Thursday 21 February 2013

What Does Being Voted the UK’s Worst Supermarket Mean?

As we are currently conducting a large study into the UK’s supermarkets, I couldn’t help raising an eyebrow (or two) at the results of a survey carried out by ‘Which?’ (October 2012).
 
Firstly the headline is misleading from so many points of view, and to me highlights the complexity when asking shoppers (or consumers in this case) questions of this type.  It is also important to understand the differences between their shoppers and none shoppers, and how they perform to their target markets. 
 
Although Tesco has always been successful in attracting shoppers from across the demographic groups, the rise of stores that capture quality at one end, or budget at the other have  placed the big 4 in a middle ground that relies more on location that differentiation.
 
 
Our current study looks deeper into the understanding of location as a driver to stores choice, and examines in detail where shoppers go, who they drive past to go to a preferred retailer, and how this differs depending upon the shopper mission.  The data (from 5000 primary food & grocery shoppers) is being analysed to see what they are doing well (or not so well), and how well they match the desires of the shopper across those shopper missions.
 
So will we be announcing who is the best or worst? Definitely not! The complexity of need occasions and shopper missions and the impact on retailer choice is of far greater interest than a headline grabbing comment.
 
Our Retailer Series is due for release at the beginning of April. Read more here.
 

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