Grocery Retailing Research Articles

The Impact of Product Packaging Characteristics on Order Picking Performance in Grocery Retailing

ABSTRACTIncreasing labor cost levels and workforce shortages have caused retailers to pay increased attention to their order‐fulfillment operations, which continue to largely depend on manual order picking systems. The operations and logistics management literature suggests that optimizing tertiary packaging, which groups products into full unit loads for storage and shipping, is an important way to improve order picking performance. While most retailers handle products at the level of secondary packaging when fulfilling orders, this packaging level remains largely unexplored. To address this gap, we analyze 3,380,596 picks performed by 185 order pickers of 4957 products in a grocery retail warehouse in Germany. Our findings indicate that secondary packaging characteristics directly affect order picking performance and that this effect is moderated by traditional product characteristics (e.g., product weight and volume), as well as elements of warehouse design (e.g., pick and stack levels). From a managerial perspective, our findings may help to bridge the gap between logistics managers and packaging engineers and provoke further research on the trade‐off between operational and environmental performance.

Smart Shopping Carts in Food Retailing: Innovative Technology and Shopping Experience in Stationary Retail

ABSTRACTIn the development of the Internet of Things, smart shopping carts present a digital innovation that can realize cost‐cutting potential and improve the shopping experience. The impact of smart shopping carts on customers' shopping experience is analyzed in stationary grocery retailing. We explore first whether customers are willing to use these technological innovations, specifically smart shopping carts. Second, the effect of smart shopping carts on customers' shopping experiences is evaluated. For this, we employed a mixed method approach combining a survey study and an interview follow‐up study. A purposive sampling recruited 291 stationary grocery shoppers. A variance‐based structural equation analysis tests the research model for the adoption of smart shopping carts and their relevance to customers' shopping experience. Next, 22 interviews were conducted with grocery shoppers following an intervention approach. Customers are willing to use smart shopping carts when shopping for groceries in stationary retailing. Customers focus on the ease of use and usefulness of the shopping carts, whereas privacy risk and temporary enjoyment are less relevant. However, our empirical results show that affective, social (employee), and physical components predominantly shape the shopping experience compared with the technical component of smart shopping carts. Smart shopping carts similarly affect the cognitive component and the social (customer) component. In contrast to other digital retail innovations, customers seem to value utility of smart shopping carts above else. Stationary retailers can, thus, focus their introduction of smart shopping carts on countering technology anxiety and highlighting customer benefits of shopping comfort and reduced checkout times.

Grocery retailers’ CSR: the role of claim type

PurposeThis study examines how substantive and/or associative claims about the local origin of organic products moderate the determinants and consequences of a grocery retailer’s corporate social responsibility (CSR).Design/methodology/approachAn experiment with four different conditions – no claim, substantive claim (i.e. number of kilometres), associative claim (i.e. photograph of the producer) and a combination of substantive and associative claims – was carried out in a laboratory store in France with 249 consumers who were randomly divided into four independent samples (a between-subjects design). To analyse the data, partial least squares structural equation modelling was mobilised using XLSTAT (2022) software.FindingsThe study indicates that using claims about the local origin of organic products via in-store signage is an appropriate tool for grocery retailers. For the three types of claims considered, the ethics of the offering influences the retailer’s CSR, which has an indirect impact on consumers’ actual purchases of local organic products via two routes: trust and affective commitment and trust and preference for the retailer. However, grocery retailers should favour a combination of substantive and associative claims to create a stronger impact on purchases.Originality/valueThis research extends the use of substantive and associative claims to sustainable products.

Integrating arrival time estimation in truck scheduling: an explorative study in grocery retailing

ABSTRACT This paper studies a new managerial approach that integrates predictive trucks’ estimated time of arrival (ETA) into truck scheduling to deal with the truck arrival time uncertainty. The approach exploits ETA to reschedule trucks by the up-to-date information and aims to minimize the trucks’ waiting time. The approach was applied in a real case. Results quantified the impact of adopting ETA for truck scheduling, also showing how the ETA accuracy and peak truck arrival rate affect the total trucks’ waiting time. The paper enriches both truck scheduling literature, investigating a new managerial approach to deal with truck arrival time uncertainty, which greatly threatens the synchronization of logistics flows, and Industry 4.0 literature, showing how real-time data availability can change traditional decision-making processes. Insights for the approach application are discussed, together with the economic, environmental, and social benefits by supply chain actors (i.e. carriers, warehouse managers, and drivers).

Divided we fall? Grocery retail alliances under the lens of Article 101 TFEU

Divided we fall? Grocery retail alliances under the lens of Article 101 TFEU

An integrated environmental and economic assessment for the disposal of food waste from grocery retail stores towards resource recovery.

Food waste gives rise to many environmental problems. A large amount of food waste is produced by grocery retail stores. It is therefore important to apply efficient food waste treatment technologies with minimal environmental impact and investigate the optimal approach for food waste collection, transportation, and treatment. In the present study, a life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was conducted to analyze different food waste disposal scenarios, including incineration, landfilling, composting, anaerobic digestion, and bioconversion. The impacts of the five scenarios on the environmental, economic, and social aspects were assessed. The results suggested that the landfilling scenario has the lowest net cost for the treatment of food waste, followed by the incineration scenario. The bioconversion treatment cost has the most significant positive effect on the net cost of the bioconversion scenario, and both the price and yield of compost have a significant negative effect on the net cost. The rankings of the five scenarios are the same under both weight determination methods, with the bioconversion scenario performing the best, followed by the composting scenario. The results of this study can help improve the disposal of food waste in grocery retail stores in the framework of sustainability and the circular economy.

Company commitments on nutrition and sustainability: A three-country comparison

Abstract Background The Business Impact Assessment (BIA) tools were developed by INFORMAS to document companies’ commitments on population nutrition (BIA-Obesity) and environmental sustainability (BIA-Sustainability). As part of the EU-funded Food Systems that Support Transitions to Healthy and Sustainable Diets (FEAST) project, we used the BIA-Obesity and BIA-Sustainability to map the public commitments of a range of national and international food companies active in Belgium, Ireland, and Portugal. Methods We selected companies (Belgium n = 37; Ireland n = 39; Portugal n = 36) across the packaged food, soft drinks, quick service restaurant, grocery retailers, infant formula, and catering industries. Selection was based primarily on the companies’ market shares in each country, but minor adaptations were made to enable comparison of findings between the countries. We searched each company’s website, annual reports, and other public sources, logging all commitments relevant to the domains of the BIAs. Domains and criteria were adapted to reflect the regulatory and legislative environment in each country. Results In all three countries, commitments on sustainability were significantly stronger than those on nutrition, though still falling short of best practice. Within sustainability, commitments found in Belgium and Portugal were significantly stronger than those found in Ireland. Nutrition-related commitments were more consistent across the three countries, with companies in Ireland and Portugal showing the highest-scoring commitments in relation to product formulation. Conclusions Companies across all industry sectors and countries fall short of best practices, with a stronger commitments to environmental sustainability than to tackling obesity and non-communicable diseases. These results underscore the critical necessity for more ambitious government regulations at both European and national levels. Key messages • Critical necessity for government regulations at both European and national levels to adress environmental and nutritional challenges. • Industry need stronger commitments to tackling obesity and non-communicable diseases.

Profiling consumers for their shopping motivations in modern retail formats in Oman

PurposeConsumer shopping motivations are evolving in tandem with shifts in products, services and the retail landscape. This paper primarily aims to explore what drives shopping behavior among consumers in Oman. Additionally, the paper aims to profile consumers based on their shopping motivations.Design/methodology/approachBased upon the review of literature, we developed a list of 63 items of shopping motivations. Exploratory factor analysis later led to a 12-factor solution involving 50 items, which were refined further into an 11-factor solution involving 44 items using CFA. A combination of hierarchical and k-means cluster analysis was performed for profiling consumers.FindingsFive distinct segments of consumers that emerged in the Omani food and grocery retail market were derived as Practical Value Seekers, Discerning Shoppers, Selective Online Shoppers, Social Brand Seekers and Instant Gratifiers. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.Practical implicationsIn theory, this study examines market heterogeneity by considering customer shopping motivations and applies profiling (clustering) techniques to categorize them into distinct market clusters. In practical terms, it provides valuable insights to food and grocery store managers.Originality/valueThis study is novel and the first of its kind, suggesting a typology of food and grocery shoppers in Oman. Research on consumer shopping motivations has primarily focused on consumers in Western countries, particularly in the United States.

Navigating the online food environment: policy pathways for promoting food access, transparency, and healthy food choices online.

The internet is drastically changing how U.S. consumers shop for groceries, order food from restaurants, and interact with food marketing. There is an urgent need for new policies to help ensure that the internet is a force for good when it comes to food access, transparency, and nutrition. This article outlines actions that federal agencies-like the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)-and state and local governments can take to improve the online food environment. We recommend policies in three settings: online grocery retail, online restaurant ordering, and marketing on social media and other online platforms. For example, USDA could finalize regulations increasing access to online WIC and remove barriers to accessing online SNAP by requiring large retailers to waive online delivery and service fees for SNAP purchases. FDA could improve access to nutrition information by issuing guidance describing what product information should be available at the online point of selection. FTC could give better guidance on appropriate tactics when marketing to children and collect better data on how companies are marketing food to children online. Finally, state governments could pass laws like New York's recently introduced Predatory Marketing Prevention Act to address false and misleading advertising of unhealthy foods aimed at children and other vulnerable groups.

Implied Market Shares and Antitrust Markets as Fuzzy Sets

Market definition is an important aspect of antitrust analysis, but the exercise requires designating each potentially relevant good as either completely in or out of the market. In a market with differentiated goods, this often necessitates making unsatisfactory designations. This article introduces the concept of the antitrust market as a fuzzy set, where each relevant good can have a degree of membership in the market, rather than only the traditional binary in or out designation. A product’s degree of membership in the market is assigned based on its closeness of substitutability to the focal products. We then show how implied market shares can be calculated from a defined fuzzy antitrust market. We illustrate an implementation of these concepts using data from the grocery retail market and demand estimations from prior literature. We also discuss how this concept serves as a middle way between supporters and detractors of market definition, as implied market shares are objects that not only reflect demand substitutability but also allow for the rhetorical benefits of having delineated a market to focus discussion and analysis of competitive issues.

An Empirical Examination of BuyBox Assignments in Online Grocery Retail

ABSTRACTIn Amazon's marketplaces across the globe, multiple sellers sell the same product, leading Amazon to introduce BuyBox. This box‐like feature, located on the top‐right corner of product pages, prominently displays a single seller at a given time. Using a choice model and a panel dataset of over 290,000 unique grocery products from five countries, our study investigates the key factors that influence BuyBox assignments. We found that winning the BuyBox is primarily determined by competitive pricing—being the lowest‐price seller for a 180‐day period significantly improves the chances of a BuyBox assignment. Furthermore, maintaining low current product prices, low sales ranks, and minimal out‐of‐stock percentages are crucial in becoming a BuyBox seller. These findings affect Amazon and its extensive network of over 2 million third‐party sellers, who navigate the increasingly competitive and dynamic E‐commerce landscape.

Regional Shopping Objectives in British Grocery Retail Transactions Using Segmented Topic Models

ABSTRACTUnderstanding the customer behaviours behind transactional data has high commercial value in the grocery retail industry. Customers generate millions of transactions every day, choosing and buying products to satisfy specific shopping needs. Product availability may vary geographically due to local demand and local supply, thus driving the importance of analysing transactions within their corresponding store and regional context. Topic models provide a powerful tool in the analysis of transactional data, identifying topics that display frequently‐bought‐together products and summarising transactions as mixtures of topics. We use the segmented topic model (STM) to capture customer behaviours that are nested within stores. STM not only provides topics and transaction summaries but also topical summaries at the store level that can be used to identify regional topics. We summarise the posterior distribution of STM by post‐processing multiple posterior samples and selecting semantic modes represented as recurrent topics, and employ Gaussian process regression to model topic prevalence across British territory while accounting for spatial autocorrelation. We implement our methods on a dataset of transactional data from a major UK grocery retailer and demonstrate that shopping behaviours may vary regionally and nearby stores tend to exhibit similar regional demand.

Allergens weaning: what is missing from commercial baby food?

Background. Current recommendations for infant weaning suggest introducing common food allergens by the age of 12 months. While homemade meals are advisable, there is a notable demand for commercially available complementary foods (CACF). Furthermore, emerging evidence suggests a potential link between the consumption of ultra-processed products and the incidence of allergic diseases. This study aimed to examine the presence of the fourteen main food allergens in CACF ingredients through label analysis and evaluate their extent of processing. Methods. Between January and February 2024, labels of all CACF found in infant feeding sections of 10 Portuguese grocery retailers were analyzed. CACF were categorized based on the NOVA food classification system's processing levels. Milk formulas, products for children over 15 months, and those for children with food allergies or intolerances were excluded Results. Of the 492 products analysed, 132 contained wheat and 112 contained milk. 16 products included fish and 6 contained egg. Soy was listed as an ingredient in 11 products, mainly as soy lecithin. Only 2 product contained nuts, and 1 product contained peanuts. None of the products contained the remaining six allergens. The majority of milk- and wheat-containing products were classified as ultra-processed and contained added sugars and/or sweeteners. Conclusions. Despite the current guidelines, commercial baby foods often lack major allergens, namely nuts and peanuts, eggs, and shellfish. Our results underscore the need for healthy, age-appropriate, minimally processed products that incorporate rather than exclude major food allergens.

Sustainability challenges of last-mile logistics and transition to online grocery retailing in sparsely populated areas

Sustainability challenges of last-mile logistics and transition to online grocery retailing in sparsely populated areas

How can we improve buyer experiences for the operations of e-grocery platforms? Towards a unified framework for digital service operations

Electronic grocery (e-grocery) retailing has increasingly gained prominence all over the world, with India being no exception. However, the Indian e-grocery industry still has room to grow. Existing studies have not attempted to focus holistically on factors related to service operations, such as customer service and digital platforms. We undertake two case studies, each having an exploratory and a confirmatory study, on India's two popular e-grocery apps. We mine 273,000 and 254,000 buyer reviews to identify factors affecting their experiences in the exploratory studies. We model these factors through the lens of customer-dominant logic (CDL), service-dominant logic (SDL), and signaling theory. We develop an overarching framework by mapping these factors to theoretical lexicons for the confirmatory studies. Multiple econometric analysis helps us to confirm that trust in the vendor, consumer learning, retailer visibility, pricing, diagnosticity of product description, third-party product assurances, navigability, website informativeness, and perceived information protection influence the buyer experience of both e-grocery platforms significantly. These insights can help managers take appropriate decisions to improve buyer experience and thus expand their customer base.

Unveiling the Puzzle of Social Media Adoption Among Small Grocery Retailers

This research is aimed to understand the intentions of small grocery retailers in adopting social media for marketing purposes. The research used an integrated TAM-TOE framework combined with an SOR framework for understanding factors influencing the intention of small grocery retailers to adopt social media. Mixed methods were used for the study. Initially, in-depth interviews were conducted with 55 retailers to develop a grounded model, which was verified through a survey of 874 retailers. Findings suggest that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were positively related to relative advantage, interaction, organizational competency and complexity, bandwagon effect, and competitive pressure. Retailer age and retail outlet also had moderation effects. Small grocery retailers who understand the relative advantage of social media are more likely to adopt it, influenced by the bandwagon effect. Intense competition is also pushing retailers to adopt social media to avoid losing customers and missing out on potential opportunities.

The Impact of Operational Risks on Customer Satisfaction in the Grocery Retail Sector: A Case Study of Panda Retail Company

The Impact of Operational Risks on Customer Satisfaction in the Grocery Retail Sector: A Case Study of Panda Retail Company

Mapping ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in India: a formative research study

BackgroundIncreased consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) which have additives such as artificial colours, flavours and are usually high in salt, sugar, fats and specific preservatives, are associated with diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In India, there are no standard criteria for identifying UPFs using a classification system based on extent and purpose of industrial processing. Scientific literature on dietary intake of foods among Indian consumers classifies foods as unhealthy based on presence of excessive amounts of specific nutrients which makes it difficult to distinguish UPFs from other commercially available processed foods.MethodsA literature review followed by an online grocery retailer scan for food label reading was conducted to map the types of UPFs in Indian food market and scrutinize their ingredient list for the presence of ultra-processed ingredients. All UPFs identified were randomly listed and then grouped into categories, followed by saliency analysis to understand preferred UPFs by consumers. Indian UPF categories were then finalized to inform a UPF screener.ResultsA lack of application of a uniform definition for UPFs in India was observed; hence descriptors such as junk-foods, fast-foods, ready-to-eat foods, instant-foods, processed-foods, packaged-foods, high-fat-sugar-and-salt foods were used for denoting UPFs. After initial scanning of such foods reported in literature based on standard definition of UPFs, an online grocery retailer scan of food labels for 375 brands (atleast 3 brands for each food item) confirmed 81 food items as UPFs. A range of packaged traditional recipes were also found to have UPF ingredients. Twenty three categories of UPFs were then developed and subjected to saliency analysis. Breads, chips and sugar-sweetened beverages (e.g. sodas and cold-drinks) were the most preferred UPFs while frozen ready-to-eat/cook foods (e.g. chicken nuggets and frozen kebabs) were least preferred.ConclusionIndia needs to systematically apply a food classification system and define Indian food categories based on the level of industrial processing. Mapping of UPFs is the first step towards development of a quick screener that would generate UPF consumption data to inform clear policy guidelines and regulations around UPFs and address their impact on NCDs.

Perceptions of customer-facing digital technology: a qualitative interview study from grocery retail

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide in-depth knowledge on customer-facing technology and customer experience in the grocery retail sector, including how the value-added potential of customer-facing technologies may be enhanced. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on 30 in-depth interviews with “early adopters” of customer-facing digital retail technologies in the Norwegian grocery sector. Theoretically, the study draws on notions of the customer journey and customer experience. Findings The study contributes to deepening insights concerning how digital retail technology is used and may be geared to further increase value for customers, specifically how retailers may use data on customers and products to personalize digital retail technology offerings and gain a competitive advantage. The findings underline how customer value is context-dependent and show that while grocery retail customers primarily emphasize utilitarian benefits related to customer-facing technologies, hedonic benefits are valuable biproducts. Moreover, the study showcases how personalization is key in addressing customers’ needs and wants, and may serve to increase the overall value of customer-facing technologies for customers and retailers. Originality/value The study’s sector-specific focus on technology in use contributes to enhance knowledge on how digital retail technologies can be leveraged to the benefit of customers and retailers, including customers’ sector-specific needs and wants.

Addressing cost barriers to healthy eating with Eat Well, a prescription produce subsidy, for patients with diabetes and at risk for food insecurity: Study protocol for a type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation pragmatic randomized controlled trial

BackgroundPatients with diabetes at risk of food insecurity face cost barriers to healthy eating and, as a result, poor health outcomes. Population health management strategies are needed to improve food security in real-world health system settings. We seek to test the effect of a prescription produce program, ‘Eat Well’ on cardiometabolic health and healthcare utilization. We will also assess the implementation of an automated, affirmative outreach strategy. MethodsWe will recruit approximately 2400 patients from an integrated academic health system in the southeastern United States as part of a two-arm parallel hybrid type 1 pragmatic randomized controlled trial. Patients with diabetes, at risk for food insecurity, and a recent hemoglobin A1c reading will be eligible to participate. The intervention arm receives, ‘Eat Well’, which provides a debit card with $80 (added monthly) for 12 months valid for fresh, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables across grocery retailers. The control arm does not. Both arms receive educational resources with diabetes nutrition and self-management materials, and information on existing care management resources. Using an intent-to-treat analysis, primary outcomes include hemoglobin A1C levels and emergency department visits in the 12 months following enrollment. Reach and fidelity data will be collected to assess implementation. DiscussionAddressing food insecurity, particularly among those at heightened cardiometabolic risk, is critical to equitable and effective population health management. Pragmatic trials provide important insights into the effectiveness and implementation of ‘Eat Well’ and approaches like it in real-world settings. RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05896644; Clinical Trial Registration Date: 2023-06-09.