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Consumer Behaviour and the Life Course: Shopper Reactions to Self-Service Grocery Shops and Supermarkets in England c. 1947–75

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  • Adrian R Bailey
  • Gareth Shaw
  • Andrew Alexander
  • Dawn Nell

Abstract

We examine the development of self-service grocery shopping from a consumer perspective. Using qualitative data gathered through a nationwide biographical survey and oral histories, it was possible to go beyond contemporary market surveys which pay insufficient attention to shopping as a socially and culturally embedded practice. We use the conceptual framework of the life course to demonstrate how grocery shopping is a complex activity, in which the retail encounter is shaped by the specific interconnection of different retail formats and their geographies, alongside consumer characteristics and their situational influences. Consumer reactions to retail modernization must be understood in relation to the development of consumer practices at points of transition and stability within the life course. These practices are accessed by examining retrospective consumer narratives about food shopping.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrian R Bailey & Gareth Shaw & Andrew Alexander & Dawn Nell, 2010. "Consumer Behaviour and the Life Course: Shopper Reactions to Self-Service Grocery Shops and Supermarkets in England c. 1947–75," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(6), pages 1496-1512, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:42:y:2010:i:6:p:1496-1512
    DOI: 10.1068/a42247
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gareth Shaw & Andrew Alexander, 2008. "British co-operative societies as retail innovators: Interpreting the early stages of the self-service revolution," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 251-252.
    2. Alexander, Andrew & Nell, Dawn & Bailey, Adrian R. & Shaw, Gareth, 2009. "The Co-Creation of a Retail Innovation: Shoppers and the Early Supermarket in Britain," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 529-558, September.
    3. Gareth Shaw & Andrew Alexander, 2008. "British co-operative societies as retail innovators: Interpreting the early stages of the self-service revolution," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 62-78.
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    1. Elms, Jonathan & de Kervenoael, Ronan & Hallsworth, Alan, 2016. "Internet or store? An ethnographic study of consumers' internet and store-based grocery shopping practices," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 234-243.

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