Conflict between Supermarkets and Wet-Markets in Ghana: Early Warning Signals and Preventive Policy Recommendations

Etornam Kosi Anku,Gerald Kojo Ahorbo

doi:10.18533/ijbsr.v7i9.1049

Etornam Kosi Anku, Gerald Kojo Ahorbo

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.18533/ijbsr.v7i9.1049

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Abstract

<p>The source of conflict between Supermarkets and Wet-markets arise from the use of market power and economies of scale by one group against the other. This study explores the tensions that exist between modern retailers and their traditional counterparts as a result of the influx of supermarkets in Ghana. The main objective of the study is to compare attributes related to the control of access to consumers by the Supermarket and the Wet-market. In this study, the dot-survey approach of Rapid Market Assessment Technique was used to elicit information from 438 respondents at the Madina market (wet-market) and Melcom (supermarket) over a period of two weeks and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney (WMW) comparison test and descriptive statistics were employed for the analysis. The results revealed that consumers patronise the supermarkets for convenience and the wet-market for freshness of product. Their purchasing decisions were affected by their level of education and product selections of the retailer. The highly educated preferred to shop at the Supermarket instead of the Wet-market; however, over 50% of respondents preferred the wet-market for fresh food products and the supermarket for non-food items. Each retailer receives its fair share of purchases from its loyal customers, therefore the revolution arising from the supermarket influx in Ghana has not yet resulted into conflict between supermarkets and their traditional counterparts, though it is inevitable if nothing is done to prevent it from happening. To avoid the conflict, it is recommended that policies should be instituted to (i) improve the market infrastructures and shopping environment in the Wet-markets, (ii) give tax concession to modern retailers who source products from local farmers and small-scale processors, (iii) enable traditional retailers position themselves on the fringe and co-exist with modern retailers and (iv) enforce public standards with regards to food safety laws in the traditional markets.</p>

Highlights

The entrance and long existence of supermarkets3 in retail sectors of developed and developing economies create conflicts with their traditional counterparts because supermarkets entice their customers from the traditional retailers
The study investigated the existence of conflict between supermarkets and their traditional counterparts by exploring the consumer shopping behaviours of respondents in urban Accra (Madina) using data that was elicited for the purpose
The selection of both retail outlets was based on purposive sampling procedures while the selection of respondents was based on convenience sampling method

Summary

Introduction

The entrance and long existence of supermarkets in retail sectors of developed and developing economies create conflicts with their traditional counterparts because supermarkets entice their customers from the traditional retailers. Reardon and Hopkins (2006) indicated that tensions between supermarkets and traditional retailers are caused by the supermarket’s pricing strategy, quality and safety of products sold, and convenience in service delivery which leads to “price war”, “quality war” and “convenience war”. They found that these conflicts usually occur after a decade of the supermarket revolution, and the intensity of the conflict is low when the supermarket’s share of the retail market is small as compared to the traditional retail market (Reardon and Hopkins, 2006). Notwithstanding these conflicts and tensions, several studies demonstrate that traditional retailers are building strong resilience against the supermarkets especially in the niche market of fresh food products and in low-income consumer segments (Coe and Wrigley, 2007; Humphrey 2007)

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Conclusion