The effect of consumers’ supermarket competence on information search and shopping outcomes in two Balkan cities

Distribution systems for food can change quickly in emergent markets, requiring new competences for consumers, and even in some European countries we have seen considerable changes in the distribution system for food in recent decades, raising the question whether consumers have acquired corresponding competences. We take two Balkan countries, Albania and Kosovo, as a case in point and measure consumers’ competence in dealing with package and price information in supermarkets and how this affects their information search behavior and the outcome of their shopping trips in terms of shopping pleasure, shopping trip satisfaction, and perceived risk. Results from data collected in the two countries’ main cities, Pristina and Tirana, show that higher levels of competence lead to more information search and better shopping outcomes, but that information search in certain cases can also increase perceived risk and diminish pleasure and satisfaction. In addition, considerable differences in the two cities can be found, which can be linked to differences in their history.