سوپر مارکت ها در مقابل فروشگاه های سنتی خرده فروشی : تشخیص موانع برای رشد سهم بازار سوپر مارکت ها در یک اقلیت قومی

We study the state of food retail system serving an ethnic minority community. This group, Israeli Arabs, enjoys a relatively high standard of living but continues to make many food purchases in a variety of small, specialized retail food formats. In contrast, the surrounding Jewish population is mostly shopping in supermarkets. Data from a survey of consumer shopping behavior across formats of different product lines are used to identify the barriers to the advancement of the supermarket format in this minority sector. Our study shows that socioeconomic factors, found in earlier supermarket diffusion studies to be the main barrier, have no impact in this case. We identify the tendency to purchase perishable food items in traditional outlets and the geographical diffusion barrier (distance of supermarket formats) to be the main limitation on supermarkets’ market share growth. Further, we find that both these factors are influenced by underlying cultural and ethnic factors characterizing the study population.

The replacement of small family owned, traditional food stores with supermarkets is a universal phenomenon. This process of retail modernization has been the subject of a large number of studies. Many have focused on less developed countries (LDCs) (Goldman, 1981; Kaynak and Cavusgil, 1982; Slater and Henley, 1969), others, on emerging economies (Findlay et al., 1990; Kaynak, 1985; Samiee, 1993). Typically, these studies describe the weaknesses of the traditional retail system, and analyze the limitations on the supermarket format's acceptance. Traditional food retail systems are not only typical to LDCs and to emerging economies. They exist also in developed economies where traditional food retail formats often operate alongside modern supermarkets. For example, consumers in the highly developed Asian economies of Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea regularly utilize traditional formats and supermarkets’ market share there has peaked at less than the 50% level (e.g. Goldman et al., 2002). A number of researchers have recently drawn attention to yet another case of the coexistence of traditional and modern food retail formats, this time in the highly developed economies of Western Europe and North America. In these cases ethnic–cultural minorities such as Muslims in the UK (Jamal, 1995, Jamal, 2003 and Jamal, 2005; Penaloza and Gilly, 1999) and Chinese and Mexicans in the USA (Ackerman and Tellis, 2001; Lavin, 1996; Miller, 1998; Penaloza, 1994) make many of their food purchases in traditional formats. This last phenomenon is at the center of this paper. We report the findings of a study of the cross format food shopping patterns of a large ethnic–cultural minority: Israeli Arabs. While members of this group can easily shop in the modern supermarkets serving the mainstream Israeli population, they continue to patronize traditional outlets. We test hypotheses relating to the factors that might explain this type of shopping behavior and thus act as possible barriers to supermarkets’ market share growth. Our study is positioned within two research traditions. The first is food retail modernization which looks at the barriers to supermarket format diffusion. The second focuses on the shopping and consumption patterns characterizing ethnic–cultural minority groups residing in developed countries. Our theoretical framework integrates prior work on food retail modernization and consumer shopping patterns in both developed and developing countries. It is based on the work of Goldman et al. (2002) who model the market share change process whereby supermarkets gain market share from traditional formats. The theory identifies three general components of market share change: diffusion of supermarket use across geography, across socioeconomic segments and by product categories. Spatial accessibility of modern formats, consumer ability variables, culturally determined behaviors and perceived characteristics of modern and traditional food retail formats are viewed as factors limiting or enhancing each of these processes. Our measurement approach is based on data from consumer survey which is used to summarize the state of competition among retail formats. In our particular application we use a hierarchical series of discrete choice models covering the various possible explanations. This enables us to assess the relative impact of these factors on the retail modernization processes. The present study highlights the role played by cultural variables and explains how they impact consumers’ retail format choice.

A number of earlier studies documented the tendency of consumers belonging to ethnic–cultural minority groups to display food shopping patterns that differ from those of mainstream consumers (e.g. Lavin, 1996 ; Herche and Balasubramanian, 1994 ; Kaufman and Hernandez, 1991 ; Jamal and Chapman, 2000 ; Jamal, 2003 ). They shopfrequently, or exclusively, in tradi- tional food retail stores rather than in the mainstream supermarkets. The researchers conducting these studies were mostly interested in acculturation, cultural diver- sity, the role of marketers and implications for market- ers and retailers (e.g. Ackerman and Tellis, 2001 ; Jamal, 2003, 2005 ; Lavin, 1996; Wallendorf and Reilly, 1983 ). Our interest in this paper is different. We focus on the structure of the food retail system serving these consumers and on its modernization: the move from a system characterized by small, traditional, retail formats to one dominated by supermarkets. We employ here the conceptual framework and management approach used by Goldman et al. (2002) in their study of retail modernization in Hong Kong. While earlier modernization studies emphasized the role of socioeconomic variables, Goldman et al. (2002) found that these factors had no effect. They identified consumers’ tendency to make their perishables food purchases in traditional retail formats as the main barrier to supermarkets’ market share advance. Our study finds similar results. However, we advance their work by explicitly studying the role of cultural factors which to underlie these shopping patterns. We find that the impact of these factors manifests itself through two shopping behavior patterns: the first is the purchase of perishable food items in small, specialized stores and the second is the tendency of Israeli Arab woman to confine some non-perishable shopping trips to neighborhood grocery stores. Under- lying the perishables’ shopping pattern is the daily practice of preparing a cooked, traditional, family meal at home. Preparation of these meals often involves the use of fresh, traditionally dictated, ingredients. Since consumers view traditional stores as superior to super- markets in the quality and variety of their perishable assortment and in the freshness of perishable items they prefer buying these items there rather than in the supermarkets. Cultural factors also impact supermar- kets’ market share through the shopping trip. Cultural norms dictate that women should not venture unac- companied out of the ‘‘safe’’ radius around the home. As a result unaccompanied women buy only in the neighborhood stores, not in the more distant super- markets. Supermarket trips often involve husbands accompanied by their wives. These practices have led Israeli Arab households to split their non-perishable food purchases between supermarkets and neighbor-hood stores. This scenario partly explains the effect of travel distance identified in the study as a barrier to supermarket market share growth