2.6. Findings
Participants demonstrated and described four distinct styles of food shopping that they routinely deployed in the supermarket: (1) chaotic and reactive, (2) working around the store, (3) item by item, and (4) restricted and budgeted, which are described below. The term routines-of-practice is used here to represent these routinised approaches to food shopping. ‘Chaotic and reactive’ is the lowest agency routine-of-practice, which is the most influenced by the supermarket environment and is characterised by erratic behaviours and unplanned purchases. ‘Restricted and budgeted’ is the highest agency and relies least on the supermarket environment and more on planned purchases. Participant information has been anonymised and participants are referred to by their pseudonyms.
2.7. Routinised approaches to food shopping
2.7.1. ‘Chaotic and reactive’
Some participants displayed ‘chaotic and reactive’ routines-of-practice, in which very little planning was involved and they relied heavily, and often exclusively, on the supermarket environment and the various marketing cues to consume. Participants often wandered around the supermarket, doubling back on themselves when something caught their attention, and visiting the same aisle several times. As a result, interviews that were predominantly ‘chaotic and reactive’ were often the longest. Also, these interviews typically included unplanned non-food purchases such as clothing and stationery. The disjointed and haphazard nature of these interviews is demonstrated in the quote below from an interview in Asda:
Interviewer: What’s caught your eye?
Lauren: Digestives (picking up a packet of mini digestives).
She looks at them, puts them back and starts looking at the otherpacks of biscuits.
Lauren: I’m not a big biscuit eater … I love them (pointing at a
Box of Tux cheese biscuits). I am a fan of cheese … it’s only like … if I eat block cheese I can only eat really mature cheddar.
Lauren starts looking at the chocolate biscuits
Lauren: I have to be really in the mood for those
Lauren turns around and starts looking at the multipacks or crispsagain, carefully scanning the shelves and eventually settling on NikNaks, which she puts in the basket. She walks off again and stopsto look at the cream cakes
Lauren: I like them cakes but I don’t like trifles … Oh I’ve got to get my mum a card.
During the interview Lauren wandered around the store looking at a wide variety of foods and with little clear idea of what food items she wanted to purchase. She switched her attention from one product to another, moving up and down the aisles and finally walking off to a different aisle. This ‘wandering’ around the store was characteristic of ‘chaotic and reactive’ routines. Lauren was entirely absorbed in the activity of examining food and in responding to the supermarket environment. A further example of chaotic and distracted behaviour can be seen in this extract, from an interview with a young man, Adam, also in Asda. He experienced a great deal of indecision over what to purchase:
Adam: …. I don’t know whether to … er … put the ice cream
back and get the cheesecake.
… … … (staring at the ice cream) … Yeah … I don’t normally buy this though … so no. I’m not really thinking about money now (continues examining ice cream). I’m probably gonna get that … Oh, I don’t know what to do! (goes back to comparing the ice cream) … that’s it (puts ice cream back in the freezer) … Oh, I’m sorry now … I’m gonna go and get some bread (walks towards bakery section,past the cakes and pauses to look) … see … now I’ve seen something else I like …
A good deal of time was spent by the frozen desserts while he tried to make up his mind between several different types of ice cream and a cheesecake. His speech was disjointed, as he was concentrating on his dilemma, and he kept walking back and forth along the aisle, looking at various desserts. Adam only had a £10 budget to spend that day, yet he was in the supermarket for around 45 minutes, as he found decision-making difficult.
2.7.2. ‘Working around the store’
‘Working around the store’ is also a routine-of-practice driven by the supermarket environment, and one that relied quite heavily on familiarity and repetitive food purchases. Individuals were prompted, rather than guided, by the in-store environment, resulting in a somewhat greater exercise of agency. Participants worked their way around the store methodically, aisle by aisle, looking around them for familiar, regularly consumed products, which they used as a prompt to select and purchase. The extract that follows is from another interview in Asda.
She looks back towards the shelves and walks on, mumbling as shelooks at the canned foods.
Pat: Beans I’ve got. Beans and sausages, that’s what we had the other day (referring to earlier interview). Remember? Erm … they must be down here. I don’t have red sauce … I only use that about once a month. But I’ll tell you what I do have a lot of … beetroot. I love beetroot.
As Pat saw the canned goods on the shelf it served as a prompt. She questioned whether or not she had baked beans at home, commented that she did and then continued to progress down the aisle, pausing next at the jars of pickled beetroot. Pat did most of her food shopping at Asda and was very familiar with the store layout, which she used as a prompt to inform and guide purchasing decisions. This type of engagement and interaction with the in-store food shopping environment was almost tacit, and the participants found it quite easy to chat about other subjects as they worked their way around, selecting purchases. This is in contrast to the much more absorbing, ‘chaotic and reactive’ approach, in which researcher interactions with participants were often limited by how engrossed participants became in making purchasing decisions.
On another occasion, a married couple and their teenage son were accompanied on a trip to Tesco. On entering the store the family group members assumed quite specific roles. The wife (Jayanti) walked in front, working her way up and down the aisles, methodically looking around at various products and placing them in the trolley. The husband followed, pushing the trolley. Meanwhile, the son wandered off alone. He kept returning to this mother with potential purchases, including crisps, spray cream, ice cream and chocolates, and asking for her approval. Their interactions can be seen in the quote below:
Jayanti: …. …. (to son, who is approaching with some Spicy Pringles) I’ve got some, these ones (pointing). Go and get a bottle of squash to take back.
Son: I want these (crisps)
Jayanti: They’re horrible they are (pointing to son’s choice of crisps)
Son: No, they’re hot
… … … …
Son comes back with a large tub of ice cream
Jayanti: (to son) Why don’t you get some Häagen-Dazs instead?
The family were interacting with the supermarket environment and performing context-specific behaviours. They regularly used this store and, upon entering it, they relied on the familiar layout and reacted to the products displayed, engaging in constant negotiations and compromises over whether or not to buy these products. Decisions about what foods to purchase, and therefore consume, cannot be separated from the context in which they are made.
2.7.3. ‘Item by item’
The item by item approach is a relatively high agency routine-of-practice for which participants relied on planning and predictable food choice practices. Individuals entered the supermarket with either a written list or a very clear idea of which items they intended to purchase. Engagement with price promotions and impulse-buys still occurred, but the participants maintained a purposeful trajectory around the store. However, some limited engagement with marketing features of the supermarket environment was anticipated by participants in that they expected to go home with a small number of purchases that they had not planned, as demonstrated in the extract below:
Poppy: Where’s my shopping list? (participant searches pockets).
Interviewer: Do you always bring a list?
Poppy: Gosh yes, I have to (laughs). Yes I have to or I wouldn’t
remember, especially when I have to deal with her (daughter).
Interviewer: Do you stick to the list?
Poppy: Yeah … generally, unless I see anything on offer. Yeah … I look for the bargains and stuff, save money.
Participants adopting this routine-of-practice tended to carefully plan for food shopping trips, more especially for Poppy as she limited supermarket shops to once a month for bulk-buying. After shopping at Asda we went to Lidl, specifically to bulk-buy fruit juice and soft drinks. Poppy prepared a separate list for each store. In each store she moved purposefully around the space searching for each item on her list. She did stop at price promotion displays as we passed them and considered purchases that were not on the list, but this remained secondary to completing her pre planned purchases. Poppy did not look around the whole store. She searched for the items on her list and then made her way directly to the check out. Interactions with this supermarket space were limited and structured.
Individuals taking this approach were also selective in which features of the supermarket they chose to interact with. They actively navigated the space searching for their pre-planned purchases, rather than passively reacting to the environment. The sense of purpose this strategy entailed was evident in both participants’ shopping behaviours and in their descriptions of them. For example, Brian explained his approach to food shopping during a go-along in Sainsbury’s.
Interviewer: Do you normally take a list with you when you go
shopping?
Brian: No, I don’t. I just … er … for instance if we need something for er … if I know what we need I’ll go in, I’ll be we ne
2.6. Findings
Participants demonstrated and described four distinct styles of food shopping that they routinely deployed in the supermarket: (1) chaotic and reactive, (2) working around the store, (3) item by item, and (4) restricted and budgeted, which are described below. The term routines-of-practice is used here to represent these routinised approaches to food shopping. ‘Chaotic and reactive’ is the lowest agency routine-of-practice, which is the most influenced by the supermarket environment and is characterised by erratic behaviours and unplanned purchases. ‘Restricted and budgeted’ is the highest agency and relies least on the supermarket environment and more on planned purchases. Participant information has been anonymised and participants are referred to by their pseudonyms.
2.7. Routinised approaches to food shopping
2.7.1. ‘Chaotic and reactive’
Some participants displayed ‘chaotic and reactive’ routines-of-practice, in which very little planning was involved and they relied heavily, and often exclusively, on the supermarket environment and the various marketing cues to consume. Participants often wandered around the supermarket, doubling back on themselves when something caught their attention, and visiting the same aisle several times. As a result, interviews that were predominantly ‘chaotic and reactive’ were often the longest. Also, these interviews typically included unplanned non-food purchases such as clothing and stationery. The disjointed and haphazard nature of these interviews is demonstrated in the quote below from an interview in Asda:
Interviewer: What’s caught your eye?
Lauren: Digestives (picking up a packet of mini digestives).
She looks at them, puts them back and starts looking at the otherpacks of biscuits.
Lauren: I’m not a big biscuit eater … I love them (pointing at a
Box of Tux cheese biscuits). I am a fan of cheese … it’s only like … if I eat block cheese I can only eat really mature cheddar.
Lauren starts looking at the chocolate biscuits
Lauren: I have to be really in the mood for those
Lauren turns around and starts looking at the multipacks or crispsagain, carefully scanning the shelves and eventually settling on NikNaks, which she puts in the basket. She walks off again and stopsto look at the cream cakes
Lauren: I like them cakes but I don’t like trifles … Oh I’ve got to get my mum a card.
During the interview Lauren wandered around the store looking at a wide variety of foods and with little clear idea of what food items she wanted to purchase. She switched her attention from one product to another, moving up and down the aisles and finally walking off to a different aisle. This ‘wandering’ around the store was characteristic of ‘chaotic and reactive’ routines. Lauren was entirely absorbed in the activity of examining food and in responding to the supermarket environment. A further example of chaotic and distracted behaviour can be seen in this extract, from an interview with a young man, Adam, also in Asda. He experienced a great deal of indecision over what to purchase:
Adam: …. I don’t know whether to … er … put the ice cream
back and get the cheesecake.
… … … (staring at the ice cream) … Yeah … I don’t normally buy this though … so no. I’m not really thinking about money now (continues examining ice cream). I’m probably gonna get that … Oh, I don’t know what to do! (goes back to comparing the ice cream) … that’s it (puts ice cream back in the freezer) … Oh, I’m sorry now … I’m gonna go and get some bread (walks towards bakery section,past the cakes and pauses to look) … see … now I’ve seen something else I like …
A good deal of time was spent by the frozen desserts while he tried to make up his mind between several different types of ice cream and a cheesecake. His speech was disjointed, as he was concentrating on his dilemma, and he kept walking back and forth along the aisle, looking at various desserts. Adam only had a £10 budget to spend that day, yet he was in the supermarket for around 45 minutes, as he found decision-making difficult.
2.7.2. ‘Working around the store’
‘Working around the store’ is also a routine-of-practice driven by the supermarket environment, and one that relied quite heavily on familiarity and repetitive food purchases. Individuals were prompted, rather than guided, by the in-store environment, resulting in a somewhat greater exercise of agency. Participants worked their way around the store methodically, aisle by aisle, looking around them for familiar, regularly consumed products, which they used as a prompt to select and purchase. The extract that follows is from another interview in Asda.
She looks back towards the shelves and walks on, mumbling as shelooks at the canned foods.
Pat: Beans I’ve got. Beans and sausages, that’s what we had the other day (referring to earlier interview). Remember? Erm … they must be down here. I don’t have red sauce … I only use that about once a month. But I’ll tell you what I do have a lot of … beetroot. I love beetroot.
As Pat saw the canned goods on the shelf it served as a prompt. She questioned whether or not she had baked beans at home, commented that she did and then continued to progress down the aisle, pausing next at the jars of pickled beetroot. Pat did most of her food shopping at Asda and was very familiar with the store layout, which she used as a prompt to inform and guide purchasing decisions. This type of engagement and interaction with the in-store food shopping environment was almost tacit, and the participants found it quite easy to chat about other subjects as they worked their way around, selecting purchases. This is in contrast to the much more absorbing, ‘chaotic and reactive’ approach, in which researcher interactions with participants were often limited by how engrossed participants became in making purchasing decisions.
On another occasion, a married couple and their teenage son were accompanied on a trip to Tesco. On entering the store the family group members assumed quite specific roles. The wife (Jayanti) walked in front, working her way up and down the aisles, methodically looking around at various products and placing them in the trolley. The husband followed, pushing the trolley. Meanwhile, the son wandered off alone. He kept returning to this mother with potential purchases, including crisps, spray cream, ice cream and chocolates, and asking for her approval. Their interactions can be seen in the quote below:
Jayanti: …. …. (to son, who is approaching with some Spicy Pringles) I’ve got some, these ones (pointing). Go and get a bottle of squash to take back.
Son: I want these (crisps)
Jayanti: They’re horrible they are (pointing to son’s choice of crisps)
Son: No, they’re hot
… … … …
Son comes back with a large tub of ice cream
Jayanti: (to son) Why don’t you get some Häagen-Dazs instead?
The family were interacting with the supermarket environment and performing context-specific behaviours. They regularly used this store and, upon entering it, they relied on the familiar layout and reacted to the products displayed, engaging in constant negotiations and compromises over whether or not to buy these products. Decisions about what foods to purchase, and therefore consume, cannot be separated from the context in which they are made.
2.7.3. ‘Item by item’
The item by item approach is a relatively high agency routine-of-practice for which participants relied on planning and predictable food choice practices. Individuals entered the supermarket with either a written list or a very clear idea of which items they intended to purchase. Engagement with price promotions and impulse-buys still occurred, but the participants maintained a purposeful trajectory around the store. However, some limited engagement with marketing features of the supermarket environment was anticipated by participants in that they expected to go home with a small number of purchases that they had not planned, as demonstrated in the extract below:
Poppy: Where’s my shopping list? (participant searches pockets).
Interviewer: Do you always bring a list?
Poppy: Gosh yes, I have to (laughs). Yes I have to or I wouldn’t
remember, especially when I have to deal with her (daughter).
Interviewer: Do you stick to the list?
Poppy: Yeah … generally, unless I see anything on offer. Yeah … I look for the bargains and stuff, save money.
Participants adopting this routine-of-practice tended to carefully plan for food shopping trips, more especially for Poppy as she limited supermarket shops to once a month for bulk-buying. After shopping at Asda we went to Lidl, specifically to bulk-buy fruit juice and soft drinks. Poppy prepared a separate list for each store. In each store she moved purposefully around the space searching for each item on her list. She did stop at price promotion displays as we passed them and considered purchases that were not on the list, but this remained secondary to completing her pre planned purchases. Poppy did not look around the whole store. She searched for the items on her list and then made her way directly to the check out. Interactions with this supermarket space were limited and structured.
Individuals taking this approach were also selective in which features of the supermarket they chose to interact with. They actively navigated the space searching for their pre-planned purchases, rather than passively reacting to the environment. The sense of purpose this strategy entailed was evident in both participants’ shopping behaviours and in their descriptions of them. For example, Brian explained his approach to food shopping during a go-along in Sainsbury’s.
Interviewer: Do you normally take a list with you when you go
shopping?
Brian: No, I don’t. I just … er … for instance if we need something for er … if I know what we need I’ll go in, I’ll be we ne
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