The impact of demographic factors on supermarket shopping motivations in South Africa

Abstract

The changing retail environment necessitates a need to manage supermarkets effectively by understanding shopping motivations in order to attract shoppers and remain competitive. The purpose of this research was to determine the factors that motivate shoppers to visit and buy from certain branded supermarkets. In addition, to determine if there is any relationship between shoppers’ demographics and shopping motivations. The survey reached 3494 shoppers online of whom 104 responded. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 24 for Windows. The findings of the study revealed that shoppers visit specific branded supermarkets for gratification shopping, value shopping, to search for good service and product quality, social shopping and brand hunting. In addition, the findings indicated that gratification shopping and shopping for good service and product quality are significantly affected by gender. Furthermore, the findings revealed there is a significant difference among age groups regarding gratification and social shopping. Moreover, the study found that there is a significant difference among monthly income groups regarding value shopping, social shopping and brand hunting. The findings of this study provide insights for both researchers and retailers to gain a better understanding of supermarket shopping motivations and the relationship between shoppers’ demographics and shopping motivations. Corresponding author: Ms Eva Nkgome Mahlangu Email addresses for the corresponding author: emahlaen@unisa.ac.za First submission received: 21st May 2018 Revised submission received: 8th August 2018 Accepted: 27th September 2018 Introduction The number of supermarkets in South Africa have increased rapidly over the past years. Battersby and Peyton (2014), and Beneke, Hayworth, Hobson and Mia (2012) have identified several factors such as the rise of the middle class, economic expansion and changes in consumer preferences that have contributed to this growth. Das Nair and Chisoro (2015) and the GAIN report (2015) observe that supermarkets have not only grown but the layout and location of supermarkets have also changed. Location is important given that supermarkets have spread from large cities to small cities and eventually to rural areas and villages, targeting traditional, high-end, wealthy shoppers as well as new markets in low-income, rural communities (Battersby et al., 2014). Therefore, location is a motivational factor that shoppers consider when visiting a supermarket. Another motivation for shoppers to visit supermarkets is that they sell a wide range of grocery products at lower prices, therefore providing convenience and monetary value to shoppers. In addition, Van der Heijden and Vink (2013) state that supermarkets also make it convenient for shoppers by extending their offerings to include financial and cellular products and services. Shoppers use supermarkets as a serving point for the payment and purchase of utilities. Quality products and services are store attributes perceived to be motivational factors for choosing a specific store (Chamhuri and Batt, 2013). Supermarkets initially started selling processed food products and non-food products, progressed to selling semi-processed products such as dairy products and then advanced their offerings by selling fresh produce, meat and fish. Supermarkets focus on providing quality products and services, serving as a “one-stop” shop, and an overall customer shopping experience (Das Nair et al., 2015). Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR), Vol. 13 Issue 3 April 2019 www.jbrmr.com A Journal of the Academy of Business and Retail Management (ABRM) 12 When shopping, shoppers tend to display economic as well as recreational shopping behaviour. Some shoppers shop to kill boredom, others shop for self-gratification, while others get an emotional fulfilment from shopping (Hasan and Mishra, 2015). It is important for supermarkets to understand what motivates shoppers to visit supermarkets in order to attract these shoppers. While many research papers have been published on supermarkets (Marques, Trindade and Santos, 2016; Malik, 2015; Padhye and Sangvikar, 2016), the focus has been on supermarket attributes. No papers have focused on supermarket shopping motivations in the South African context. Existing research has also focused on shopping motivations towards shopping malls (Jogee and Callaghan, 2014; Kesari and Atulkar, 2016; Bakirtas, Bakirtas and Cetin, 2015). This article will identify the problem statement and objectives, outline the literature review, explain the research methodology and discuss the findings and recommendations. The problem statement and objectives are outlined in the next section. 2. Problem statement and objectives While many research papers have been published on supermarkets (Malik, 2015; Marques et al., 2016; Padhye et al., 2016), the focus has been on supermarket attributes. Existing research (Bakirtas et al., 2015; Jogee et al., 2014; Kesari et al., 2016) has focused on shopping motivations at shopping malls. No papers have focused on supermarket shopping motivations in the South African context, thus creating a need to research this. The increasing competition among large retailers compels these retailers to build their competitive advantages in order to survive. This entails understanding what motivates shoppers to shop from a supermarket. Such an understanding enables retailers to formulate an appropriate marketing strategy targeted at shoppers, which in turn determines the size of their share of the market. As supermarkets face competition from local and international players, they must find ways to attract and keep consumers in their stores. Supermarkets must focus on the attributes and shopper motivations that are important to their target market and improve the existing supermarket attributes to attract and keep shoppers (Nguyen, Nguyen and Barrett, 2007). Therefore, this article investigates the shopping motivations of South African shoppers and how demographics influence their shopping motivations. The following research objectives were formulated for this study: • To determine the shopping motivations of supermarket shoppers in South Africa. • To determine if demographic factors influence shopping motivation factors of South African supermarket shoppers. 3. Literature review The literature review conceptualises references relevant to supermarket shopping motivations to critically evaluate the research problem and to achieve the stated research objectives. Understanding shopping motivational factors that are important to shoppers will assist in attracting these shoppers to supermarkets and remaining competitive. Firstly, this section reviews the literature on the South African supermarket industry. Secondly, it highlights factors that motivate shoppers to visit supermarkets. 3.1 The South African supermarket industry Grocery retail is one of the few major growth sectors in South Africa that contribute to financial investments and create new jobs. Formal grocery retailers account for most sales and grocery consumption with approximately 80% of the grocery retail market (Nortons Inc, 2016). The five major players in the South African supermarket industry are Shoprite and Pick n Pay as market leaders, followed by Spar, Woolworths and Massmart. Shoprite Holdings specialises in food and household items and its market share is estimated at 34%. Pick n Pay Holdings specialises in groceries, clothing and general merchandise and its market share is estimated at 30%. The Spar Group specialises in foods and general merchandise and holds 26% market share. Woolworths Holdings specialises in food and clothing and is one of the leading retailers targeting consumers with a higher Living Standards Measurement (LSM). Woolworths’ market share is estimated at 8 to 11% (Das Nair et al., 2015; GAIN report, 2015). It should be noted, however, that there is no consensus on the market share of each supermarket mentioned. Several other competitors have recently introduced new formats into the industry, including Fruit & Veg City (including Food Lover’s Market), Massmart’s Game FoodCo and Cambridge Food, and Choppies, as well as independent supermarket chains, such as the Save Group, which has increased the Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR), Vol. 13 Issue 3 April 2019 www.jbrmr.com A Journal of the Academy of Business and Retail Management (ABRM) 13 intensity of competition among the grocery retailers in the country (Nortons Inc, 2016). The modern retail industry accounts for approximately 70% of national retail markets, and within this, supermarkets are an important source of supply in the retail food sector (Standard Bank, 2014). Major retailers in South Africa have also increased their market penetration and marketing efforts through brand promotion and advertising (Durham, 2011), requiring supermarkets to understand shopper motivation to attract shoppers into their stores. Supermarkets keep evolving by following trends/developments to meet the needs of shoppers. These trends/developments aim to build a broad customer base for different South African demographic profiles by setting up different store formats to meet the needs of shoppers in different income groups (Pereira, 2014). For example, Shoprite Holdings has five different store formats, namely Shoprite, Checkers, CheckersHyper, Usave and OK. Shoprite focuses on the middle to lower market, while Checkers and Checkers Hyper focus on high-end, well-off shoppers. In addition, Usave focuses on economically disadvantaged communities, while OK caters for a wide range of markets, mainly focuses on convenience and is in rural towns and suburbs (Battersby et al., 2014; Das Nair et al., 2015). Therefore, the use of different store formats is a trend in the South African supermarket industry. In addition, supermarkets co