Analysis of the Potential of Virtual Stores for German Online Grocery Retailing
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Analysis of the Potential of Virtual Stores for German Online Grocery Retailing Bastian Thelen Project submitted as partial requirement for the conferral of Master in Marketing Supervisor: Ph. D. Nebojsa S. Davcik, ISCTE Business School September 2015 Analysis of the Potential of Virtual Stores For German Online Grocery Retailing - Spine - Analysis of the Potential of Virtual Stores for German Online Grocery Retailing Bastian Thelen i Analysis of the Potential of Virtual Stores For German Online Grocery Retailing Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of my supervisor, my family, fellow students and friends. At this point, I would like to thank everybody, who made it possible for me to graduate from ISCTE IUL with an MSc. Marketing degree. As regards the support of this Master Thesis, I want to thank Prof. Nebojsa S. Davcik for his support and feedback. In spite of adverse conditions, he accepted the supervision of my thesis and gave me confidence and motivation to go through with my project. I also want to thank Professor Ph. D. Paulo Rita and Professor Susana Marques for their advices on the early stages of the development of this thesis. The delivery of this Master Thesis also means the end of overall six years of study career. Therefore, I want to thank my parents and my brother for all the care and support they gave me especially in the last two years. Thank you, for inspiring and encouraging me to strive for the best kind graduation, for enabling me to study all over Europe and allowing me to get the best preconditions to prevail on the job market. In addition, I want to thank my fellow students, who allowed me to experience a great year in a great city. Special thanks to Daniel Santos, Pedro Nobre and Rodrigo Martins. The conclusion of the project would not be possible without all of you. ii Analysis of the Potential of Virtual Stores For German Online Grocery Retailing Abstract Research Problem – The effects of digitalization had a huge impact on people’s everyday life. With increased use of internet, E-Commerce became hugely popular and pressurized classic brick and mortar retailers. However, the grocery market is one of the few markets without a remarkable share of online sales. Recently various players entered the small but promising market. Still, it is not foreseeable which player and which kind of sales approach will prevail and retailers are searching for innovative, business approaches that help customers to find their way into online grocery shops. Tesco carried out one propitious sales approach – they established Virtual Stores in Metro Stations where commuters could shop for their groceries on their way to work including a convenient delivery after finishing time. Purpose of the Study – This dissertation strives to identify the potential of Tesco’s Virtual Stores approach for commercial uses in German online and mobile grocery retailing and determines if there is an adequate target group, which is likely to use Virtual Stores to do their everyday grocery shopping. In addition, another aim is to understand the motivation of consumers to use Virtual Stores and to develop a model in order to predict their behaviour. Design/Methodology/Approach – A quantitative baseline study (n=259) is stating the basis of the present study, in order to test the research hypothesis grounded on a literature review of secondary research. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis have been accomplished to infer meaningful results. Findings/Implications – There is a high number of potential Virtual Stores users among the respondents. Their Behavioural Intention to use Virtual Stores can be measured by their perception of the performance of Virtual Stores, the degree to which they think shopping with Virtual Stores is fun, the degree to which they perceive online grocery shopping is common, their personal openness towards new information technology and their involvement concerning grocery shopping. Key Words – E-Commerce; M-Commerce; QR-Codes; Virtual Stores; Online Grocery Shopping; Mobile Grocery Shopping, German Grocery Market. iii Analysis of the Potential of Virtual Stores For German Online Grocery Retailing Portuguese Abstract Research Problem – Os efeitos da digitalização tiveram um enorme impacto na vida quotidiana das pessoas. Com o aumento da utilização da Internet, E-Commerce tornou-se imensamente popular e colocou os retailers sob pressão. No entanto, o mercado de mercearia é um dos poucos mercados sem uma parte considerável de vendas on-line. Recentemente vários competidores entraram neste mercado pequeno, mas promissor. Ainda assim, não é previsível que concorrente e que tipo de abordagem de vendas vai prevalecer e os retailers estão a procurar abordagens de negócios inovadoras, que ajudem os clientes a encontrar o seu caminho em mercearias on-line. Tesco realizou uma abordagem de vendas propícia - eles estabeleceram lojas virtuais em estações de metro, onde os passageiros poderiam fazer as compras dos seus mantimentos no seu caminho para o trabalho, incluindo a conveniente entrega após o seu fim. Objetivo do estudo – Esta dissertação procura identificar o potencial da abordagem das Lojas Virtuais da Tesco, para usos comerciais no retail online e móvel Alemão; e determinar se existe um grupo-alvo adequado, que seja provável de usar lojas virtuais para fazer suas compras de supermercado do quotidiano. Além disso, outro objetivo é entender a motivação do consumidor para usar lojas virtuais e desenvolver um modelo para prever seu comportamento. Constatações / Implicações - Existe um elevado número de potenciais utilizadores de lojas virtuais entre os entrevistados. A sua intenção comportamental de usar lojas virtuais pode ser medida pela sua percepção do desempenho de lojas virtuais, o grau em que acham que fazer compras com lojas virtuais é divertido, o grau em que percebem que fazer compras de supermercado on-line é comum, a sua abertura pessoal para nova Tecnologia da Informação (IT) e o seu envolvimento no que diz respeito às compras de supermercado. Projeto / Metodologia / Abordagem - Estudo quantitativo de base de (n = 259) está a estabelecer o ponto de partida do presente estudo a fim de testar a hipótese de pesquisa fundamentada numa revisão de literatura de pesquisa secundária. Análise descripitva, bivariada e multivariada foram efetuadas de modo a inferir resultados significativos. Key Words – E-Commerce; M-Commerce; QR-Codes; Virtual Stores; Online Grocery Shopping; Mobile Grocery Shopping, German Grocery Market. iv Analysis of the Potential of Virtual Stores For German Online Grocery Retailing Table of Content Table of Content ............................................................................................................................................. v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................ viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................ ix List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................... x Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... xi Sumário Executivo ........................................................................................................................................ xii 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Prologue..................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Problem ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................................. 2 1.4 Objectives and Questions .......................................................................................................................... 3 1.5 Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................................................ 3 2. Market Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 The Rise of digital Technologies, E-Commerce and M-Commerce .......................................................... 5 2.1.1 Rise of the Internet and Mobile Technologies ........................................................................................ 5 2.1.2 The Rise of E-Commerce ....................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.3 E-Commerce is going mobile .................................................................................................................. 7 2.1.4 The Effect of E-Commerce on German Retail ....................................................................................... 8 2.1.5 The Effect of E-Commerce on German Food Retailing ........................................................................