Internet or store? An ethnographic study of consumers' internet and store-based grocery shopping practices

Jonathan Elms*, Ronan de Kervenoael, Alan Hallsworth

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Drawing on practice theory, this paper develops an understanding of the interrelationships between where and when consumers shop (the internet, stores, and their preferred retailers), and what they purchase (via the internet and in-store). Ethnographic case studies are presented of two consumers’ internet and store-based shopping practices, and how these intersect with their everyday lives, using data generated from multiple, complementary methods over an eighteen-month period. To this end, the paper contributes to the extant internet grocery shopping literature by offering a wider understanding of internet usage, as well as to broader debates surrounding retail change and shopping practices. The managerial implications of internet shopping on the contemporary retail grocery environment are also described and discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)234-243
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Retailing and Consumer Services
Volume32
Early online date21 Jul 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2016

Bibliographical note

© 2016, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Keywords

  • Ethnography
  • Grocery shopping
  • Internet
  • Practice

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