Adoption of Supermarket Shopping in a Developing Country: The Selective Adoption Phenomenon

Abstract

Looks at a study of issues involved in the introduction of the supermarket into a developing country — Israel. Discusses how urban consumers food shopping patterns have been affected, and reveals many respondents, despite easy accessibility to the supermarket, continue to buy some of their foods in traditional stores. Analyses 310 questionnaires of residents of Jerusalem and bases results on this, as the random sample of 75‐80 households was then drawn from each of four areas. States that the study results demonstrate problems involved in the common practice of using supermarket's share of market type data as the sole basis for indicating rate of a country's diffusion of rates and limitations of share. Implies that the supermarket will transform the traditional system of small one‐line food stores, which are considered costly, and with inefficient distribution of food items, into one which will consist mainly of supermarkets.