TY  - JOUR
AB  - Grocery retailers are operating in a slow‐growth market. The pursuit of market share is one of the main concerns for retail managers. The retail structure is becoming increasingly standardized and homogenous because of concentration of the ownership of stores. Cultural differences remain, however, between different European countries. Cultural factors influence the success of a positioning strategy. This study examined how consumers perceive grocery retail formats and brands in Finland. Data from personal interviews were used in highlighting the consumer perspective. Consumers perceive meaningful differences in various store formats, meanwhile store brands are seen as quite similar. Consumers rely on functional attributes of stores when discussing grocery stores. However, it seems that consumers are unable to recognize the fabricated, often imaginary differences at the brand level. The informant’s own, creative symbolic work results in this case to interpreting all grocery retail brands as similar. Managerial implications of the study are presented.
VL  - 29
IS  - 5
SN  - 0959-0552
DO  - 10.1108/09590550110390995
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/09590550110390995
AU  - Uusitalo Outi
PY  - 2001
Y1  - 2001/01/01
TI  - Consumer perceptions of grocery retail formats and brands
T2  - International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management
PB  - MCB UP Ltd
SP  - 214
EP  - 225
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -