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Unpacking package free shopping: Alternative retailing and the reinvention of the practice of shopping

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  • Fuentes, Christian
  • Enarsson, Petronella
  • Kristoffersson, Love

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to understand how the practice of package free shopping takes shape and is established. Taking a shopping-as-practice approach, and drawing on an ethnographic study of a Swedish ecological food store, this paper shows that to be able to successfully remove a key artefact - packaging - from the practice of shopping, the practice itself must be reinvented. Developing package free shopping therefore requires the re-framing of the practice of shopping (making it meaningful in a new way), the re-skilling of the consumer (developing new competencies needed for its performance), and the re-materialization of the store (changing the material arrangement that makes this mode of shopping possible). This suggests that the promotion of alternative modes of sustainable shopping is a complicated matter that requires a profound understanding of the practice of shopping.

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  • Fuentes, Christian & Enarsson, Petronella & Kristoffersson, Love, 2019. "Unpacking package free shopping: Alternative retailing and the reinvention of the practice of shopping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 258-265.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:50:y:2019:i:c:p:258-265
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.05.016
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    3. Fanny Reniou & Elisa Robert-Monnot & Sarah Lasri, 2025. "Packaging-free shopping: when retailers and consumers (re/mis)appropriate packaging functions," Post-Print hal-04882563, HAL.
    4. Fanny Reniou & Elisa Monnot, 2023. "Consumer Discipline: A Safeguard to Maintain Sustainable Consumption Patterns," THEMA Working Papers 2023-19, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    5. Elisa Monnot & Fanny Reniou & Sarah Lasri, 2023. "Packaging-free products: when retailers and consumers (re/mis) appropriate the packaging functions," THEMA Working Papers 2023-20, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    6. Klara Wenzel & Elisabeth Süßbauer, 2021. "Exploring Domestic Precycling Behavior: A Social Identity Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-31, January.
    7. Kolesnik, N., 2023. "Implementation of the concept of sustainable development in food retail: Latent semantic analysis of SMM communication 2015-2021," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 79-102.
    8. Anne Müller, 2024. "Connection Points: The Dynamics of Recruitment to Packaging-Free Shopping," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 29(3), pages 596-611, September.
    9. Ulrich, Isabelle & Cacho-Elizondo, Silvia & Damay, Coralie & Loussaïef, Leïla, 2024. "A practice theory perspective on apparel sharing consumption models exploring new paths of consumption in France and Mexico," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Francesca Bonetti & Matteo Montecchi & Kirk Plangger & Hope Jensen Schau, 2023. "Practice co-evolution: Collaboratively embedding artificial intelligence in retail practices," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 867-888, July.
    11. Carmen Bălan, 2020. "How Does Retail Engage Consumers in Sustainable Consumption? A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-25, December.
    12. László Bendegúz Nagy & Brigitta Unger-Plasek & Zoltán Lakner & Ágoston Temesi, 2023. "Confidence in organic food: a cross-country choice based conjoint analysis of credibility factors," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Fuentes, Christian & Cegrell, Olivia & Vesterinen, Josefine, 2021. "Digitally enabling sustainable food shopping: App glitches, practice conflicts, and digital failure," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    14. De Canio, Francesca & Viglia, Giampaolo & Lombart, Cindy, 2024. "Package-free products: How to improve pro-environmental buying behaviors among consumers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    15. Louis, Didier & Lombart, Cindy & Durif, Fabien, 2021. "Packaging-free products: A lever of proximity and loyalty between consumers and grocery stores," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    16. Didier Louis & Fabien Durif & Cindy Lombart & Olga Untilov & Florence Charton-Vachet, 2024. "Consumer reactions to packaging-free product dispensers: a variety of buyers’ profiles to consider," Post-Print hal-04785139, HAL.
    17. Giovanna Piracci & Fabio Boncinelli & Leonardo Casini, 2023. "Investigating Consumer Preferences for Sustainable Packaging Through a Different Behavioural Approach: A Random Regret Minimization Application," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 86(1), pages 1-27, October.

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