Grocery Shopping Channels: Segmentation by Gender and Age Group

Grocery shopping via online and multi-channel (using both physical stores and online) has been increasing. Although physical stores still serve a dominant format for grocery shopping, the research examining consumption patterns across grocery channels fails to show this wave of increasing online or multi-channel grocery shopping. Using a secondary data set of 7212 grocery shoppers, we used corresponding analysis to identify grocery shopper segments based on gender and age group that were associated with specific channels (physical store, online, and multi-channel), and GLM to examine consumption patterns across the segments. We offer both theoretical and practical implications for grocery marketers.


Grocery Shopper Segmentation by Gender and Age Group
Despite anecdotal evidence finding gender and generational differences an important consideration in grocery channel selection, systematic examination of shopper segmentation in the context of grocery shopping is limited. Recently, Ward (2019) reported that the majority of consumers who shop online are millennials (67%), while older consumers such as baby boomers (41%) and seniors (28%) prefer to shop offline.
Although limited, empirical studies have found the relationship between grocery shopping channel and demographic information. Carpenter and Moore (2006) examined demographic variables and the respective effects on a specialty grocery format and found that an individual's level of income was a significant predictor of shopper patronage as respondents with higher incomes were more likely to shop in specialty grocery stores. In Sieber's (2000) study on Swiss grocery shoppers, online shoppers were male-dominant (66.8%), 20-39 years (74.4%), and married (51.6%). Hiser et al. (1999) conducted an exploratory analysis of familiarity and willingness to use online food shopper services in a local area of Texas. They found males, younger consumers (aged 18-29), and those with at least some college education were more likely to be familiar with and willing to do online food shopping than their counterparts. In a study conducted by Hui and Wan (2009) who collected data from supermarket shoppers and the shoppers who had access to the Internet at home, 21-40-year-olds, the "most economically stable" age group, showed a greater inclination to buy online.
Using an exploratory study, Baig and Khalid (2016) identified preferences toward grocery shopping channels and consumer orientations from grocery shoppers in Karachi, Pakistan. They found that females had a greater tendency to be leisure and social shoppers than males. Also, males had a higher tendency to seek assistance in a retail setting and shop online. While income did not impact shopping channel preferences, as income bracket increased, shoppers were more likely to neglect the best-price seeker typology, likely valuing the quality of the product over price.
As such, the studies reported above validate the importance of segmenting the grocery shopper market based on age and gender but are limited in geographic areas, research time (i.e., not current), and small sample sizes. This study will fill this void by identifying grocery shopper segmentations based on a preferred shopping channel, gender, and age group. Identified segments will be compared and contrasted in their consumption patterns.

Consumption Patterns of Grocery Shoppers by Channel
The literature reveals that consumption patterns of grocery shoppers differ by grocery channel.

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As shopping online provides consumers a venue in which they can shop 24/7, online shopping offers quick to compare prices in real-time across a variety of retail outlets, allowing them to save money (Chatterjee, 2010;Ward, 2019). Additionally, e-grocery shoppers were found shop more practically and realistically based on their schedules. According to Chu, Arce-Urriza, Cebollada-Calvo, and Chintagunta (2010), grocery shopping online allows consumers to focus on time-constraints and to make specific product purchases rather than leisure and non-necessity purchases. Similarly, Punj's (2011) study revealed that online shopping helps consumers find the best product fit, that is, finding a product that best matches their need.
While e-grocery shoppers may find that shopping online is more practical and time-efficient, food safety is critical to these consumers as they cannot see, touch, and smell the items before they purchase (Hebrok & Heidenstrøm, 2019). According to Liang's (2014) study with Taiwanese consumers, trends in e-grocery shopping have shifted to buying more organic foods. In addition, he identified three clusters of online organic food consumers: enthusiastic food consumers, uninvolved food consumers, and traditional food consumers. Enthusiastic food consumers had the highest ratings on five food-related lifestyles: health and comfortable dining, love of the fun of cooking, the pursuit of convenience, love of organic food, and importance of product information.
With the push to decrease consumer ecological footprint, consumers can reduce the amount of food waste by ordering smaller portions of food online more frequently, and streamlining the delivery process (e.g., securing an easy method of delivery via auto-delivery) of pre-portioned meals.
However, shopping online for products may not be as efficient as widespread belief due to high amounts of carbon footprint being used to secure the products (Pearce, 2019). Certainly, food procurement methods such as shopping in physical stores or online can influence the extent to which food safety or food waste can be controlled. Ertza, Francois, and Durif (2017), in their experiment with Canadian consumers, found that consumers perceive better product quality when food packaging shows environmental claims and eco-labeling.
The globalization of the food supply had led to heightened attentiveness regarding a food's origin and safety. Unsurprisingly, concern for food safety is a primary motivation for local food consumption, which has seen an upsurge in sales in recent years (Halweil, 2002;Feldmann & Hamm, 2015).
Similarly, in Sneed, Fairhurst, and Whaley's (2019) study on local food purchasing from the farmers' market channel, consumers with high food safety value showed positive attitudes toward local food quality.
In the literature, an integrated investigation of different consumer groups and the corresponding consumption patterns has yet to be undertaken. As consumers are diversified and demand specialized attention from marketers, examining consumption patterns across channels will help grocery retailers to better serve their customers and become more competitive. To this end, this study will (1) identify grocery shopper segments based on preferred channels, gender, and age group, and (2) examine consumption patterns of each segment.

Sample and Data
The researchers in this study utilized secondary data from Predictive Analytics survey, conducted in December 2017 by the Prosper Foundation in the United States. The data contained 7212 total respondents. In response to the question "In the past 30 days, how have you shopped for groceries?",

Measures
For the market segmentation purpose that involves running a correspondence analysis, we used three variables: gender, age group, and channel for grocery shopping. The grocery shopping channels were physical store, digital, and multi-channel. We divided the respondents' age-groups into four groups: 20s (18-29), 30s (30-39), 40s (40-49), and 50s+ (50-83). The segments identified by the correspondence analysis were compared in their consumption patterns and the extent to which they made changes in the last six months. The consumption patterns consist of six statements: "I have become more practical and realistic in my purchases", "I have become more conscious about food safety", "I have become more budget conscious", "I am focusing more on buying local and/or from small businesses", "I have become more environmentally responsible", and "I am eating home cooked meals more often". The responses to these statements were rated as binary (1="yes" or 0="no").

Analyses and Results
Using SAS 9.4 software, we conducted a correspondence analysis to segment consumer groups based General Linear Model (GLM) was used to compare the segments in consumption patterns.

Correspondence Analysis: Segmentation Based on Gender, Age Group and Channel
We conducted a correspondence analysis which required the creation of a contingency table based on shopping frequency for each channel combined with gender and age group, as illustrated in Table 1. As correspondence analysis examines the association between rows and columns in the contingency   Note. 1=yes, 0=no; ** p<.01, *** p<.001.

Discussion and Implications
The primary objective of this research was to conduct a segmentation analysis of US grocery shoppers based on their grocery shopping channel choice, gender, and age group. The researchers utilized demographic variables to identify three consumer clusters that are associated with a specific channel (i.e., physical store shoppers, digital shoppers, and multi-channel shoppers), all of which exhibited distinctive consumption patterns. Retailers can utilize our results to target the specific age and gender groups that show a higher tendency to shop via online, multi-channel, or physical stores and tailor their marketing strategies to different consumer groups.
Overall, as age increased, shoppers preferred physical store over online store or multi-channel.
Specifically, digital shoppers were in their 20s, multi-channel shoppers were in their 20s to 40s, and physical store shoppers were in the 40s, 50s, and older ages. These findings are consistent with prior research that younger shoppers are more eager to adopt technology and engage in online shopping (Hui & Wan, 2009). Physical store shoppers were mainly Gen X shoppers (Ages 37-52) who spent the most each month on groceries (Winsight Grocery Business, 2018) or baby boomers (53-71). From this research, the grocery market seems to consist of most lucrative consumer groups. Moreover, while both males and females proportionally use physical and multi-channels, online shopping channel is male-dominant, a finding backed by prior research (Hiser et al., 1999;Lokken et al., 2003). With recent pushes to change gender roles, male shoppers are willing to undertake responsibility for the grocery shopping task in all shopping channels, a traditionally female role (Mortimer, 2012).
The results of this study revealed distinctive consumption patterns among the grocery shopper segments.
Firstly, practicality was the most critical value for digital shoppers, followed by multi-channel and physical store shoppers. Researchers have identified that as convenience is their main motivation, online shoppers have a stronger utilitarian purpose (Childers, Carr, Peck, & Carson, 2001;Ward, 2019). To cater to these consumers, online retailers may promote their brand as being ingrained with utilitarian philosophies. Additionally, male shoppers are more likely to read/research product information (Kinley,