IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jbusin/v1y2021i2p6-90d590554.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Supply Chain Responsiveness to a (Post)-Pandemic Grocery and Food Service E-Commerce Economy: An Exploratory Canadian Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Sylvain Charlebois

    (Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada)

  • Mark Juhasz

    (Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada)

  • Janet Music

    (Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada)

Abstract

The focus of this study looks at the motivations and rationale from a national survey of over 7200 Canadians in November 2020 into why they use online services to purchase food. As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, food supply chains have been significantly altered. Consumers are purchasing foods with different dynamics, including when they buy in-person at groceries, at restaurants or at food service establishments. Elements of the food supply chain will be permanently altered post-pandemic. The study looks at a specific set of factors, captured in the survey, namely, consumer price sensitivity to the costs of online food purchasing, growing sustainability-related concerns over food packaging and waste, and product sensory experience related to how online purchasing changes from in-person food selection. The end goal, emerging from a case study, is insight into the strategies and preparedness with which CPGs, food services, and retailers can better manage the supply chain in their food product offerings in the post-pandemic era.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylvain Charlebois & Mark Juhasz & Janet Music, 2021. "Supply Chain Responsiveness to a (Post)-Pandemic Grocery and Food Service E-Commerce Economy: An Exploratory Canadian Case Study," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 1(2), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jbusin:v:1:y:2021:i:2:p:6-90:d:590554
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7116/1/2/6/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7116/1/2/6/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brenna Ellison & Brandon McFadden & Bradley J. Rickard & Norbert L. W. Wilson, 2021. "Examining Food Purchase Behavior and Food Values During the COVID‐19 Pandemic," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 58-72, March.
    2. Brian E. Roe & Kathryn Bender & Danyi Qi, 2021. "The Impact of COVID‐19 on Consumer Food Waste," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 401-411, March.
    3. Getu Hailu, 2020. "Economic thoughts on COVID‐19 for Canadian food processors," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 68(2), pages 163-169, June.
    4. Xuwen Gao & Xinjie Shi & Hongdong Guo & Yehong Liu, 2020. "To buy or not buy food online: The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the adoption of e-commerce in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Hung‐Hao Chang & Chad D. Meyerhoefer, 2021. "COVID‐19 and the Demand for Online Food Shopping Services: Empirical Evidence from Taiwan," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(2), pages 448-465, March.
    6. Judith Hillen, 2021. "Online food prices during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(1), pages 91-107, January.
    7. Music, Janet & Finch, Erica & Gone, Pallavi & Toze, Sandra & Charlebois, Sylvain & Mullins, Lisa, 2021. "Pandemic Victory Gardens: Potential for local land use policies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    8. Jiabao Lin & Lei Li & Xin (robert) Luo & Jose Benitez, 2020. "How do agribusinesses thrive through complexity? The pivotal role of e-commerce capability and business agility," Post-Print hal-03004357, HAL.
    9. Sylvain Charlebois & Simon Somogyi & Janet Music & Isabelle Caron, 2020. "Planet, Ethics, Health and the New World Order in Proteins," Journal of Agricultural Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 8(3), pages 171-192, September.
    10. Sylvain Charlebois & Janet Music & Shannon Faires, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Canada’s Food Literacy: Results of a Cross-National Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-13, May.
    11. Lucia A. Leone & Sheila Fleischhacker & Betsy Anderson-Steeves & Kaitlyn Harper & Megan Winkler & Elizabeth Racine & Barbara Baquero & Joel Gittelsohn, 2020. "Healthy Food Retail during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Future Directions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-14, October.
    12. Tou, Yuji & Watanabe, Chihiro & Moriya, Kuniko & Naveed, Nasir & Vurpillat, Victor & Neittaanmäki, Pekka, 2019. "The transformation of R&D into neo open innovation- a new concept in R&D endeavor triggered by amazon," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    13. Ellen Goddard, 2020. "The impact of COVID‐19 on food retail and food service in Canada: Preliminary assessment," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 68(2), pages 157-161, June.
    14. Campo, Katia & Breugelmans, Els, 2015. "Buying Groceries in Brick and Click Stores: Category Allocation Decisions and the Moderating Effect of Online Buying Experience," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 63-78.
    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. Bart Geurden & Jeroen Cant & Joris Beckers, 2022. "Food Accessibility in the Suburbs of the Metropolitan City of Antwerp (Belgium): A Factor of Concern in Local Public Health and Active and Healthy Aging," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-13, November.

    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. Yajia Liang & Taiyang Zhong & Jonathan Crush, 2022. "Boon or Bane? Urban Food Security and Online Food Purchasing during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Nanjing, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-25, June.
    2. Janet Music & Sylvain Charlebois & Louise Spiteri & Shannon Farrell & Alysha Griffin, 2021. "Increases in Household Food Waste in Canada as a Result of COVID-19: An Exploratory Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-11, November.
    3. Guo, Jianxin & Jin, Songqing & Zhao, Jichun & Wang, Hongbiao & Zhao, Fang, 2022. "Has COVID-19 accelerated the E-commerce of agricultural products? Evidence from sales data of E-stores in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. Gabriele Scozzafava & Caterina Contini & Francesca Gerini & Leonardo Casini, 2022. "Post-lockdown changes in diet in Italy and the USA: Return to old habits or structural changes?," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Jelena Končar & Radenko Marić & Goran Vukmirović & Sonja Vučenović, 2021. "Sustainability of Food Placement in Retailing during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    6. Eulalia Skawińska & Romuald I. Zalewski & Joanna Wyrwa, 2023. "Students’ Food Consumption Behavior during COVID-19 Lockdown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-28, June.
    7. Bożena Kusz & Lucyna Witek & Dariusz Kusz & Katarzyna Chudy-Laskowska & Paulina Ostyńska & Alina Walenia, 2023. "The Effect of COVID-19 on Food Consumers’ Channel Purchasing Behaviors: An Empirical Study from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, March.
    8. Svetlana Fedoseeva & Ellen Van Droogenbroeck, 2023. "Pandemic pricing: Evidence from German grocery e‐commerce," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1139-1156, October.
    9. Margarida Rodrigues & Mário Franco & Rui Silva, 2020. "COVID-19 and Disruption in Management and Education Academics: Bibliometric Mapping and Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-25, September.
    10. Zaid Obeidat & Mohammad Ibrahim Obeidat, 2023. "A typology of Jordanian consumers after Covid‐19: The rational, the suspicious, and the cautious consumer," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 121-139, January.
    11. Wanglin Ma & Christopher Gan & Puneet Vatsa & Wei Yang & Hongyun Zheng, 2022. "Factors affecting online shopping frequency: lessons from New Zealand," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(6), pages 1-10, June.
    12. Bianca Polenzani & Andrea Marchini, 2022. "Does the Covid-19 affect food consumption patterns? A Transaction Cost Perspective," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 24(2), pages 1-28.
    13. Tsutomu Watanabe & Yuki Omori, 2021. "Online Consumption During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Japan," Working Papers on Central Bank Communication 035, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
    14. Rachel Gillespie & Emily DeWitt & Stacey Slone & Kathryn Cardarelli & Alison Gustafson, 2022. "The Impact of a Grocery Store Closure in One Rural Highly Obese Appalachian Community on Shopping Behavior and Dietary Intake," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-12, March.
    15. Samantha M. Sundermeir & Megan R. Winkler & Sara John & Uriyoán Colón-Ramos & Ravneet Kaur & Ashley Hickson & Rachael D. Dombrowski & Alex B. Hill & Bree Bode & Julia DeAngelo & Joel Gittelsohn, 2022. "A Commentary on the Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project: Implications for Retailers, Policy, and Future Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-11, July.
    16. A. Ford Ramsey & Barry K. Goodwin & William F. Hahn & Matthew T. Holt, 2021. "Impacts of COVID‐19 and Price Transmission in U.S. Meat Markets," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(3), pages 441-458, May.
    17. Kumar, Anish & Mangla, Sachin Kumar & Kumar, Pradeep & Song, Malin, 2021. "Mitigate risks in perishable food supply chains: Learning from COVID-19," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    18. Viktória Szente & Imre Fertő & Zsófia Benedek, 2022. "Growing couch potatoes? The impact of COVID-19 in the light of personal values in Hungary," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, December.
    19. Clement O. Codjia & Sayed H. Saghaian, 2022. "Determinants of Food Expenditure Patterns: Evidence from U.S. Consumers in the Context of the COVID-19 Price Shocks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-17, July.
    20. Minh Hieu Nguyen & Jimmy Armoogum & Binh Nguyen Thi, 2021. "Factors Affecting the Growth of E-Shopping over the COVID-19 Era in Hanoi, Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.

    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:gam:jbusin:v:1:y:2021:i:2:p:6-90:d:590554. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.