Major Grocery Retailers Research Articles

Caregiver perceptions of a pediatric produce prescription program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Produce prescription programs are rapidly expanding as a type of Food is Medicine intervention with prospects for mitigating food insecurity and reducing diet-related health disparities. Gaining insight into participant perspectives on program logistics and perceived impacts is crucial to program success and improvements. Between May and June 2021, we conducted individual and small group interviews with 23 caregivers with children aged 1-5 years who participated in a produce prescription program from 2020 to 2021 in Texas, U.S. They were provided with a gift card to a major national grocery retailer to purchase fresh produce. The card was reloaded $60 monthly for 8 months with automatic roll-over of unused funds to the next month. Participants also received nutrition education in the form of two videos. A deductive analysis approach was employed, and NVivo qualitative data analysis software was used to perform coding and to assist with subsequent analyses. All 23 participants were female, with an average age of 37.5 years, and the majority identified as Hispanic/Latino (83%). About 43% of the families had three or more children. Six themes were generated from interviews. Three of these themes were related to program logistics: (1) ease of program use; (2) participant satisfaction with the incentive; and (3) desire for additional store options. The remaining main themes pertained to program impact: (1) the enhanced ability to purchase produce; (2) the usefulness of the nutrition education; and (3) persistent challenges encountered when preparing the produce for picky eaters and young children. A pediatric produce prescription program was perceived as logistically easy and a helpful source of financial support for accessing fresh produce. Program features such as card-based incentive system and partnership with major grocery retailer were favored by participants. For future program design, it may be beneficial to consider collaborating with multiple grocery outlets and enhancing the intensity and targeting of nutrition education.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Online Grocery Supply Chain Management: A Case Study in Istanbul

The COVID-19 pandemic has already crippled normal life all over the world. Its negative impact not only changed the human health system tragically but also disrupted the global economic system. One negative result was ended up in the global food supply chain. As the lockdown times have suspended the manufacturing and logistic activities, therefore, the customers have experienced unimaginable chaos in the shopping markets. Moreover, the purchasing habit of the consumers has remarkably changed compared to pre-pandemic. To meet this new demand pattern, many grocery retailers have tried to adapt to the new normal. While before COVID-19 offline grocery purchasing was popular, after the pandemic, online service got tremendous attention in market. In this study, online grocery supply chain management during the COVID-19 in Istanbul is considered. The aim is to find out how online grocery companies will serve more efficiently during the pandemics and which factors have more effect on the customer’s satisfaction. To do so, first, three popular grocery retailers in Istanbul were selected. Then, a related survey was designed to understand the consumer experience as doing online grocery shopping in COVID-19. Unsurprisingly, a result shows that 60% of the respondents did online shopping every 3-4 days in one week, and the delivery time is the most important factor for the customers. Then, the SWOT analyses were performed accordingly, and the related strategies were summarized. Finally, several managerial implications were given to may improve the company’s online services in COVID-19 and post COVID-19 in Turkey.

Consumer acceptance of edible coatings on apples: The role of food technology neophobia and information about purpose

Edible coatings (wax) increase the shelf life of fresh apples by reducing water loss and slowing deterioration. Without edible coatings, over a third of apple production is wasted prior to reaching the retailer. However, due to consumer demand for ‘natural’ products major grocery retailers in Australia recently removed edible food coatings from apples. The reasons for rejection of coatings by Australian consumers are not well understood. Furthermore, it is unclear how much consumers understand about why edible coatings are applied to apples or if educating consumers on their benefits can influence their attitudes. In two online experiments (n = 156, n = 466) after collection of baseline data, participants were randomised into three conditions, in which each received a different education statement about the purpose of edible coatings. Analysis of variance and post hoc comparisons were used to test if the acceptance of coated apples was impacted by information and whether there was an interaction with food technology neophobia (FTN) (Experiment 2). Providing educational information about the purpose of apple coating significantly increased consumers’ acceptance of coatings in both experiments (F(2,153) = 6.316, P = 0.002, ŋ2 = 0.076; F(2,463) = 19.935, p ≤ 0.001, ŋ2 = 0.079). A significant inverse relationship was found between FTN and acceptance (R = −0.618, P < 0.001), however, no significant interaction was found between the intervention and FTN, demonstrating that all participants were impacted by information, regardless of their level of FTN. This knowledge may help in designing effective campaigns that inform consumers on the benefits of edible coatings, whilst at the same time meeting consumers’ desire for ‘naturalness’.

Stepping up as an essential service: grocery retailing and the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the ‘essential service’ question to the forefront of government policy, business functioning, and public discourse. This qualitative study uses community disaster resilience and institutional work theory to analyse the responses of Canadian grocery retailers to COVID-19. Based on a thematic analysis of 53 grocery retailers’ website messaging over three periods at the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the research identifies ten themes that capture the retailers’ response to the pandemic. Focusing on major grocery retailers in Ontario, the research tracks messaging concerning the elevated community role of grocery retailers through a period of crisis. We develop a conceptual framework to understand the community disaster resilience levers of grocery retailing during a pandemic. The research highlights the shift in the balance of messaging concerning the institutional logic of grocery retailers, away from market forces towards a community logic. The findings illustrate how grocery retailers stepped up as an essential service and extended their reach beyond the bounds of their underlying institutional logic to encompass the public good.

Navigating the Last Mile: The Demand Effects of Click-and-Collect Order Fulfillment

Many retailers are rushing into the click-and-collect (C&amp;C) format, where shoppers place orders online and pick up the goods themselves later. The authors study the demand implications of C&amp;C and postulate how different ways of organizing this format—each with its own convenience features—appeal to households with different shopper characteristics. Using two data sets, each covering the introduction of two C&amp;C fulfillment types by a major grocery retailer in a large number of local markets, the authors compare the impact of in-store fulfillment (pickup at existing stores), near-store fulfillment (pickup at outlets adjoining stores), and stand-alone fulfillment (pickup at free-standing locations). The authors find that the shift in online consumer spending significantly differs between the three order fulfillment types, as does the impact on total spending. No one order fulfillment type systematically dominates; the effects depend heavily on shopper characteristics. The study’s results provide guidance on which C&amp;C fulfillment type(s) to operate under what conditions and caution retailers not to take the easy in-store route routinely.

Implications of the Philadelphia Beverage Tax on Sales and Beverage Substitution for a Major Grocery Retailer Chain

To understand whether substitution effects occurred for a major national grocery retailer after the implementation of a beverage tax in Philadelphia, the authors used November 2015/2016 and February 2016/2017 data from a major national grocery retailer with stores alongside the borders of Philadelphia County (within 5 miles of each side). A difference in difference was conducted, a statistical technique that allows comparison among groups in an observational data setting, to understand whether the introduction of a beverage tax on January 1, 2017 would lead consumers to shift their buying habits to healthier options. Results are consistent with the notion that the implementation of a beverage tax on sweetened beverages (SBs: both sugar and artificially sweetened) did not generally lead consumers of that retailer to switch purchases to non-sweetened beverages. In contrast, data suggest that consumer purchasing of SBs and general sales increased significantly outside of Philadelphia County at that retailer. A potential explanation is that, some consumers continued buying SBs but traveled outside of Philadelphia County not just to buy the SBs but also for other grocery as well.

Heinz Ketchup: Pricing the Product Line

An iconic American brand must determine how to maximize net profit by increasing the sales of its highest-margin items in the face of constant retailer pushback including reduced shelf space and promotional support of those same products. This case is suitable for required MBA marketing courses as well as pricing and brand management electives at both the undergraduate and MBA levels. The analytics of the case assume that students can calculate both dollar and percentage margins. Excerpt UVA-M-0777 Rev. May 10, 2019 Heinz Ketchup: Pricing the Product Line An Iconic Brand Heinz Ketchup had long been a nostalgic piece of Americana. Millions of consumers in 140 countries from all walks of life had purchased and used what has become a symbol of American innovation and prosperity. In the United States, ketchup was ubiquitous, always served with American favorites such as hot dogs, hamburgers, and french fries. Its presence graced the tables of outdoor barbecues, church festivals, truck stops, and countless restaurants across the United States and around the world. It was distributed by all major grocery retailers in the United States and many outside the United States. At any given point in time, 95% of US households had some ketchup in their pantries or refrigerators, and over half those households chose Heinz. In 1964, Andy Warhol immortalized the humble Heinz Ketchup case with his sculpture “Heinz Tomato Ketchup Box” (Figure 1). Figure 1. Andy Warhol's “Heinz Tomato Ketchup Box [Prototype].” . . .

A data mining framework for targeted category promotions

This research presents a new approach to derive recommendations for segment-specific, targeted marketing campaigns on the product category level. The proposed methodological framework serves as a decision support tool for customer relationship managers or direct marketers to select attractive product categories for their target marketing efforts, such as segment-specific rewards in loyalty programs, cross-merchandising activities, targeted direct mailings, customized supplements in catalogues, or customized promotions. The proposed methodology requires customers’ multi-category purchase histories as input data and proceeds in a stepwise manner. It combines various data compression techniques and integrates an optimization approach which suggests candidate product categories for segment-specific targeted marketing such that cross-category spillover effects for non-promoted categories are maximized. To demonstrate the empirical performance of our proposed procedure, we examine the transactions from a real-world loyalty program of a major grocery retailer. A simple scenario-based analysis using promotion responsiveness reported in previous empirical studies and prior experience by domain experts suggests that targeted promotions might boost profitability between 15 % and 128 % relative to an undifferentiated standard campaign.

Developing and Applying a Disaggregated Retail Location Model with Extended Retail Demand Estimations

The spatial interaction model (SIM) is an important tool for retail location analysis and store revenue estimation, particularly within the grocery sector. However, there are few examples of SIM development within the literature that capture the complexities of consumer behavior or discuss model developments and extensions necessary to produce models which can predict store revenues to a high degree of accuracy. This article reports a new disaggregated model with more sophisticated demand terms which reflect different types of retail consumer (by income or social class), with different shopping behaviors in terms of brand choice. We also incorporate seasonal fluctuations in demand driven by tourism, a major source of non‐residential demand, allowing us to calibrate revenue predictions against seasonal sales fluctuations experienced at individual stores. We demonstrate that such disaggregated models need empirical data for calibration purposes, without which model extensions are likely to remain theoretical only. Using data provided by a major grocery retailer, we demonstrate that statistically, spatially, and in terms of revenue estimation, models can be shown to produce extremely good forecasts and predictions concerning store patronage and store revenues, including much more realistic behavior regarding store selection. We also show that it is possible to add a tourist demand layer, which can make considerable forecasting improvements relative to models built only with residential demand.

Sticker Shock: The Causes of the Canada-Us Price Differential

Whether they are buying dinnerware, diapers, or dairy products, Canadian consumers are becoming frustrated by the higher prices of similar goods in Canadian stores relative to US stores. The federal government has promised to introduce legislation to address alleged price discrimination in Canada relative to the US. But before the government acts, it should understand why Canadian prices are often higher and how much its own policies are the cause of relatively higher prices for Canadian consumers. The Canada-US price gaps at the retail and wholesale levels seem to closely track the Canada-US exchange rate. Using detailed data from 2004 through 2007 from a major grocery retailer operating in Canada and the US, I find that the Canada-US gaps in wholesale prices play a much greater role than gaps in retail margins in generating the price gaps consumers observe. There is less competition among manufacturers in Canada, as reflected in the fact that the average product category carried by the retailer has one-third fewer major brands in Canada than in the US. While more competition is associated with smaller increases in price gaps, there is little evidence to conclusively demonstrate what fraction of the wholesale price gap is due to a legitimately higher cost of operating in Canada. What can Canadian governments, especially the federal government, do to reduce the price gap between Canada and the US? The easiest thing Canadian governments can do if they want to reduce the Canada-US wholesale price gap is eliminate existing tariffs and supply-management policies that are responsible for the largest price gaps. The government should also consider building on recent actions that allow consumers to pay US prices for goods by increasing duty-free exemptions for travellers and postal shipments. As well, it should consider the role of certain taxes and regulations that could be raising the cost of doing business in Canada for manufacturers, distributors and retailers. If the federal government is serious about reducing prices for Canadians, it might want to first look at some of its own policies before tasking the Competition Bureau with investigating companies charging higher prices in Canada relative to the US.

Benchmarking Retail Productivity Considering Retail Pricing and Format Strategy

With increased competitive pressures in the grocery retailing industry, managers have greater interest in measuring the productivity of the stores of their own chain relative to the other similar stores. In this paper, we measure and compare the inefficiencies of major grocery retailers across various formats and pricing strategies using stochastic frontier (SF) methodology. Using a unique dataset covering 2500 stores across 50 chains, we find that the average inefficiency was about 28.59 percent. Kroger and Wal-Mart are found to be the least inefficient chains with inefficiencies of 2.18 percent and 3.06 percent respectively. With respect to pricing strategy, EDLP and hybrid stores are found to do better than HiLo stores in generating weekly sales and with respect to format strategy, supercenters are found to do better than supermarkets and limited assortment stores. Using SF analysis, we also find that stores could potentially reduce the proportion of inputs such as selling area, number of checkout counters, number of employees and store features without threatening outcomes (i.e., by holding the output level constant).

Food acquisition habits in a group of African refugees recently settled in Australia

This study investigated how recently arrived refugees acquired food in their local food neighbourhood. Ten African humanitarian migrants belonging to separate households were asked to keep a travel and food diary for one week. Participants’ food neighbourhoods were mapped using online satellite pictures and direct observation. On average 78 food outlets were available within a 2km radius of participants’ homes. Vegetable consumption was higher in participants who resided <1km from a major grocery retailer (p<0.05). Foods provided during migrant orientation events were the major opportunities where subjects were introduced to foods more typical of reported usual intake in the general sedentee Australian population. The initial 12 months of resettlement is a critical period for acculturation as participants stabilise food habits. While participants seemed not to live in food deserts, intakes of all food groups remained inferior to recommended levels suggesting physical proximity and implied in-store choice alone do not guarantee a healthy diet. Migrant orientation events may represent an important setting for education about suitable options for adopting new foods into diets.

On‐shelf availability: the case of a UK grocery retailer

PurposeOn‐shelf availability (OSA) has been a major cause of concern to UK grocery retailers over the last five years and the topic has been the focus of commissioned research reports by various trade associations. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of how one major grocery retailer tackled the OSA issue that had been exacerbated by management focus on new technology and distribution facilities.Design/methodology/approachThe purpose of the research was to determine if any relationship existed between OSA and store picking for home shoppers, OSA and promotions and OSA and store size. This paper discusses the academic and practitioner literature on OSA and out‐of‐stocks (OOS) and then presents a single company, in‐depth case study of one multiple grocery retailer. Primary research was undertaken with senior managers of the company but also at regional distribution centre (RDC) and store level to chart how new logistics strategies were implemented at an operational level in Scottish stores.FindingsIt was noted that the advent of home shopping has aggravated the “last 50 yards” and a company can experience acute OSA difficulties. Network changes involving a mixture of old and new systems create short‐term pressures and profitability shortfalls. The new high‐tech networks push products out to stores but overstocks occur in backrooms of stores and do not reach the shelves. Demand and supply may not synchronised.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough there is primary empirical research related to the case study the major output is a framework presented for future investigation, thus there is no expansive empirical study in this paper.Practical implicationsWith the exception of smaller stores where OSA remains a problem, the company has succeeded in improving OSA levels in the other areas.Originality/valueThis paper adds to our knowledge of OSA and OOS by investigating the flow of goods from the RDC to the store shelf and presenting various critical points in the process flow that have received scant attention from academics and practitioners.

Modernizing retail grocery business via knowledge management‐based systems

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide practitioners of management a sense of how a major grocery retail business may flourish on the internet, but by employing a more brick‐and‐mortar approach, through the extensive use of a knowledge‐management system, namely KnowAsis™.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a review of the applied literature on practices and actual examples of companies' practices through personal interviews and basic empirical analysis of managers located in Pittsburgh, PA.FindingsGiant Eagle's new knowledge‐based system utilizes interactive capabilities and attempts to standardize valuable knowledge in a properly stored format in order to made available to those employees that ot would benefit the most. Among other benefits of its knowledge‐management system, data mining and support for the front‐end personnel could be especially enumerated. It is recommended that the company should pay closer attention to the scalability of the system and the technologies involved, since it would be the key of successful future development. The primary feature is that the posted content is essentially owned and managed by the particular business area and reviewed on a periodic basis; thus the shared information through the various departments and knowledge shared is not permanent.Practical implicationsBy investing heavily in its knowledge‐management portal, Giant Eagle, a major grocery retailer in the US marketplace, is looking at improved financial competitiveness, efficiency of operation, and increased market share. The management at GE is hoping that by leveraging its digital‐sharing system to promote the sharing of important ideas, best business practices, and lessons learned; the entire organization will become transformed by a new culture of knowledge sharing.Originality/valueThe paper highlights the retail grocery industry is under immense pressure by external and internal stakeholders to remain competitive in a high volume transactional environment by sharing best business practices, policies, and procedures. Today, many of the most dramatic and potentially powerful uses of Internet‐based technology involve networks that connect the people in a company, allowing them to share, manage and create data readily accessible by everyone in the company.

More than one bite of the cherry: a study of UK grocery retailers' attempts to influence the retail planning policy-making process

Despite a tightening of planning policy guidance in recent years, the major multiple grocery retailers have been able to maintain and expand their market shares. In this paper, the processes by which retailers have involved themselves in planning policy-making formulation between 1988 and 1998 are evaluated. Both individual and collective representations have been made to the process by retail organizations. It is shown that there is evidence of a small but powerful retail planning policy network that has the hallmarks of a policy community. In conclusion, some future research directions are set out that, inter alia, suggest further work into the role organizations play in Select Committee and lobbying processes. Examination of how specialist and technical advisers feature in these important policy-making decisions is also suggested.

Power, policy networks and planning: the involvement of major grocery retailers in the formulation of Planning Policy Guidance Note 6 since 1988

This paper explores a neglected issue in the study of retail strategy and store location by considering the nature of policy networks operating at the interface between retailers and central government. It argues that informal networks, coupled with the economic power of retailers and the legitimization of their activities with reference to the 'consumer interest', have served to provide retailers with an influential avenue through which they can exert power over the nature of the regulatory environment within which they operate. The paper considers the limited extant 'evidence' of the operation of such networks before moving on to outline the results of a case study. The case study reflects on new store development in the UK grocery sector since 1988 as a backdrop to an analysis of the form of policy networks operating at the interface between government departments and retail organizations. It also explores the role of other stakeholders in this process. The existence of a number of such networks is described and their role explored with reference to the involvement of retailers in the formulation and evolution of Planning Policy Guidance Note 6 on retail development.

Power, policy networks and planning: the involvement of major grocery retailers in the formulation of Planning Policy Guidance Note 6 since 1988

This paper explores a neglected issue in the study of retail strategy and store location by considering the nature of policy networks operating at the interface between retailers and central government. It argues that informal networks, coupled with the economic power of retailers and the legitimization of their activities with reference to the 'consumer interest', have served to provide retailers with an influential avenue through which they can exert power over the nature of the regulatory environment within which they operate. The paper considers the limited extant 'evidence' of the operation of such networks before moving on to outline the results of a case study. The case study reflects on new store development in the UK grocery sector since 1988 as a backdrop to an analysis of the form of policy networks operating at the interface between government departments and retail organizations. It also explores the role of other stakeholders in this process. The existence of a number of such networks is described and their role explored with reference to the involvement of retailers in the formulation and evolution of Planning Policy Guidance Note 6 on retail development.

Unit prices on retail shelf labels: an assessment of information prominence

Although unit prices have been provided to consumers for nearly 30 years, the format in which this information is presented has been largely ignored. An examination of major grocery retailers found considerable differences in how prominently unit prices are presented to shoppers on shelf labels. Two methodological approaches are then used to examine the prominence of unit prices in a grocery–shopping context. The results of a field study support expectations that, among consumers who are relatively low in price consciousness, the prominence of unit price information has a positive effect on awareness and usage of such information. In a second study, a controlled experiment shows that increasing the prominence of unit price information affects consumers’ shopping behaviors by shifting purchases toward lower unit priced items and ultimately reducing grocery expenditures. Suggestions for future research and implications for retailers and policymakers are discussed.

Power relations in the UK grocery supply chain: Developments in the 1990s

The heightened dependence of grocery manufacturers on a small number of major grocery retailers is well documented. Retailer concentration, new channels of physical goods distribution, the emergence of own label products, and the use of new information systems have combined to increase the capacity of the retail giants to exert power over their suppliers. However, our research suggests a more complex picture and therefore the need for further exploration of power in the grocery supply chain. This is because first, differentiated relations between suppliers and buyers complicate the picture of supplier dependence; secondly, because ambiguity and contradictions arise from legitimate activities.

Corporate Strategies in Food Retailing and Their Local Impacts: A Case Study of Cardiff

The development programmes of major grocery retailers in Britain have transformed the retail systems of many urban areas. Impacts upon patterns of consumer behaviour and shopping provision have been substantial. Although many writers have discussed retailers' changing corporate strategies and their implications for new store development, there is still a need for local case studies. In this paper, therefore, processes of change in grocery provision in Cardiff, a city of almost 300000 population, are examined, mainly over a recent twelve-year period. An initial burst of superstore development was accompanied by closures of many small grocery stores owned by multiple and cooperative organisations. Since about 1986, rates of new store development and of store closure have diminished. These changes were superimposed upon a longer term decline in independent food retailing. The question of trading impact is then investigated through associations over time and space of store openings and closures. Although some of the closures in this analysis appear to be explained, it is clear also that certain characteristics of the stores themselves (particularly size and location) were strongly related to the likelihood of closure. This in turn reflected corporate strategies for growth, repositioning, or retrenchment amongst the multiples concerned, mediated through the local property market and land-use planning policies. The conclusion is that the case study clearly exemplifies the impacts of recent events in British retailing, but that further studies are needed to build a comprehensive understanding of retail change at the local level.