[Last modified: October, 8 2024 02:35 PM]
Online grocery shopping has been hailed as a technological advancement allowing consumers convenience while simultaneously providing a wide range of choice of products. Although some mostly business orientated studies on the subject have been carried out, these have focused on the detrimental effect on the high street or changing purchasing habits for ‘impulse’ categories. However, the wider cultural impact of shifting to online grocery shopping is a topic much less explored.
The act of online grocery shopping is intrinsically linked to analogue practices such as cooking and eating, two topics which have been core part of anthropological studies such as in the work of Levi-Strauss.
In addition, the act of grocery shopping is connected to concepts around family structures and division of household labour as well as the phenomenology and sociality of being present in ones’ neighbourhood and physical stores.
Finally, I am interested in the modes of online shopping that a household uses and what this reveals. This would encompass their choice of retailer as well as the technology used and any interplay between digital devices and analogue tools such as handwritten shopping lists, meal plans and recipe books.
Research Question and potential findings
This research project aims to explore how a shift to buying the majority of groceries online impacts the topics described above.
I do not have clear preconceived ideas what the ethnography will reveal although I imagine that in some ways the act of online shopping could bring about multiple changes which might seem contradictory. For instance, the timesaving capability of online shopping might be juxtaposed with the more solitary nature of buying groceries online. This could result in a specific individual within a household spending more time on this task than before when shopping in physical stores could have been more of a shared responsibility.
Field site and Methods
My field site would ideally be a London or suburban neighbourhood with a variety of shops (chain supermarkets of various sizes, independents and corner shops, (weekly) market) which participants could realistically reach on foot.
The key methods I am looking to employ are interviews and participant observation (joining on physical shopping trips, spending time with people while they cook and plan meals, observe how they shop online). To enrich the ethnography, I would also like to gather shopping receipts and other documents such as meal plans and recipes. Mapping the physical movement linked to grocery shopping pre and post switching to online grocery shopping is another method I would like to use to help visualise the changing habits and their potential wider impact.
A key question is whether to find participants willing to change their mode of shopping or whether to seek informants who have done this already out of their own accord. Finally, bringing in an element of immigration would be interesting in order to understand how the (in)accessibility of certain ingredients or products impacts choices.
Positionality and Ethics
In terms of positionality, as a Dutch woman who lived in London for a decade, I am technically an immigrant yet at the same time I am aware that I am often perceived as a middle class white British person. I am in my thirties and a mum and hope that my own experience of family life will support building a rapport with informants. Ethics wise, I have no obvious concerns.
Literature:
Bourdieu, Pierre (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste
Miller, Daniel. A theory of shopping
Mol, Annemarie. Eating in Theory
Nilsson, Elin. Who shops groceries where and how? The relationship between choice o of store format and type of grocery shopping,
Singh, Reema. “Hey Alexa – order groceries for me” – the effect of consumer – VAI emotional attachment on satisfaction and repurchase intention
Singh, Reema. Why do online grocery shoppers switch or stay? An exploratory analysis of consumers’ response to online grocery shopping experience.
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