Real choice in food grocery shopping in Britain

In the European Retail Digest, Tenbusch (2002) advised us that, "over the last decade, only discounters have been able to achieve significant revenue growth". The most casual observer of the retail scene in Europe would quickly realise that the author was most certainly not writing about Britain. Indeed he compared the situation in Germany with Britain by noting that grocery prices in the former were on average 20% lower. Interestingly, it was, at least in part, just those types of price comparison data that sparked the current British debate on the state of our market for food shopping. Soon, however, there were other factors brought into consideration. Market power of supermarket/ superstore operators, prices offered to small local farmers, the apparent permanent global summertime for food, food miles and eco-efficiency all became part of the debate. What might be the competing influence of any or all of these factors in the name of better 'choice' for consumers? Are British consumers really being offered better choice compared to what was available in the early 1980s, and might that explain the price differential with Germany and other countries? Or are we simply not comparing like with like? Indeed, as we will shortly argue, can we generalise about Britain at all when we accept, for example, that the Scottish market IS different?

The corporatization of community pharmacy:implications for service provision, the public health function, and pharmacy's claims to professional status in the United Kingdom

Background Pharmacy has experienced both incomplete professionalization and deprofessionalization. Since the late 1970s, a concerted attempt has been made to re-professionalize pharmacy in the United Kingdom (UK) through role extension—a key feature of which has been a drive for greater pharmacy involvement in public health. However, the continual corporatization of the UK community pharmacy sector may reduce the professional autonomy of pharmacists and may threaten to constrain attempts at reprofessionalization. Objectives The objectives of the research: to examine the public health activities of community pharmacists in the UK; to explore the attitudes of community pharmacists toward recent relevant UK policy and barriers to the development of their public health function; and, to investigate associations between activity, attitudes, and the type of community pharmacy worked in (eg, supermarket, chain, independent). Methods A self-completion postal questionnaire was sent to a random sample of practicing community pharmacists, stratified for country and sex, within Great Britain (n = 1998), with a follow-up to nonresponders 4 weeks later. Data were analyzed using SPSS (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) (v12.0). A final response rate of 51% (n = 1023/1998) was achieved. Results The level of provision of emergency hormonal contraception on a patient group direction, supervised administration of medicines, and needle-exchange schemes was lower in supermarket pharmacies than in the other types of pharmacy. Respondents believed that supermarkets and the major multiple pharmacy chains held an advantageous position in terms of attracting financing for service development despite suggesting that the premises of such pharmacies may not be the most suitable for the provision of such services. Conclusions A mixed market in community pharmacy may be required to maintain a comprehensive range of pharmacy-based public health services and provide maximum benefit to all patients. Longitudinal monitoring is recommended to ensure that service provision is adequate across the pharmacy network.

Community pharmacy in a commissioning-led NHS:can pharmacy compete effectively?

Introduction – The commissioning of services has been a core responsibility of English Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) since 2002. Primary care organisations (PCOs) in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also increased their commissioning activities but with, arguably, less fervour than their English counterparts. The commissioning function of English PCTs has been reinforced by the introduction of new contractual frameworks across primary care – for medical services, dentistry and pharmacy. The new pharmaceutical services contract for England and Wales introduced an “enhanced” category of services, the provision of which is dependent on the commissioning decisions of local PCTs. As the NHS, most pertinently in England, continues its transformation from a provider to a commissioner of healthcare, the ability of pharmacy to compete effectively for funding is likely to become increasingly important. Method - After piloting, in August 2006 a self-completion postal questionnaire was sent to a random sample of practising community pharmacists, stratified for country and sex, within Great Britain (n=1998), with a follow-up to non-responders 4 weeks later. Data were analysed using SPSS (v12.0). A final response rate of 51% (n=1023/1998) was achieved. Within the section of the questionnaire relating to service provision, respondents were asked “do you believe that pharmacy will be able to compete effectively with other healthcare providers for access to additional funding to develop services that address a public health need identified by your local Primary Care Organisation (PCO), e.g. PCT/LHB etc.?”. Answers were recorded on a three-point scale; pharmacy “will”, “may”, or “will not” be able to compete effectively for funding. Results - The attitudes of pharmacists showed variation depending on the type of pharmacy they worked in (supermarket, multiple (outlets (n)=200), large chain (200>n>20), small chain (20=n>5), or independent (n=5)) (?2 test with p=0.001). Over a third of survey pharmacists working in small chains and independents (37% (n=21/57) and 33% (n=113/341) respectively) believed that pharmacy would not be able to compete effectively for funding compared to 23% (n=15/65) for supermarket pharmacists, 22% (n=21/97) for pharmacists employed by large chains and just 18% (n=62/353) for pharmacists employed most regularly in multiples. Furthermore, attitudes also varied between the countries of residence of respondents (?2 test with p<0.05). 27% (n=242/893) of pharmacists resident in England and Wales believed that pharmacy would not be able to compete compared to 16% (n=18/116) of pharmacists resident in Scotland. Conclusions – It would appear that community pharmacists believe that the larger pharmacy chains and supermarkets will occupy an advantageous position in terms of attracting finance to develop services. This could have notable implications for service provision across the sector. If corporate pharmacy chains were to monopolise commissioning monies then the proportion of funding available to independents will be diminished; arguably further hastening their demise, as well as stifling the professional development of pharmacists employed within the independent sector. These findings, when combined with the variation observed between UK pharmacists operating under different contractual frameworks, may be a reflection of the divergent policy in the different administrations with developments in England, including the new pharmacy contract, reflecting a market-based approach with Scotland taking a near opposite stance with service integration and a commitment to new public health. However, it should be acknowledged that the questionnaire did not allow for detection of ambiguities in, or misunderstandings of, the survey question and this should be considered as a limitation of the research.

Health promotion for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Peter, a 45 year old male, enters the pharmacy and asks, 'do you have something to stop a cough?' On questioning you find out that Peter has an irritating cough that has been off and on for the past few weeks since winter started. He coughs up phlegm every now and then, mostly upon waking. He has tried some cough mixture that he bought at the supermarket but is looking for something stronger. He states that he does not have any medical history or allergies and does not take any medication. He does feel that he can't exercise as much as he used to as he gets more breathless these days.

Effects of retail employees' behaviours on customers' service evaluation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test a conceptual model of the effects of customer and service orientation (SO) behaviours of individual retail employees on individual customers’ perceptions of service encounter quality (SEQ), service quality (SQ), value, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions (BI). Design/methodology/approach – The sample (n ¼ 271) was customers of a supermarket in central India, and they completed questionnaires following mall intercept. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modelling using LISREL 8.7 was employed. Findings – It was found that: service and customer orientation (CO) behaviours are positively related to SEQ and SQ; SEQ is positively related to SQ and customer satisfaction; SQ is positively related to value perceptions and customer satisfaction; and customer satisfaction is positively related to retail customers’ BI. However, value is not related to customer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – More research is needed on customer perceptions of value in non-Western contexts and service evaluation frameworks in other cross-cultural contexts. Practical implications – Retail managers need to train or select retail personnel who are able to perform their roles in a service-oriented and customer-oriented way, and value does not appear to be as important to Indian retail customers as it is to Western retail customers. Originality/value – This paper extends current service evaluation frameworks by including SO and CO as antecedents, and it analyses an Indian retail context. Keywords India, Retailing, Customer satisfaction, Service levels, Employee behaviour.

Discriminating behaviors through value added premium online grocery offering

Despite many interest in e-grocery, little has changed, over the years, in the offering that is often geared only towards low value staple products. Yet, from an e-supermarket perspective, the number of sourcing stores is increasing regularly providing an illusion of service improvement. This situation, we argue is leading e-grocery providers to forego profits as consumers need to look both at the competition online and offline to satisfy their overall regular grocery needs. Expansion of e-grocery operations could be better achieved, we argue, by serving diverse and premium priced products (e.g. organic, limited production, regional items; special occasions items and products related to health e.g. allergies, diabetes) and utilizing more efficiently modern logistic techniques. A framework is offered presenting a model including the delivery of premium products from various suppliers and providing an integrated service solution to e-grocery customers that complete traditional supermarket ranges, creating potential high value added products niches. In this context, the objective was to understand the consumer discrimination factors (ie: range of product, delivery timing, location, service quality) leading to intentions towards purchasing more items from e-grocery retailers. Data are derived from a survey of 356 respondents in Turkey’s three biggest metropolitan areas. The relationship between consumer attitudes and demographic characteristics are also analyzed. Factor and SEM analyses are used to discriminate within the sample (n=356, no of items=150). Results, future research and policy implications are discussed.

A qualitative study of English community pharmacists’ experiences of providing lifestyle advice to patients with cardiovascular disease

Background - Cardiovascular disease (CVD) progression is modifiable through lifestyle behaviors. Community pharmacists are ideally placed to facilitate self-management of cardiovascular health however research shows varied pharmacist engagement in providing lifestyle advice. Objective - This study explored community pharmacists' experiences and perceptions of providing lifestyle advice to patients with CVD. Methods - Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen pharmacists (1 supermarket; 7 multiple; 7 independent) recruited through multiple methods from community pharmacies across the Midlands, England. A thematic analysis was conducted using a Framework approach. Results - Pharmacists categorized patients according to their perceptions of the patients' ability to benefit from advice. Many barriers to providing lifestyle advice were identified. Confidence to provide lifestyle advice varied, with pharmacists most comfortable providing lifestyle advice in conjunction with conversations about medicines. Some pharmacists felt lifestyle advice was an integral part of their role whilst others questioned whether pharmacists should give lifestyle advice at all, particularly when receiving no remuneration for doing so. Conclusion - Pharmacists viewed providing lifestyle advice as important but identified many barriers to doing so. Lifestyle advice provision was influenced by pharmacists' perceptions of patients. Professional identity and associated role conflict appeared to underpin many of the barriers to pharmacists providing lifestyle advice. Pharmacists may benefit from enhanced training to: increase their confidence to provide lifestyle advice; integrate lifestyle advice with regular pharmaceutical practice and challenge their perceptions of some patients' receptiveness to lifestyle advice and behavior change. Changes to the way UK pharmacists are remunerated may increase the provision of lifestyle advice.

Does the importance of value, brand and relationship equity for customer loyalty differ between Eastern and Western cultures?

The use of the customer equity framework as a focal marketing strategy to increase customer loyalty has emerged as an important topic. Despite a growing number of investigations, previous studies are limited by their strong U.S. and European orientations. Research into Western consumers cannot necessarily predict the behaviour of Eastern consumers though. Therefore, this study investigates whether the link between customer equity drivers (value equity, brand equity and relationship equity) and loyalty intentions is sensitive to the cultural environment. A sample of 1553 Chinese and 1085 Dutch consumers in the banking and supermarket industries reveals that all three customer equity drivers exert a greater impact in Western than in Eastern cultures. This study also shows that Eastern consumers in general have higher loyalty intentions than Western consumers. © 2013.

Community pharmacist perceptions of the loss of resale price maintenance

Focal points: This study was designed to elicit the views of community pharmacists on any perceived business and professional changes following the loss of resale price maintenance (RPM)A piloted, 22-point self-completion questionnaire containing open, closed and scaled response questions was distributed to 35 independent (<10 stores), 13 multiple group and three supermarket-based pharmacies, and 40 responses were obtained (29 independent, eight multiple and three supermarket)Theme analysis indicated that 20 respondents felt that an increased range of services was now provided, 27 reported a decreased sales potential and 25 thought that patients now purchased more medicinesThe average price at which eight common over-the-counter medicines were offered was found to be £4.34 in independents, £4.37 in multiples and £4.22 in the supermarket pharmacies, compared with an average standard list price of £4.32There are indications that removal of RPM may have instigated changes in community pharmacy

Dinâmicas de reprodução do comércio e os novos papéis urbanos de pequenas cidades norte-rio-grandenses: um olhar a partir das redes associativistas de supermercados

The work presented here aims to make an analysis of the socio-spatial dynamics of associative supermarket chains and their importance in redefining the roles of small urban North Rio Grande cities. The theoretical approach gives priority to business as a city constituent whose understanding allows us to seize the new socio-spatial dynamics of small towns in the face of globalization and which caused changes in the scope of its commercial forms. In this sense, we understand that trade, as an essentially urban activity has a very specific characteristic, with respect to its ability to transform the content and meaning of places. Another important factor in the construction work was the context of changes in the capitalist production system with the advent of flexible production and the determinations of the economic globalization process that brought new ways of organizing trade. The empirical analysis of the research includes two associative supermarket chains, the “Rede 10” and the “Rede Seridó”, bringing together basic elements for understanding the genesis and evolution of this new organizational model of trade in small towns of the state, as well as allowed -In understand the main changes in this segment of commercial activity. The methodology we used literature in books and periodicals, collected mainly secondary data collection with the SEBRAE and the ABRAS and was still a field research where interviews were conducted forwarded along to the associative network managers to supermarkets, owners of associated facilities and with consumers of the surveyed networks .Finally, we conclude that the formation and expansion of associative supermarket chains in the context of small cities potiguares is essentially in a survival alternative traditional small traders, that sharing the associative principles albeit somewhat rigidly guided by the training cooperation networks can not only stay in the market , but to impose as a new agent in the capital of the reproduction process. Thus, the associative supermarket chains in the search for new spaces, particularly within small towns end up promoting new momentum in these cities providing different flows and interconnections with different places, giving new content and urban roles. By taking not only the condition of the place of living, but also the place to reproduce the capital, small towns offer their population better able to make purchases, thus avoiding the mandatory population shifts to other urban centers in order to meet their consumption needs.

Essays in Empirical Operations Management: Bayesian Learning of Service Quality and Structural Estimation of Complementary Product Pricing and Inventory Management

This dissertation contributes to the rapidly growing empirical research area in the field of operations management. It contains two essays, tackling two different sets of operations management questions which are motivated by and built on field data sets from two very different industries --- air cargo logistics and retailing.

The first essay, based on the data set obtained from a world leading third-party logistics company, develops a novel and general Bayesian hierarchical learning framework for estimating customers' spillover learning, that is, customers' learning about the quality of a service (or product) from their previous experiences with similar yet not identical services. We then apply our model to the data set to study how customers' experiences from shipping on a particular route affect their future decisions about shipping not only on that route, but also on other routes serviced by the same logistics company. We find that customers indeed borrow experiences from similar but different services to update their quality beliefs that determine future purchase decisions. Also, service quality beliefs have a significant impact on their future purchasing decisions. Moreover, customers are risk averse; they are averse to not only experience variability but also belief uncertainty (i.e., customer's uncertainty about their beliefs). Finally, belief uncertainty affects customers' utilities more compared to experience variability.

The second essay is based on a data set obtained from a large Chinese supermarket chain, which contains sales as well as both wholesale and retail prices of un-packaged perishable vegetables. Recognizing the special characteristics of this particularly product category, we develop a structural estimation model in a discrete-continuous choice model framework. Building on this framework, we then study an optimization model for joint pricing and inventory management strategies of multiple products, which aims at improving the company's profit from direct sales and at the same time reducing food waste and thus improving social welfare.

Collectively, the studies in this dissertation provide useful modeling ideas, decision tools, insights, and guidance for firms to utilize vast sales and operations data to devise more effective business strategies.

Ambivalencias del trabajo de los jóvenes. Un análisis de las experiencias de empleados de empresas de supermercados (2001-2013)

En la última década numerosos cambios modificaron el mundo del trabajo, y transformaron tanto los indicadores principales de empleo como también las características de las organizaciones sindicales. El artículo reflexiona acerca de las ambivalencias del trabajo de jóvenes que hicieron sus primeras experiencias en el mercado laboral luego de la crisis del 2001 y que actualmente trabajan en una empresa multinacional de supermercados. A partir de una estrategia metodológica cualitativa, basada en la realización de entrevistas en profundidad, el artículo sugiere que algunas de las contradicciones del modelo de la post-convertibilidad se agudizan en estos espacios laborales, lo que torna ambivalente la relación de los jóvenes con el trabajo. Particularmente, si bien para ellos el trabajo en el supermercado constituyó su primer empleo estable, lo consideran al mismo tiempo un "trabajo temporal" o "de paso".

Ambivalencias del trabajo de los jóvenes. Un análisis de las experiencias de empleados de empresas de supermercados (2001-2013)

En la última década numerosos cambios modificaron el mundo del trabajo, y transformaron tanto los indicadores principales de empleo como también las características de las organizaciones sindicales. El artículo reflexiona acerca de las ambivalencias del trabajo de jóvenes que hicieron sus primeras experiencias en el mercado laboral luego de la crisis del 2001 y que actualmente trabajan en una empresa multinacional de supermercados. A partir de una estrategia metodológica cualitativa, basada en la realización de entrevistas en profundidad, el artículo sugiere que algunas de las contradicciones del modelo de la post-convertibilidad se agudizan en estos espacios laborales, lo que torna ambivalente la relación de los jóvenes con el trabajo. Particularmente, si bien para ellos el trabajo en el supermercado constituyó su primer empleo estable, lo consideran al mismo tiempo un "trabajo temporal" o "de paso".

Ambivalencias del trabajo de los jóvenes. Un análisis de las experiencias de empleados de empresas de supermercados (2001-2013)

En la última década numerosos cambios modificaron el mundo del trabajo, y transformaron tanto los indicadores principales de empleo como también las características de las organizaciones sindicales. El artículo reflexiona acerca de las ambivalencias del trabajo de jóvenes que hicieron sus primeras experiencias en el mercado laboral luego de la crisis del 2001 y que actualmente trabajan en una empresa multinacional de supermercados. A partir de una estrategia metodológica cualitativa, basada en la realización de entrevistas en profundidad, el artículo sugiere que algunas de las contradicciones del modelo de la post-convertibilidad se agudizan en estos espacios laborales, lo que torna ambivalente la relación de los jóvenes con el trabajo. Particularmente, si bien para ellos el trabajo en el supermercado constituyó su primer empleo estable, lo consideran al mismo tiempo un "trabajo temporal" o "de paso".

English product names and descriptions in two Swedish supermarkets : A quantitative and qualitative analysis

This study aimed to investigate what proportion of two household staples, soap and crispbread products, in two Swedish supermarkets had English product names or descriptions, and attempted a qualitative analysis of the English language used. Out of the Swedish brands, 54-62% of the soap products had names and/or product descriptions containing English, compared to 13-15% of the crispbread; these differences were in line with previous research, suggesting English is used more to market certain product groups than other ones. Earlier studies have also proposed that English could be considered an ‘elite’ language in Sweden, and it might thus be more commonly found on more exclusive/expensive products, or in the supermarket primarily aiming at higher-income customers. However, the differences between the two supermarkets, and between the more and less expensive products, were not great enough for any firm conclusions. When products had a mixture of languages on the label, English was most often used for product names or part of names, not so often for product descriptions. Further studies with a larger amount of data would be required for more reliable conclusions, especially for the qualitative analyses. It would also be interesting to investigate customers’ attitudes towards the use of English on product labels.