Grocery Experience Survey: A Canadian Perspective on Service, Product and Management Specifies

Abstract

The socio-economic significance of independent grocers has been, for the most part, underappreciated and overlooked for several decades in the Western world. Few studies have been looked at the field in recent years and even less so in Canada. Retail studies have highlighted the sector’s evolution, particularly the emergence of multiple channel designs. The primary focus of previous studies has been on food retailing, but not ownership and localized market adaptation. This study intended to identify the limitations of our knowledge related to independent grocers in Canada. By using our study’s outcome and identifying key drivers for market adaptation, this study aspires to highlight their somewhat subordinate relationship to government and the difficulties of modernising their business methods. Results show that Canadians regularly visit 2.3 grocery stores on average, 1.29 times a moth for an average duration of 32 minutes. Results also show that service specificity, and to a certain extent, product specificity can provide independent grocers with an advantage. While most consumers value receiving assistance when needed, younger consumers appreciate knowing who works at the grocery store they visit. Trust on ownership is also key in management specificity. This study provides a platform for future research on independently own grocers.  

Impact of ‘‘high in” front‐of‐package nutrition labeling on food choices: Evidence from a grocery shopping experiment

“…On a 20 (1) Sugar calculation: 27.4 g/ss less sugar per basket (coefficient estimate in Table 5, column (5)) × average of 2.6 servings per food item from our data = 71.46 g less sugar per basket. Multiplying this number by 5.4 grocery shopping trips per month of Canadians (Charlebois et al, 2019) and dividing by 2.4, which is the average Canadian household size (Statistics Canada, 2017), and further dividing by 30 days in a month, we get 5.3 fewer grams of sugar per person per day. (2) Sodium calculation uses the coefficient estimate of 752.4 mg from column (6) of Table 5 and follows the same procedure as the sugar calculation.…”

Understanding Independent Grocer Resilience through Customer Experience Insights

“…Within the grocery industry, some retailers succeed where others fail because of competition, supply and demand, and lags in technological advancements (Tangires, 2008). One of the main pillars of success for a retail grocer is the socio-economic significance of customers as stakeholders (Charlebois & Music, 2019). Due to the limited knowledge about independent grocers within the Canadian food system, the basis for this exploratory study was to uncover features within the customer and retailer relationship that might impact the long-term resilience for independent grocers.…”

“…Canadian Food Distribution and Policy scholar, Sylvain Charlebois (2019), gives the academic definition of an independent grocer as wanting to appear like a major chain grocer but differentiating themselves by offering a unique experience, specialty, or new products, by having a novel store design, and by a highly personalized service. When an independently operated store (often family-owned) becomes successful, major grocers like to buy them out because they understand the value of what is brought to customers (Charlebois, 2021).…”

“…The Canadian retail food industry is currently self-governed, and like many self-regulating commercial systems, it has caused an imbalance and inequity within the supply chain (Spellman, 2016) affecting various stakeholders. This supply inequity has created a monopoly in the food industry, which is affecting Canadian suppliers and small and mid-sized private enterprises, as well as the end user: the customer (Charlebois & Music, 2019). Now at a drastic point, where the imbalance could affect the national economy, a code of conduct stabilizing measure has been suggested by the government to impose unilateral policies that would control actions and fees throughout the retail food industry (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2023).…”

“…This reorganizing may help the small and mid-sized grocers, also known as independent grocers, who, by most accounts, better represent community (Morales, 2009) and who innovate and support local economies (Nelson, et al, 2019); but not much else is known about why they are in decline (Charlebois, 2021). Limitations of knowledge on how independent grocers manage their differentiation and strategies differently in Canada (Charlebois & Music, 2019) has fostered this research with respect to the service that is being provided to customers and the reciprocal effects customers have on the resilience of these Canadian independent grocers.…”