Value Creation and Destruction at Online Grocery Touchpoints: A Case Study on the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Industry from a Consumer Perspective

Abstract

The opportunities entailed by higher levels of digitalisation have made it possible for many consumers to move their grocery shopping online. Also, a sudden shift in consumer demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, an unquestionable trigger to changes in consumers’ daily habits, mean that online grocery retailers must adapt. As retailers may not be prepared for consumers’ desires, the online propositions may be poorly designed and managed. Further, loyalty - a continuously desired outcome in marketing research and business - is challenging when it comes to low-involvement, fastmoving consumer goods. It is thus crucial to understand what creates a competitive advantage in the industry. That begins with knowing what consumers perceive is creating value. To gain that understanding, this exploratory study takes a consumer perspective and qualitative data was collected through 10 semi-structured interviews with online grocery shopping consumers in Sweden. In unveiling the how’s and why’s of value creation and destruction in an online grocery setting, a social constructionist view and interpretivist approach were undertaken to the data analysis. The main findings are that consumers desire increasing control over their purchases and more cocreation in the online grocery sector. Further, the major sources of value creation and destruction is found in touchpoints that the brand controls and are mostly connected to utilitarian values. However, when consumer expectations rise after every purchase, hedonic values are desired as well. It was further found that in the early stages of consumers’ decision-making processes, social touchpoints have major influence on their choices whereas brand-owned touchpoints are most the prominent later on. Lastly, in the web shop touchpoint, website interfaces and assortments are important, and delivery of goods is a main source of both value creation and destruction. This study contributes to extant literature through knowledge on how and why consumers perceive value creation and destruction in a low-involvement, fast-moving consumer goods industry online. Literature is expanded by the understanding of how Swedish consumers make informed decisions and evaluate perceived value. Extant literature on value creation online is challenged by an understanding of the role that utilitarian and hedonic values respectively play. Lastly, it is shown which touchpoints are sources of value creation and destruction and which play an important role for future value creation, and that there is an overall lack of co-creation in online grocery channels.