One of the numerous factors that present the UK as a fascinating place to live or visit is the wide range of supermarkets of different categories that cater for the needs of the consumers with various market offerings. These range from groceries to clothing and other household items that deliver value to the target markets. Although there are many of these supermarkets in the UK, the grocery market is dominated by four main players - Tesco, ASDA, Morrisons, and Sainsbury's. The fierce competition between these organisations for customers' attention and patronage intensifies daily. While discounters like Aldi and Lidl, by their positioning in the marketplace, seem to be well favoured by low-income consumers, their popularity among UK-based consumers in general has grown in recent times, especially with the global economic situation making more consumers more conscious of their spending.

When examining what factors influence the types of food consumers buy and in which UK supermarket they buy them from, the first thing that commonly comes to the mind is price. This is especially true when considering the country's economic situation, which is prompting the UK Coalition government and residents to constantly look for opportunities to lower costs, and the ongoing price wars between the supermarkets. Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and ASDA, as the leading retailers in the grocery market, are now losing customers to Aldi and Lidl. The threat of the incursion of these discounters into the market segment and share of the big supermarkets is palpable, real, and growing. Evidence shows that low-income consumers are becoming increasingly price sensitive and exhibiting more conscious shopping behaviour. In fact, a study has shown that these consumers at the lower end of income spectrum are only loyal to the price and not particular brands in their purchase decisions of low-involvement grocery products (Gbadamosi, 2009). In an attempt to bring back some lost customers, and knowing well that many other supermarkets are vying for consumers' attention

Abstract

The multicultural nature of UK society and how the supermarkets in the country meet the needs of the consumers from different countries present an interesting case. This case study explores the influence of culture as a dominant influence on the food purchase behaviour of various ethnic groups in the country. It shows the increasing relevance of this factor in the types of food that British dwellers buy and how they buy them. Moreover, it shows how British supermarkets are creating and delivering value to these societal members with reference to their cultural differences. It also discusses the relevance of subculture, enculturation, and acculturation in relation to food types that are bought by people in the UK. Overall, it extends the current knowledge on the significance and patronage, in January 2013, ASDA announced that the price of some of its products had been reduced to 0.50 (ASDA, 2013). Other supermarkets have also introduced various price-related offers to woo consumers.Meanwhile, other than price which is a marketing mix-element, another factor that is of great significance in food consumption decisions in the UK is culture. As shown in Table 1, which presents ethnicity data for Lon- don from the 2011 Census, the UK is a society with a rich mix of many ethnic groups. Hence, it will be very myopic to assume that people's taste for groceries, especially food, will be uniform across various consumer groups. Researchers simply argue that people's consumption cannot be fully explained without making due reference to culture (Solomon et al., 2013). As consumers move from the need recognition stage to the stage of searching for information on what they need to buy, they are guided by their cultural values, mores and norms. However, the influence of culture is often more noticeable at the stage of evaluation of alternatives. When considering which food type to buy, some UK consumers usually reflect on their experience and foods from their home country. This may sound very surprising, because one would expect that people that have come from various countries to settle in Britain will be interested in learning the cultural values of their host country. Nonetheless, not all consumers embrace acculturation the same way. While some are eager to learn new things in the UK, including the eating of local food items, others are very reluctant to let go of their old cultural values in terms of foods and other related items. It takes a while for some of the British supermarkets to fully consider this key issue in relation to this group of consumers.

Since marketing is about creating value for the consumer, consumers cannot be deemed to be satisfied if their needs are not met whether for culture-related reasons or others. But as the years have gone by, supermarkets in the UK have begun to realise the dominant influence of culture and are now creating different shelf spaces for world foods. The market for ethnic products in supermarkets was estimated at 244 million in 2011. According to Clay (2012), this figure represents a 15% increase on the one recorded for the preceding year. Supporting this further, a report from Mintel shows that the overall ethnic food market increased by 24% between 2007 and 2011 in value sales (Mintel, 2012). So, a consumer from an African country such as Ghana and Nigeria who is not immediately keen on trying British foods would be eased into the UK system with familiar foods from her country, and Asian consumers who crave foods deeply linked to their home countries are now being catered for by British supermarkets. The more people migrate to the UK, the more the reality sets in for these retailers that efforts to cater for the needs of these consumers have to be stepped up. As Tesco offers British classics like lamb with rosemary braised beans, and broccoli and stilton souffl, it also allocates shelf spaces for Caribbean recipes like Caribbean seafood, jerk chicken thigh, and Jamaican beef salad. Similarly, the Japanese taste for their core food items is respected and incorporated into Tesco's assortment with foods such as Japanese yaki soba, Japanese tempuras, and teriyaki beef. Meanwhile, this strategic move that started as 'little beginning' is now becoming a major phenomenon in the UK retailing system, with Moroccan-style chicken soup available at Sainsbury's, while various categories of Asian Halal and authentic Polish foods, such as Danio Fromage Frais Vanilla and Rolpek Silensian Sausage, are often avail- able at ASDA. Evidence shows that, as at 2012, Morrisons' sales of foreign foods had risen more than 600% in the preceding five years (Clay, 2012). From a broader perspective, Mintel's report (2012) shows that sixin ten adults enjoy eating foreign food. Other striking examples of world foods prominently stored in the UK supermarkets include Chinese, Italian, American, and Thai ingredients and dishes. The message is loud and clear! Consumers want supermarkets to sell more world foods. This view is reinforced by the result of the research conducted by IGD which shows that 75% of shoppers want more world foods in the supermarkets (Stones, 2013). This is a remarkable finding. Meanwhile, the figure is even higher for London - 88 per cent!

Interestingly, while these developments appear as real opportunities for ethnic adult consumers in the UK, due to some socialisation agents such as peers and TV that expose people to various developments in society, children from different countries seem to embrace the new cultural values they have encountered in the UK, especially in relation to British foods. Most of them use opportunities such as the school meal to learn to eat new food items that they were not familiar with in their home countries. Others, especially teenagers, are encouraged to eat British foods by their reference groups. They tend to be adventurous and learn to eat foods that are usually culturally noted as for the locals. Remarkably, as children from other countries settle in the UK and learn about British foods, children in the mainstream British cultural system engage in enculturation. A good example are apps and sections on supermarkets' websites that encourage children to get interested in cooking (see Food and Beverage News, 2013). These are designed to get budding young master chefs off to the perfect start, with recipes and inspiration from renowned UK chefs. The excitement associated with these activities and apps demonstrates that not only can one learn his or her own culture but one can learn in an interesting way.

As culture becomes an important factor in food consumption in the UK, many indicators in society point to the fact that several smaller groups could still be identified within particular cultural groups. These subcultural groups as defined by factors such as religion and ethnicity are making the job of serving multicultural Britain more challenging for marketers. The main religious festivals observed in the UK are those of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism, Islam, and Christianity. There are some significant religious implications concerning what the various groups of followers buy and eat during these festivals. Having this awareness has helped some marketers to deliver value to these consumers towards satisfying them effectively in the marketplace.Furthermore, the cultural diversity associated with various types of drinks that UK-based consumers buy can- not be ignored in terms of scale and significance. For instance, the wines associated with various countries like Italy, France, Australia, and Spain are stocked and sold in British supermarkets. This is essentially due to the fact that Britain uses these imported wines to satisfy the need of the growing market in the country. Nevertheless, it also shows how several autonomous cultures meet in the UK and play roles in the residents' consumption of foods and drinks. Just as Joanne Dennyey-Finch, the chief executive of IGD puts it and re- ported by Stones (2013) 'more of us are travelling abroad ... and we want to continue enjoying exotic tastes when we get home'.

Answer to the Questions

1. Apart from culture and price, which other factors do you think could influence UK-based consumers in their choice of foods? Use appropriate categorization to list the factors and explain the main differences between the categories of factors that you have listed. (10 Marks)

2. Apart from food, do you think culture could be very influential in British consumers' purchase of other products? If yes, use a particular product as an example to explain how this can be so. (10 Marks)

3. What is the difference between enculturation and acculturation? How is this difference demonstrated in the case study?