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The present dissertation addresses logistics challenges in grocery retailing considered in an omni-channel context. Omni-channel retailing gains in importance as online grocery retailing is continuously growing. Besides pure online retailers, traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers are entering the online market. The development of existing structures towards an omni-channel retailing represents a complex challenge. The first contribution of the dissertation analyzes omni-channel distribution concepts for traditional bricks-and-mortar grocery retailers. A multiple-case study with European grocery retailers serves as the basis for the analysis. Since different concepts dominate in the countries, their respective advantages and differences are elaborated. The focus of this research are the central components of a distribution network design, which are the assortment range, the picking system and the last-mile delivery, in terms of delivery mode and time.
In addition to the growing online business, controlling of logistics processes due to volatile demand is a complex task in grocery retailing. Public holidays are a recurring issue in grocery logistics, which is discussed in the second contribution. The ban on working on holidays in Germany means that grocery retailers have less time to perform the logistics processes. In addition, there is usually a higher weekly volume to manage than in standard weeks. Although holiday weeks are prepared in detail, many challenges have to be met on an ad hoc basis. Consequently, the focus of the analysis of holiday issues is on the operational planning areas of demand planning and disposition, warehouse management and transport management. The results of the second contribution provide potential measures for efficiently and effectively controlling the planning areas considered around public holidays.
The third issue considers the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic for the German grocery retailing. In contrast to the public holiday challenge, the outbreak of the pandemic led to unexpected demand peaks and uncertainties. Using an exploratory research approach, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the planning and execution areas of demand planning and order dispatching, store management, transport management, warehouse management and procurement is highlighted. Based on a two year review, trends for the German grocery retailing are identified. The findings show in which direction logistics processes might be further developed in order to meet the potential future requirements.
The cumulative dissertation includes the three studies described, which contribute to the qualitative research of omni-channel retail logistics. Current challenges of the grocery retail industry are examined from a European, especially a German perspective. The exploratively generated results provide courses of action for volatile and disruptive times as well as possible development directions for grocery retailers.
Fresh fruit and vegetable branding: Investigating consumer behavior with visual and mixed methods
(2022)
This dissertation addresses two different but connected aspects of consumer research in the horticultural sector: the first pertains to the empirical level regarding consumer behavior toward branded fresh fruit and vegetables and the second to the methodological level regarding the visual method of using photos in the research process, which aids in studying the visual side of consumer behavior toward branded fresh produce.
Branding is a key tool for marketing food products that benefits both producers and consumers. Moreover, brands play a crucial role in the purchase process of processed food. However, fresh fruit and vegetables are mostly sold without branding. This affects consumer behavior, as do the horticultural market structure (which is marked by strong competition), interchangeability of products, and sensitive and low prices. Many studies have investigated consumer behavior toward branded processed food. However, it is unclear whether their findings can be applied to the purchase process of fresh fruit and vegetables. Studies concerned with the effect of fresh fruit and vegetable branding on consumer behavior and that apply methods to investigate the rather implicit aspects of the effect of such branding on consumer behavior are lacking.
The visual aspect of food is a central feature to which consumers react, and branding has a visual and implicit effect on consumer behavior. Therefore, visual methods are well-suited to investigating consumers’ food behavior. One possible visual method involves the integration of photos into the research process. Photos have been employed in consumer research; however, their content has not usually been analyzed. The use of photos in qualitative consumer research has been mostly limited to supporting other research methods (e.g., stimuli for interviews) and, in quantitative research, to use for mere descriptive-level analysis. There is a lack of studies concerned with how to use photo analysis in consumer research and methodological reflections on how to integrate (combine) quantitative and qualitative photo analyses.
To fill these gaps, this dissertation conducted two primary investigations. The first examined consumers’ reactions to fresh fruit and vegetable branding with regard to their choice (process), thoughts, visual perceptions, and recall, as well as to identify and characterize relevant consumer segments by employing various methods to observe unconscious consumer behavior under research conditions that are as realistic as possible. The second aimed to identify challenges of using photos in consumer research and to develop a mixed methods framework for integrating quantitative and qualitative photo analyses.
In order to achieve these aims, visual and mixed methods approaches were applied to both aspects. Eye tracking, standardized questionnaires, qualitative interviews, a choice-based conjoint experiment, and think aloud protocols were used.
With regard to the empirical level of consumer behavior toward branded fresh fruit and vegetables, the results showed that consumers neither paid much visual attention nor gave much thought to fresh produce branding when making choices. Instead, consumers mainly used the visual features of the fresh produce itself as cues for decision-making. However, it was discovered that this low level of (visual) attention to branding in supermarket fruit displays may be diminished further by deficits in the presentation of branded fresh produce since manipulated and saliently displayed branding were found to improve visual capture, the decision-making process, and brand recall. Furthermore, the results revealed that some consumer groups might be of special interest to the marketing and branding efforts of fresh fruit and vegetables: 1) brand-oriented consumers especially benefited from salient branding by exhibiting shorter decision times; and 2) consumer segments that preferred branded fresh produce shared a higher level of the personality trait “food and beverage need for uniqueness”.
With regard to the methodological level of how the visual method of using photos was addressed, the applicability, utility, and challenges of using photos in qualitative interviews were analyzed and discussed. A number of practical challenges in conducting a photo-based qualitative interview were identified, as well as the challenge of analyzing numerous photos (quantitative) while not neglecting the detailed analysis of single photos (qualitative). This novel methodological challenge of photo analysis for mixed methods research was addressed by investigating the principles of different methods of analyzing photos from different scientific fields. In light of this investigation, a procedural mixed methods framework for analyzing photographic material was developed and illustrated with an example from consumer research. The framework developed allows the integration of different quantitative and qualitative photo analyses. It was shown that photos can be integrated by means of data transformation, which is also the starting point for integration with other types of quantitative/qualitative data (numbers, text).
This dissertation provides insights into the reaction of consumers toward branded fresh fruit and vegetables and, based on the findings, into how to improve the (visual) marketing of such. Furthermore, it supports the application of quantitative and qualitative photo analysis by developing a procedural framework for extending the integration in mixed methods through the use of photographic material.