks in 2021 was used to examine the impact of store brands on overall category performance as measured by net margin dollars. The study examines results on both the overall dairy department and category specific performance. The results for the overall dairy department indicate there is not a significant positive relationship between a change in overall store brand sales penetration and profitability. There is, however, a significant positive relationship between overall store brand net margin dollar penetration and category profitability

Studies in local marketing

Wie in het winkelcentrum om de hoek goed rondkijkt, zal merken dat verschillende winkels hun assortiment hebben aangepast aan de specifieke behoeften van de buurt. Veel jonge gezinnen met kinderen? De schappen met babyvoedsel en luiers zullen uitpuilen. Maar ook zal een winkelier in een dure villabuurt andere merkartikelen aanbieden en een andere verkoopstrategie volgen dan zijn collega in een wijk met veel lage inkomens. In een meer verfijnde vorm heet deze strategie ‘local marketing’. Met behulp van interviews en enquêtes onderzocht Albert van Dijk hoe Nederlandse supermarkten local marketing toepassen. De resultaten daarvan verwerkte hij in een model waarmee winkeliers, winkelbedrijven en ook fabrikanten de effecten van local marketing beter kunnen voorspellen. Bron: RUG nieuws