Supermarket competence in emergent markets: Conceptualization, measurement, effects, and policy implications

• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Klaus G. Grunert,Yanfeng Zhou,Marija Banovic,Natascha Loebnitz
• Date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12398

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Supermarket competence in emergent markets:

Conceptualization, measurement, effects, and

policy implications

Klaus G. Grunert

1,2

| Yanfeng Zhou

3

| Marija Banovic

1

|

Natascha Loebnitz

1,4

1

Department of Management, MAPP

Center, Aarhus University, Aarhus,

Denmark

2

School of Marketing and

Communication, University of Vaasa,

Vaasa, Finland

3

Sun Yat-sen Business School, Sun Yat-

sen University, Guangzhou, China

4

Stralsund University of Applied

Sciences, Stralsund, Germany

Correspondence

Klaus G. Grunert, Department of

Management, MAPP Center, Aarhus

University, Fuglesangsallé 4, 8210

Aarhus V, Denmark.

Email: klg@mgmt.au.dk

Abstract

When channels of distribution change, consumer com-

petences have to adapt. We define supermarket compe-

tence as the set of skills and knowledge that enables

consumers to locate, evaluate, and choose among prod-

uct offerings in a supermarket to fulfill their shopping

goals. We develop a scale that measures three compo-

nents of supermarket competence: finding and locating

products, understanding and using packaging informa-

tion, and interpreting prices. To test the structure and

reliability of the scale, it is applied to three consumer

samples in China. Supermarket competence is found to

be related to shopping trip satisfaction, perceived shop-

ping risk, and use of brand information. In addition,

consumers with different levels of supermarket compe-

tence are found to differ in their demographic charac-

teristics and in their shopping behavior. Policy

implications for strengthening consumers' supermarket

competence are discussed.

KEYWORDS

consumer competence, emerging markets, retailing

Received: 16 July 2020 Revised: 22 June 2021 Accepted: 2 July 2021

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12398

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Consumer Affairs published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Council on Consumer

Interests.

J Consum Aff. 2021;55:1633–1659. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca 1633

1|INTRODUCTION

As economies grow and new technologies develop, retailing channels change as well

(Dawson 2006). The distribution of food and other household items through supermarkets

started in North America in the first half of the 20th century and in Europe after World War II

(Shaw et al. 2004; Stanton 2018). Today, supermarkets remain the dominant channel for daily

purchases in the developed world. These general retailers largely replaced staff-assisted selling

in smaller, specialized shops or sales of groceries in open markets, where consumers would buy

from individual stands, most specializing in a particular product category. Today, sales in brick-

and-mortar supermarkets also compete with online channels, although adoption rates for

online grocery shopping differ substantially globally (Harris 2017).

These different channels each require different competences from consumers. In staff-

assisted selling or open markets, consumers interact with sellers face-to-face, verbalize their

needs and demands, discuss alternative purchase options with the seller, and negotiate quanti-

ties and prices. In supermarkets, face-to-face communication largely disappears, and consumers

must find the products they seek by themselves (Titus & Everett 1995). They can still visually

inspect the products before buying them, but most items are packaged, and information on the

product label replaces communication with a seller.

If such changes occur slowly and gradually over several decades, as in Europe and North

America, consumers probably can adapt relatively easily. However, in emerging markets, the

changes occur more rapidly (Venkatesan et al. 2015). In regions such as East Asia and

the Pacific, India, and sub-Saharan Africa, channel composition has changed radically in recent

years. Therefore, these emerging markets provide a good context for studying consumer compe-

tences in relation to changing forms of retailing.

Consider China for example. The first supermarket was introduced in China in 1981, mainly

to serve overseas visitors. As the economic environment improved, supermarkets shifted their

focus to serving local communities (Lo et al. 2001). Around the turn of the millennium, the Chi-

nese government adopted a policy of shifting consumer grocery purchases from wet markets to

supermarkets in order to achieve a more efficient and safer food distribution system

(Maruyama et al. 2016), an agenda that has achieved renewed attention in the light of the

covid-19 crisis. Since then, supermarkets have become a mainstream sales channel for groceries

in first and second-tier cities, and more recently even in the rural areas (Reardon et al. 2012). In

addition, a variety of supermarket concepts has proliferated, such that mainstream supermar-

kets are being complemented by convenience stores and specialty stores that carry only impo-

rted products. Yet many Chinese consumers still purchase fresh produce and other food in wet

markets too, and the transition from wet markets to supermarkets has been regarded as slow

(Maruyama et al. 2016). Thus, wet markets, supermarkets, and online channels coexist, and

many consumers have witnessed the emergence of these new channels that require them to

develop new competences to navigate the novel shopping environments.

The ways by which consumers develop and use such competences is unclear. Research on

consumer socialization (e.g., Grønhøj 2007; John 1999; Ward 1974) has primarily worked

on the development of consumer competences during childhood, but much less so on how adult

consumers handle new competence requirements. Especially studies of competences related to

specific sales channels are limited, even though consumers' ability to navigate in different shop-

ping environments must be expected to have implications for the outcomes of their shopping

trips and, ultimately, for their well-being. Furthermore, informed consumer choice is widely

cited as a public policy goal, and consumers' ability to make informed choices depends not only

1634 GRUNERT ET AL.