Consumer purchase behaviour of perishable products from selected stores in Durban

Paballo Ntobaki,Tshepo Tlapana,Raymond Hawkins-Mofokeng

doi:10.20525/ijrbs.v11i1.1559

Abstract

The determination of retailers to deal with the challenges of managing perishable products’ category continues as they persist to provide quality service and fresh products to their customers. These challenges often afflict retailers and consumers alike, which innately impact category management and good consumer behavior. This article reports on a study that investigates the influence of category management on consumers’ purchase behavior of perishable products. The objectives of this article are to determine the influence of category management on purchase behavior, to explore the current retail category management practices for perishable products, and to investigate the relationship between pricing and shelf life of perishable products and how this relationship influences consumers’ purchase behavior. To achieve these objectives, in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews that were explorative by nature were conducted, with ten (10) staff members of a selected store in Durban, South Africa, who were responsible for the perishable products category. The findings reveal that category management does influence the purchase behavior of perishable products; however, problems were identified concerning assortment planning, shelving, promotions, pricing, and shelf life. The results were limited to this Durban store. Recommendations were made to the retailers to solve those problems to effectively satisfy consumers.

Highlights

The South African retail sector is a major contributor to the commercial advancement in the country, whereby consumers are demanding authenticity and transparency to allow them to make careful consumption choices of perishable merchandise (Thompson, 2018)
Despite the prevailing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on the fast-moving consumer goods industry, literature shows and maintains that there are some existing gaps when it comes to the fluctuating consumer purchasing behaviours and spending patterns on perishable products, which are caused mainly by price sensitivity and other related factors/dynamics
“Prices are set high but get reduced in line with the product shelf life”. Respondents indicated that they price fresh products high to cover the costs of markdowns as perishable products have a short shelf life

Summary

Introduction

The South African retail sector is a major contributor to the commercial advancement in the country, whereby consumers are demanding authenticity and transparency to allow them to make careful consumption choices of perishable merchandise (Thompson, 2018). A category is not based on the product price or margins, and consumer preferences and other options associated with customer choice influences (BianchiAguiar, Hübner, Carravillaa, and Oliveiraa, 2020) This indicates that grouping items that are assumed to have high complementarity or high similarities reduce the intricacy of retailers' problems, it overlooks opportunities that arise as a result of other types of interrelations in cross-category (Musalem et al, 2018). Given limited shelf space and budget restrictions, roper assortment planning is essential in determining a favourable merchandise mix a retailer needs to carry to maximize sales opportunities This includes the breadth and depth of assortment, as well as the inventory level of each stock-keeping unit (Flamand et al, 2017). Despite the prevailing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on the fast-moving consumer goods industry, literature shows and maintains that there are some existing gaps when it comes to the fluctuating consumer purchasing behaviours and spending patterns on perishable products, which are caused mainly by price sensitivity and other related factors/dynamics

A Qualitative and Explorative Research

Conclusion