Given that groceries are products, and many are commodities, differentiation in

Question

Given that groceries are products, and many are commodities, differentiation in the grocery industry is related to product quality and the range of services. Yet consumers often do not differentiate the service from the product, or the service from the service provider. Given this lack of differentiation, how might you consider such products as shopping carts at entrance doors, number of checkout stations, number of self-checkout stations, and physical dimensions such as aisle width in terms of their service aspects?

There was a time when the grocery business was nothing but service for the product, when the grocer pulled the product from behind the counter, bagged it, and brought it out to the customer's vehicle (likely a horse drawn wagon at the time). How does that level of service compare to the industry shift to customers doing the service applications in such stores as Cub Foods, Aldi, Costco and other box stores, versus the level of service one might see in Wegmans? Does the change from the 1950s grocer provided service to today's more commonly seen customer self service generate higher brand loyalty or just lower prices? Does more service mean only higher prices or more loyalty and market share?

Explanation / Answer

In todays' modern era , customers wants everything to be done in a quicker way to save their crucial time for daily routines. So to make customer friendly today's grocery stores started self service option in order to provide controlling power to their customers so they have better experience to shop with them. In order to increase the customer loyalty they had also started providing extra services like self-checkout stations , shopping carts etc. In my thinking this is the x-factor to attract a large number of customer. By providing these kinds of extra service like number of checkout stations to save their time and have hassle free shopping experience.

Service provided by Wegmans are more customer friendly and hassle free as well as compare to level of service in stores as Cub Foods, Aldi etc. These kind of services not only saves the customer's time but also increase their brand loyalty.

In today's world customer needs best service at lower cost. So the change from the 1950's grocer provided service to today's commonly customer self service generate just lower prices because customer is more willing to switch to another brand for just another coupon.But providing more services doesn't mean only higher prices , if the customer knows the value-added with the higher prices than it will bring more loyalty of the customer.

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