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Forget everything else it really is location that matters most for supermarkets
Archived article dated Tuesday May 5th 2009
Some years ago I carried out a bit of research into why shoppers frequented certain supermarkets and found the majority selected on the basis of it being the nearest to where they lived. And I reckon nothing has changed since then.
By Glynn Davis
According to a recent ICM poll the chief reason for respondents shopping at Tesco was because it was their closest supermarket. This was followed by things like it offering good value and having a wide range.
Clearly success for the supermarkets is a result of getting a whole lot of small things right but it remains the fact that proximity to the consumer is the most valuable attribute that the major grocers can possess. Since Tesco is the biggest operator by a long way, it will continue to grab a whole chunk of the market purely on the basis of location and the convenience that this brings.
All the other stuff that the supermarkets provide is nowhere near as important as simply having a presence. Even price is not the key determining factor in their choice of grocer because despite the massive focus on this by all the grocers (and the constant claims by Tesco that it is the cheapest supermarket) the ICM poll found that 46 per cent of respondents regarded Tesco's prices as about the same as the other supermarkets. So they are clearly not shopping there because of cheap prices.
Although the ICM research did not ask the question of what would most deter shoppers from visiting their favoured supermarket I bet it would still be long queues at the checkout just as it always has been because at the end of the day the fundamentals and issues of modern-day supermarket shopping remain largely unchanged.
glynnd@theretailbulletin.com
Tagged as: viewpoint | supermarkets |
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