Consumer Society and Choice

A consumer society is best defined as the process in which goods and services are bought and used to satisfy people’s perceived needs (J.Obelkevich. 1994). The image of this consumer society can be described as one of individualism and freedom but it can also be marked by social divisions, inequalities and exclusions. This essay examines the relationships there are between consumerism, the social divisions this engenders and ultimately the choices, if any, this offers to people. It shows how our choices can be defined by the type of people we are, the way that we are perceived by others and our ability to consume.

Most firms in the supermarket industry operate as retail outlets, comprising of supermarkets and discount stores. Most of these supermarkets operate on very little profit margins, and mostly get their ideas from their customers for their product developments. Supermarkets generate revenue by being determined to meet the needs of their customers’ lifestyle. By so doing they end up creating value for their products and making profits at the same time. Through bulk purchases, they also achieve their economies of scale at cheaper prices and then end up selling at cheaper prices to their customers.

Supermarket/hypermarket is large stores which give a range of product and services such as household goods and food to customers. These stores are normally in large open spaces because there are normally 25,000 sq ft big and sell a range of product to the customers. Sainsbury currently has 597 supermarkets in the UK. Sainsbury meets the needs of its customers by having a range of services such as electrical, clothing this will help them as it will help them find things customer wants such as clothing which will benefit them as customer get what their want and will have everything customer want in the superstores therefore it will focus on the need of the customer. It help make customer life easier by offering them range of food product this can benefit them as they are able to one big shop which will last a while in once which will help them make customer life more easier and it offer customer Great quality wide variety this mean that it will have range of product which will attach large amount of customer to the Store’s which will help bring in more profit which can be used to improve the business.

As consumers we have gained through better prices often more consistent quality and often better choice but are we really better off. Growth in Number and Diversity of Supermarkets The growth of the supermarket has been the success story in our times, when they first appeared some specialized in fruit, vegetables and food items and others went for the opposite way with non-food as the core of the business, but slowly they have converged and built bigger and bigger out of town stores and now sell anything from paint to toys to a mouse for your computer to fresh bananas. As they have grown a few very powerful forces in supermarket retailing dominate the market in each country. Changes in the Local Corner Shop

Bigger supermarkets can afford to give unbeatable offers due to buying in mass quantities cheaply and also the fact that most supermarkets are out of town offering easy access and everything under one roof. Our choice of supermarket is often ruled by our friends/work colleagues due to class distinction if we shop at the cheaper one noses get turned up, if we shop at the more expensive questions are asked ‘how can you afford . ‘Supermarkets/stores enticing you in through their doors goes back to the industrial era, where the early department stores first opened up to the wealthy seducing them with a variety of goods that before could only be bought from specialist people, it then progressed to letting the poorer working class in through the doors i.e Selfridges opened its doors to the wealthy then decided to hold the Penny sale days where the poorer could have a taste of the luxuries they sold, Woolworths then came along and catered for all walks of life. Slowly over the years the big stores have taken custom away from the smaller ‘corner’ shop causing many to close down due to too much price competition, many people preferring to go to the bigger shops

Consumers begin their journey by walking towards the smiling face of the supermarket with its immaculate, glamorous glass sliding doors. Unfortunately, shoppers are dependent and vulnerable to supermarkets since it is the place to purchase a gamut of necessities for a household. Therefore, shouldn’t the average American try to save as much money as they can

Retailers are able to track customer shopping data, which provides an important source of consumer research to which manufacturers have no direct access. (2) I am particularly interested in the grocery retail market as over the last two decades, the growing dominance of supermarkets has been a major theme in the nation’s life, seen in eating habits and shopping trends(3) Furthermore, the retail industry employs 2.77 million people in the UK and it is the UK’s largest private sector employer. It accounts for £325 billion sales and one-third of all consumer spending.(4) The graph below shows the percent of retail sales attributable to online in selected merchandise

The supermarket and hypermarkets are where tens of thousands of products are gathered in one location, in continuous, year-round supply. Global food retail sales are about $4 trillion annually, with supermarkets and hypermarkets accounting for the largest share of sales (www.ers.usda.gov/). At present vast changes are sweeping through the industry as major supermarkets such as Safeway and Kroger cut prices and lower operating costs

The purpose of this report is to highlight the current and potential challenges that the Supermarket and Grocery industry has to contend with, as it concurrently adopts a conventional approach in analyzing these key aspects. We have included the Porter’s Five Forces, which is basically a framework that helps us in assessing and evaluating the competitive intensity and determine the attractiveness of a market.

In the context of our consumer society, the role of big supermarkets and their influence on our lives has come under much scrutiny. Broadly split into an anti-supermarket and pro-supermarket camp, both sides insist that their interpretation of evidence is the correct one, and that their conclusions are sound. In light of such contention, I will explore both sides of the argument, and attempt to explain how an answer can be both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ , depending on which perspective you are looking from, and how you interpret the evidence used to support it.

     Porter’s five forces of competition framework can be a valuable tool in analyzing an industry. Porter’s five forces of competition include: competition from substitutes, entrants, rivals, supplier power, and buyer power. We will now analyze the retail grocery industry according to Porter’s five forces. (this is straight out of the Barnes and Noble report I wasn’t sure if we should cite this or not)

Traditionally, markets have been established around the notion of being ‘company-centric’ (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004). In the 19th century, with the emergence of the New Economy, values and ethics brought about the rise of a modern consumer culture (Senge, P.M. and Carstedt, G., 2001;

Most people live close to a supermarket and benefit from this. Supermarkets are not located on high streets but they do have smaller convenient stores such as Tesco Express offering a selection of what the supermarkets do at the same price. This dominance allows supermarkets to make a lot of money, which allows them to reduce prices even further, which then brings in more money. Making the supermarkets winners in a consumer society.

The price of livestock in the UK has dropped in the last few years and in cash terms to the customer has fallen even more. There are barriers to entry in this market. Over the years over 650 new grocery stores have opened nationwide, ranging in size from 3,000 square feet to over 25,000 square feet. Retailers have created no barriers to entry for new competitors who continue to fight for market share with the more established retail-ers. There have been five major new companies which have entered the UK market in the last fifteen years. These include Walmart, the world’s largest retailer and Aldi the 6th largest retail-er in Europe”. The social factors are sophisticated shopping patterns of UK consumers in-crease market competitiveness. Supermarket shopping voted number 1 favourite family Sun-day past time. There has also been a change in consumer taste, a desired want for organic products and a ban of GM food. Technology is constantly improving, this improves shopping for consumers and makes shopping quicker. Advances include personal shopping with trolley guns. There has been high investment in tills for

The supermarket group business has become one of the major players in Britain’s economy. According to Butler and wood; 2014{1}, this market has four major players of which consist of Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury and Morrison supermarket group. For the purpose of this paper, the supermarket that would be analysed would be Morrison; however, the other supermarket might be mentioned for explanation and comparison if relevant.