Unveiling the power of local marketing in grocery retailing

Although grocery retailers generally strive to standardize their operations to gain economies of scale, there is a growing customer demand for retailers to provide shopping experiences that reflect individual preferences and local needs. To better meet these local preferences, retailers are increasingly embracing local marketing strategies.This dissertation provides insights into the effectiveness of local marketing strategies within the grocery retailing context for three marketing mix elements; product, price and promotion. The research projects address the central research question “How does local differentiation of the marketing mix influence the performance of independent grocery stores?”.This dissertation highlights that granting local stores a degree of autonomy to tailor their assortments, price promotions, and social media content to local preferences can enhance stores’ performance in different ways. One of the key findings reveals that regional products positively affect consumers’ perception of assortment variety and community engagement, leading to higher emotional attachments and share-of-wallets of a store. Moreover, this dissertation highlights that flyers with the right balance of product types and discounts effectively boost store traffic and sales, and that minor local adjustments can further enhance promotional effectiveness when facing more competition. Lastly, this dissertation underscores the value of personalized social media strategies, where less standardized and personalized content fosters stronger customer engagement.Overall, the findings of this dissertation offer valuable insights for grocery retailers looking to balance centralized marketing strategies with localized customer needs, ultimately helping them build stronger relationships with their communities and boost store performance.

Dissertation: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/759c659d-720d-4613-9318-35bd86811307