IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v42y2010i6p1496-1512.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumer Behaviour and the Life Course: Shopper Reactions to Self-Service Grocery Shops and Supermarkets in England c. 1947–75

Author

Listed:
  • Adrian R Bailey
  • Gareth Shaw
  • Andrew Alexander
  • Dawn Nell

Abstract

We examine the development of self-service grocery shopping from a consumer perspective. Using qualitative data gathered through a nationwide biographical survey and oral histories, it was possible to go beyond contemporary market surveys which pay insufficient attention to shopping as a socially and culturally embedded practice. We use the conceptual framework of the life course to demonstrate how grocery shopping is a complex activity, in which the retail encounter is shaped by the specific interconnection of different retail formats and their geographies, alongside consumer characteristics and their situational influences. Consumer reactions to retail modernization must be understood in relation to the development of consumer practices at points of transition and stability within the life course. These practices are accessed by examining retrospective consumer narratives about food shopping.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrian R Bailey & Gareth Shaw & Andrew Alexander & Dawn Nell, 2010. "Consumer Behaviour and the Life Course: Shopper Reactions to Self-Service Grocery Shops and Supermarkets in England c. 1947–75," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(6), pages 1496-1512, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:42:y:2010:i:6:p:1496-1512
    DOI: 10.1068/a42247
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a42247
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a42247?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. Gareth Shaw & Andrew Alexander, 2008. "British co-operative societies as retail innovators: Interpreting the early stages of the self-service revolution," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 251-252.
    2. Gareth Shaw & Andrew Alexander, 2008. "British co-operative societies as retail innovators: Interpreting the early stages of the self-service revolution," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 62-78.
    3. Alexander, Andrew & Nell, Dawn & Bailey, Adrian R. & Shaw, Gareth, 2009. "The Co-Creation of a Retail Innovation: Shoppers and the Early Supermarket in Britain," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 529-558, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elms, Jonathan & de Kervenoael, Ronan & Hallsworth, Alan, 2016. "Internet or store? An ethnographic study of consumers' internet and store-based grocery shopping practices," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 234-243.

    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. Maixe-Altes, J. Carles & Castro Balaguer, Rafael, 2013. "Structural Change in Distribution Markets in Peripheral Europe: Spanish Food Retailing, 1950-2007," MPRA Paper 49570, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Maixe-Altes, J. Carles, 2008. "Americanización y consumo de masas, la distribución alimentaria en España, 1947-2007 [Americanization and mass consumption, the distribution of food in Spain, 1947 - 2007]," MPRA Paper 14786, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Maixe-Altes, J Carles, 2009. "Interpreting the Early Stages of the Self-service Revolution in Europe: the Modernization of Food Retailing in Spain, 1947-1972," MPRA Paper 18164, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Pierre Volle, 2011. "Marketing : comprendre l'origine historique," Post-Print halshs-00638621, HAL.
    5. Pantano, Eleonora, 2014. "Innovation drivers in retail industry," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 344-350.
    6. Elms, Jonathan & de Kervenoael, Ronan & Hallsworth, Alan, 2016. "Internet or store? An ethnographic study of consumers' internet and store-based grocery shopping practices," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 234-243.
    7. Szabó-Szentgróti Eszter & Rámháp Szabolcs & Kézai Petra Kinga, 2023. "Systematic Review of Cashierless Stores (Just Walk Out Stores) Revolutionizing The Retail," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 18(s1), pages 427-448, December.
    8. Kathryn Wheeler & Miriam Glucksmann, 2013. "Economies of Recycling, ‘Consumption Work’ and Divisions of Labour in Sweden and England," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 18(1), pages 114-127, February.

    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:42:y:2010:i:6:p:1496-1512. 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.