IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v40y2008i9p2204-2221.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Retail Innovation and Shopping Practices: Consumers' Reactions to Self-Service Retailing

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Alexander
  • Simon Phillips
  • Gareth Shaw

    (School of Business and Economics, Streatham Building, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, England;)

Abstract

In this paper we address the related issues of retail innovation, changing shopping practices, and shopping geographies. We do so in relation to the spread of self-service grocery stores, and particularly the supermarket, in the postwar retail environment of Britain (1950–70), arguing that this juncture provides a propitious opportunity to study the relationship between changing practices of retailing and consumption. We highlight shoppers’ selective adoption of new self-service formats in relation to certain product categories and argue that this can be explained in part by reference to the socially embedded nature of women food shoppers’ behaviours and in particular the influence of contemporary notions of the ‘good housewife‘. We support our argument by reference to a wide range of contemporary documentary material relating to postwar shopping including market research reports, the publications of local consumer groups, and selected retailer and government archive sources.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Alexander & Simon Phillips & Gareth Shaw, 2008. "Retail Innovation and Shopping Practices: Consumers' Reactions to Self-Service Retailing," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(9), pages 2204-2221, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:40:y:2008:i:9:p:2204-2221
    DOI: 10.1068/a39117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a39117
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a39117?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew Alexander & Gareth Shaw & Louise Curth, 2005. "Promoting Retail Innovation: Knowledge Flows during the Emergence of Self-Service and Supermarket Retailing in Britain," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(5), pages 805-821, May.
    2. Thompson, Craig J, 1996. "Caring Consumers: Gendered Consumption Meanings and the Juggling Lifestyle," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 22(4), pages 388-407, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:oup:jecgeo:v:50:y:2023:i:2:p:282-302. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Merchant, Altaf & Rose, Gregory & Martin, Drew & Choi, Sunmee & Gour, Mohit, 2017. "Cross-cultural folk-tale-elicitation research on the perceived power, humanistic and religious symbolisms, and use of money," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 113-119.
    3. Marco Guerzoni & Massimiliano Nuccio, 2014. "Music consumption at the dawn of the music industry: the rise of a cultural fad," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 38(2), pages 145-171, May.
    4. Venkatraman, Meera, 2013. "Consuming digital technologies and making home," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(12), pages 2626-2633.
    5. Castilhos, Rodrigo B. & Fonseca, Marcelo J., 2016. "Pursuing upward transformation: The construction of a progressing self among dominated consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 6-17.
    6. Hackley, Chris & Bengry-Howell, Andrew & Griffin, Christine & Szmigin, Isabelle & Mistral, Willm & Hackley, Rungpaka Amy, 2015. "Transgressive drinking practices and the subversion of proscriptive alcohol policy messages," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2125-2131.
    7. Julie V. Stanton & Deirdre T. Guion, 2013. "Taking Advantage of a Vulnerable Group? Emotional Cues in Ads Targeting Parents," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 485-517, November.
    8. Teresa Heath & Lisa O’Malley & Matthew Heath & Vicky Story, 2016. "Caring and Conflicted: Mothers’ Ethical Judgments about Consumption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 237-250, June.
    9. Liu, Chihling & Hogg, Margaret K., 2018. "Using attachment theory to understand consumers' tensions between their sense of self and goal-pursuits in relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 197-209.
    10. Thakor, Mrugank V. & Borsuk, Wendy & Kalamas, Maria, 2004. "Hotlists and Web browsing behavior--an empirical investigation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(7), pages 776-786, July.
    11. Rohit Varman & Hari Sreekumar & Russell W Belk, 2022. "Money, Sacrificial Work, and Poor Consumers [The Low Literate Consumer]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(4), pages 657-677.
    12. Karanika, Katerina & Hogg, Margaret K., 2013. "Trajectories across the lifespan of possession-self relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 910-916.
    13. Sundström, Malin & Hjelm-Lidholm, Sara & Radon, Anita, 2019. "Clicking the boredom away – Exploring impulse fashion buying behavior online," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 150-156.
    14. Liu, Chihling & Keeling, Debbie Isobel & Hogg, Margaret K., 2016. "Strategy narratives and wellbeing challenges: The role of everyday self-presentation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 234-243.
    15. Dodds, Sarah & Bulmer, Sandy & Murphy, Andrew, 2014. "Consumer value in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) health care services," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 218-229.
    16. Séverine Gojard & Bérangère Véron, 2018. "Shopping and cooking: the organization of food practices, at the crossing of access to food stores and household properties in France," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 97-119, June.
    17. Andreana Drencheva & Wee Chan Au, 2023. "Bringing the Family Logic in: From Duality to Plurality in Social Enterprises," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 77-93, January.
    18. Carlo Morelli, 2009. "Modern British Retailing in the Late 20th Century: Increasing Value?," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 227, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    19. Alexandre Coutant & Valérie-Inés de la Ville & Malene Gram & Nathalie Boireau-Ducept, 2011. "Motherhood, Advertising, and Anxiety: A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Danonino Commercials," Post-Print hal-01627675, HAL.
    20. Gentina, Elodie & Butori, Raphaëlle & Heath, Timothy B., 2014. "Unique but integrated: The role of individuation and assimilation processes in teen opinion leadership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 83-91.
    21. Davis, Robert & Smith, Sandra D. & Lang, Bodo U., 2017. "A comparison of online and offline gender and goal directed shopping online," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 118-125.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:40:y:2008:i:9:p:2204-2221. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.