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surveyed to be least willing
to make trip to supermarket
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Is 2010 the start of the ``male shopper’’ decade?
The Nielsen Company’s Retail & Shopper Trends Asia Pacific 2010 report cited a gender shift when it comes to who is shopping for groceries in households around Asia.
``Over the last 10 years, we have also seen some change in who is taking responsibility for doing the grocery shopping. Across the Asia region, the proportion of men claiming to be the main shopper increased on average from 14 percent to 22 percent,’’ said Peter Gale, managing director for Nielsen Company's retailer services Asia Pacific, in the report.
But Korean men are lagging behind this ``male shopper’’ trend, along with Vietnamese and Chinese men.
The Nielsen report showed 11 percent of Korean men claim to be the main shoppers for their families in 2009. In Vietnam, it is even lower at 3 percent. However, this is already an improvement over only one percent in both countries in 2002. In China, the proportion of male main shoppers stayed at 15 percent during the decade.
Grocery shopping is still seen as a mainly a woman’s responsibility in Korea. Forty percent of main grocery shoppers are housewives, while 49 percent are single and working females.
Korean men’s reluctance to do grocery shopping is in contrast with other South and Southeast Asian countries. Around 38 percent of Malaysian men are in charge of grocery shopping in their households, followed by 32 percent of men in the Philippines and 27 percent in both India and Singapore.
There have been significant changes in the Asian grocery retail landscape in the last decade, the Nielsen report noted.
In particular, the popularity of hypermarkets in Korea has come at the expense of traditional grocery stores. Traditional grocery outlets have closed at an average rate of 5 percent every year in the past decade, with an estimated 50,000 closures.
Hypermarkets typically combine elements of supermarkets and department stores by offering a wide range of food, home items, clothing, appliances and other products.
There are 363 hypermarkets in Korea as of 2009, but most are owned by top retail companies such as Shinsegae’s E-Mart (127 stores), Homeplus (115 stores) and Lotte (70 stores).
Around 98 percent of Korean urban shoppers use hypermarkets regularly, the highest percentage in Asia. They also spent the most money in hypermarkets, compared to supermarkets and convenience stores.
But it seems that Korean shoppers are returning to supermarkets. Nielsen cited the number of shoppers who used supermarkets as their main channel increased to 23 percent from 17 percent, reversing a decline in the last 10 years. Among the most popular supermarkets are Homeplus Express with 199 stores, Lotte Super with 181 and GS Super with 149.
Korean shoppers can be picky when it comes to choosing which store to buy their groceries. According to Nielsen, 34 percent of Korean shoppers base their decision on promotional leaflets, which is nearly 20 percent higher than the Asian region’s average.
This is in contrast with Indonesia, where 81 percent of shoppers chose a store based on convenience and location. Indonesian shoppers also focused on buying trusted brands rather than risking money on lower-priced but unfamiliar brands.
In the coming decade, the Nielsen report cites several key trends in the sector: further expansion of large hypermarkets that offer more variety and low prices, and convenience stores. Retailers will also have to address challenges in encouraging customer loyalty, as well as promoting private label brands.
``Technology is the final trend which is likely to fundamentally alter how and where shoppers spend their money and interact with retailers. Whether it is through TV shopping, on-line retailers, mobile phone applications or social networking sites, the application of technology is likely to be the area where we see some of the biggest changes by the year 2020,’’ Gale said.
Korean shoppers are well ahead of the curve when it comes to technology and shopping. A majority (71 percent) already claim to use the internet regularly for groceries and personal care items.
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