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The food‐shopping experience: a satisfaction survey of older Scottish consumers

Caroline Hare (Caroline Hare is a Lecturer in Marketing in the Department of Marketing, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK.)

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management

ISSN: 0959-0552

Article publication date: 1 May 2003

2829

Abstract

The growing numbers of older people represent an important market segment for retailers, particularly the food retail sector. The dominance of the food multiples and their growth strategies have been criticised for contributing to some older consumers being disadvantaged. This paper considers the satisfaction levels of older consumers in Scotland, with their food‐shopping experience. Drawing upon previous work by the author which identified the factors influencing satisfaction, 220 volunteers were recruited from various locations in Scotland and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The survey focused on the main shopping trip. Results indicate that, whilst there is a general trend towards satisfaction, there are key areas of dissatisfaction, such as aspects of the products for sale (merchandise), the practices and procedures of the retailer (retail practices) and factors in the community which affected the shopping trip (external shopping factors). This suggests that policy‐makers seeking to encourage the participation of food retailers in health promotion need to recognise vulnerable sub‐groups of the older population and recognise that not all older consumers can signal their preferences in the marketplace.

Keywords

Citation

Hare, C. (2003), "The food‐shopping experience: a satisfaction survey of older Scottish consumers", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 244-255. https://doi.org/10.1108/09590550310472415

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited

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