"Will you walk into my parlour?" said the grocer to the housewife

A flashback - 6 months ago
Mrs. Sharma did her grocery shopping at her local 'kirana' store. She walked across (list in her handbag), strained over the crowded counter and read out her list item by item to the shop keeper, taking care not to step on anyone's toes or get her flowing dupatta dirty. Carrying a fully loaded bag, she then walked back home after some idle chit-chat and mock threats to the kiranawala - sometimes paying her bill, or else signing her 'khaata'. This was perhaps a weekly ritual. Alternatively, she placed her weekly order on the phone and got her grocery home delivered.

Back to the present
Mrs. Sharma drives around 15 minutes to the Food Bazaar store, which is nearest to her home. She strolls into the air-conditioned ambience, wheels her trolley, browses through the new arrivals, checks out the deals of the week, picks up what looks interesting - apart from what she needs as usual - and then makes her way to the check-out counter. She flashes her 'loyalty card' to earn points, her items are billed using the scanner, she pays up and leaves.

Winds of change
This is the sea change that is sweeping over grocery retail today. Take a stroll through residential localities in Bengaluru, Kolkata or Ahmedabad and what strikes the eye is what is known in today's parlance as 'modern retail'. Dotting the landscape are medium to large sized self-service outlets - Food Bazaar, Reliance Fresh, Spencers, Magnet, Spinach, Shoprite, Nilgiris, Subhiksha, K Value - some of which are local, while some others boast a countrywide presence.

Grocery shopping behaviour is rapidly changing with the advent of such outlets. There is fierce competition and grocers are fighting over each other to welcome the 'new age' grocery shopper. Convenience is no longer enough. Quality is taken for granted and variety is matter-of-fact.

A random survey conducted amongst grocery shoppers - mostly housewives - in Mumbai helped us at Cartesian to identify seven noticeable trends in grocery shopping behaviour. These trends are listed below:

1) Near is not always dear
As per our survey report, location matters, but it is not the be-all and end-all. 72 per cent of the respondents shop at an outlet close to their home or office. However, there is still a significant 28 per cent who believe that location does not matter. In fact, 64 per cent of the total respondents said that they would travel quite a long distance for their grocery shopping if it meant getting a good deal. Of these, 74 per cent shop at modern trade outlets. With grocery chains fast expanding their presence through more number of outlets, location will soon no longer be an issue. However, till then, there are clearly other ways to get shoppers to travel the distance!

2) Price is not a factor
MRP is no longer a benchmark. 68 per cent of the respondents said that they expect lower prices than MRP - especially on branded items. 79 per cent of these shoppers shop at modern retail outlets. However, even amongst predominantly kirana shoppers, 50 per cent confessed that they look for prices lower than MRP. There is an underlying feeling of guilt associated with paying MRP among most of the housewives, as they feel that they are taking the easy way out instead of looking for a more value-for-money option. This is where unorganised retail suffers most at the hands of modern trade. Organised chains have centralised sourcing and buying which enables them to buy in bulk and sell at prices 1 to 2 per cent lower than MRP. Strategically and tactically the customer's bill at these outlets reinforces the fact by calculating and displaying the resultant saving on MRP!