Levels of concentration in the grocery sector have led to concerns about reduced diversity of local retail provision and its potential negative effects on consumer welfare and choice. Using empirical evidence from a study of consumer perceptions of retail choice across nine purposefully sampled neighbourhoods in the city of Worcester in the UK, the paper illuminates consumer satisfaction with local provision and investigates how satisfaction varies with the local mix of grocery stores. The study adopts a stated-preference approach with realistic but hypothetical scenarios being presented to consumers in which the level, form, brand composition, and accessibility of local retail provision is systematically varied to gauge the sensitivity of householders in different types of neighbourhoods to variations in local retail assortments. The contributions of the paper are reflected in three main findings: (1) residents value having a large supermarket close by and reveal that they value diversity of provision rather than overconcentration; (2) consumers in deprived areas overall display greater satisfaction for the same offer than consumers in less deprived areas; and (3) although small stores in a local store assortment significantly contribute to reducing dissatisfaction with the local retail offer, they contribute little to achieving higher levels of consumer satisfaction. The study stresses the need for planners and policy makers to maximise choice and welfare through both the number and the diversity of stores in local neighbourhood areas.

This paper complements the preceding one by Clarke et al, which looked at the long-term impact of retail restructuring on consumer choice at the local level. Whereas the previous paper was based on quantitative evidence from survey research, this paper draws on the qualitative phases of the same three-year study, and in it we aim to understand how the changing forms of retail provision are experienced at the neighbourhood and household level. The empirical material is drawn from focus groups, accompanied shopping trips, diaries, interviews, and kitchen visits with eight households in two contrasting neighbourhoods in the Portsmouth area. The data demonstrate that consumer choice involves judgments of taste, quality, and value as well as more ‘objective’ questions of convenience, price, and accessibility. These judgments are related to households' differential levels of cultural capital and involve ethical and moral considerations as well as more mundane considerations of practical utility. Our evidence suggests that many of the terms that are conventionally advanced as explanations of consumer choice (such as ‘convenience’, ‘value’, and ‘habit’) have very different meanings according to different household circumstances. To understand these meanings requires us to relate consumers' at-store behaviour to the domestic context in which their consumption choices are embedded. Bringing theories of practice to bear on the nature of consumer choice, our research demonstrates that consumer choice between stores can be understood in terms of accessibility and convenience, whereas choice within stores involves notions of value, price, and quality. We also demonstrate that choice between and within stores is strongly mediated by consumers' household contexts, reflecting the extent to which shopping practices are embedded within consumers' domestic routines and complex everyday lives. The paper concludes with a summary of the overall findings of the project, and with a discussion of the practical and theoretical implications of the study.

Over the last two decades fundamental changes have taken place in the global supply and local structure of provision of British food retailing. Consumer lifestyles have also changed markedly. Despite some important studies of local interactions between new retail developments and consumers, we argue in this paper that there is a critical need to gauge the cumulative effects of these changes on consumer behaviour over longer periods. In this, the first of two papers, we present the main findings of a study of the effects of long-term retail change on consumers at the local level. We provide in this paper an overview of the changing geography of retail provision and patterns of consumption at the local level. We contextualise the Portsmouth study area as a locality that typifies national changes in retail provision and consumer lifestyles; outline the main findings of two large-scale surveys of food shopping behaviour carried out in 1980 and 2002; and reveal the impacts of retail restructuring on consumer behaviour. We focus in particular on choice between stores at the local level and end by problematising our understanding of how consumers experience choice, emphasising the need for qualitative research. This issue is then dealt with in our complementary second paper, which explores choice within stores and how this relates to the broader spatial context.

Focuses on deprived neighbourhoods where instances of “food deserts” have been found and explores, through focus groups, consumer experiences of food store choices. Focusing on suburban neighbourhoods in Portsmouth, identifies significant differences in experiences of choice both between and within neighbourhoods. In some localities, the research also finds dissatisfaction with the (supposedly‐coveted) “small local store”. Shows that choice is very different from provision, and conceptualises how consumers’ circumstances, situation and individual characteristics can significantly reduce a broad theoretical provision of food stores to a limited set of perceived real choices.

The “food deserts” debate can be enriched by setting the particular circumstances of food deserts – areas of very limited consumer choice – within a wider context of changing retail provision in other areas. This paper’s combined focus on retail competition and consumer choice shifts the emphasis from changing patterns of retail provision towards a more qualitative understanding of how “choice” is actually experienced by consumers at the local level “on the ground”. This argument has critical implications for current policy debates where the emphasis on monopolies and mergers at the national level needs to be brought together with the planning and regulation of retail provision at the local, neighbourhood level.

Explores the role of retail development in urban regeneration. Focuses on Castle Vale in Birmingham and considers the benefits arising from new retail development, the challenges for retailers and lessons for the future marketing of deprived areas. Castle Vale is one of the best examples of public sector regeneration. Managed by a Housing Action Trust, the regeneration scheme sought to improve housing, improve the quality of life for residents and work with the community to achieve positive change. A key retail element focused on the redevelopment of a run‐down shopping centre and the attraction of new tenants. The Castle Vale story demonstrates how obstacles can be overcome through the application of effective organisation, consultation, partnerships and marketing principles, and the importance of creating (or re‐creating) a positive image for an area (and its community) to attract retail investment. Draws on in‐depth interviews with key managers and stakeholders associated with the Castle Vale project.

Marketing research is a marketing function which needs to be seen to adhere to rigorous ethical practice due to the direct interface it has with the public. Although there are existing frameworks and codes which deal with the ethics of research, new technology and research techniques create gaps in guidelines and practice for marketing researchers. The responsibility of marketers to protect stakeholders affected by their actions is acknowledged, but retail service employees are vulnerable stakeholders who are often overlooked by ethical guidelines. This paper examines the role of ethics in marketing research in relation to retail observational research, the conflicts and challenges which ethical responsibility presents to marketing researchers, and offers solutions to the gap between societal expectation and current practice.

In an increasingly competitive market there is a keen interest among retailers to understand as much as possible about consumer behaviour. Advances in technology have presented retail marketers with many new research tools with which to monitor such behaviour. Alongside such advances in technology, however, have come accusations that some aspects of marketing and marketing research raise ethical issues. Those engaged in the use of new marketing and research methods therefore need to be aware of any potential public concerns and be seen to adhere rigorously to ethical practice. This paper examines the growing use of video surveillance within retail stores. The technique offers an objective and accurate research tool for retailers to monitor consumer behaviour. However, along with increasing use comes the potential danger of abuse, and the paper finds that few guidelines exist to assist retailers or researchers in managing this type of research.

Advances in electronics have added sophisticated footfall monitoring to retailers’ information weaponry. Many retailers are reported to be experimenting with this new technology, but limited discussion exists in the public domain on its potential role or retailer experiences. This paper utilises interviews with UK clothing multiples to help conceptualise the potential applications and examine the benefits and challenges of electronic footfall monitoring. The paper finds that, in spite of widespread experiments, only a small proportion of retailers have so far pursued full‐scale integration with existing information systems to exploit the claimed opportunities for improved market‐monitoring, diagnostic analysis, impact measurement and resource allocation. Concerns relate to the nature of the information generated, technical challenges, internal acceptability and broader organisational and management issues.

Examines the marketing task facing managed shopping centres in the UK. The industry has generally been reluctant to fully embrace the marketing concept and this needs to change as competition increases. Defines the marketing task and identifies considerable challenges in the UK context. The marketing mix is examined, utilising a new framework (which is proposed as a useful analytical and management tool) and constraints are discussed which arise from both the nature of the shopping centre service itself and traditional industry practices. Problems with resourcing, information, knowledge and attitudes at the coal‐face of active centre marketing are found to be working against effective marketing practice. Draws on literature and a series of exploratory interviews with managers involved in shopping centre management and marketing.

Attempts to construct consumer typologies are an enduring feature of retailing research and frequently centre on economic and demographic characteristics. Such research highlights the relatively poor understanding of real‐life consumer behaviour and, in particular, the need to develop more appropriate methods of examining the behaviour of consumers within real‐life retail settings. As a first step in a study designed to assess the role of group identity in fashion clothing purchasing, this paper outlines an innovative methodological approach. Based on the experience of a project examining customer behaviour in a major menswear fashion retailer in the UK, the paper outlines a technique involving video observation, coupled with individual in‐depth interviews, as an effective means of generating valid referential accounts of in‐store customer behaviour. The paper considers the ethical and practical problems associated with utilising such a methodology, and points out the managerial and marketing implications of the approach.

The paper follows the applied practitioner tradition of location analysis by focusing on the development of tools for store performance assessment. Neural networks have been identified as a highly flexible modeling tool, which have a high, but as yet largely unsubstantiated, potential for managerial problem solving. This paper objectively assesses the suitability for neural networks for store performance modeling by directly comparing them with the tried and tested technique of multiple regression. Based upon data provided by a UK fashion chain store, the research suggests that neural networks offer a highly acceptable forecasting technique which in this case generates marginally better results than multiple regression. It can, therefore, be concluded that neural networks warrant further consideration as an alternative locational analysis tool.