Reference no: EM132231001

Al Pratt steps through the sliding doors of the grocery store and picks up a red basket. With his shopping list in one hand and the basket nestled fi rmly in the crook of his arm, he makes his way into the produce section. There, he is confronted with all the colorful bins of fruits and vegetables available for him to purchase. He checks his list to see what he needs. Potatoes top the list. He sees that fi ve-pound bags of potatoes are on sale for $2.99, which seems like a really good deal to him; however, he chooses to purchase only two potatoes at almost a dollar apiece instead. Al is a single man who lives by himself and knows that he can’t possibly eat all of a bag of potatoes without wasting most of them. As Al’s situation demonstrates, we need to be careful as marketers in assuming that all citizens of a particular culture fit the norms and assumptions of that culture. In America, marriage and couplehood are accepted as the cultural norm; however, the singles market is a rapidly growing segment of the marketplace (DePaulo, 2007). As of the 2005 American Community Survey provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, over 30 million men and women in the United States are currently living by themselves. Many of these include individuals who have chosen to put off marriage while they work on careers or educational pursuits, and many of them are people who are of retirement age and beyond who find themselves living alone for a variety of reasons including both widowhood and divorce. As the single segment grows in the coming decades, marketers may need to be more conscious of their more mundane needs as well as their dating and mating needs. For many of life’s simple and seemingly mundane tasks, Al is intimately aware of his single status. For instance, when he goes to the grocery store, he feels put off upon seeing deals for bulk items or “buy one get one free” promotions in which, because he does not want to waste food or money, he cannot participate. Also, since most cookbooks are written with multiple servings in mind, Al may be forced to adjust the ingredient portions prior to the shopping excursion or, as is often the case, simply skip certain meals suggested by cookbooks or online recipes because he cannot adjust the ingredient portions accordingly. Additionally, Al refrains from purchasing certain items like celery because he knows that most of it will go to waste. In a culture that prizes marriage, Al feels punished for being single. As he states, “A lot of times, especially with coupons, I don’t want to buy two just to save this much money. I just want to buy one. Why am I punished just because I need one? Well, a family could use two . . . or buy four. I don’t want four. It’s almost like . . . the only way you can take advantage of it, especially if it’s perishable, is if you’re in a family.” Additionally, Al does not like having to go all over the store in order to purchase the “single” items he needs, and he is not a fan of the carrying alternatives open to him. A grocery cart is too big for the shopping he does and makes him feel inadequate in comparison to others he sees in the store, but the basket that grocery stores provide is not always big enough for his needs and becomes very heavy as he shops. In many ways, this inability to take advantage of certain discount prices or to break bulk items into smaller quantities adds to Al’s feelings of alienation as he moves quietly through the grocery store, waiting patiently for the couples who are shopping together to move out of his way or eying the grocery carts full of meat and other items that are obviously intended for a family. And Al is not necessarily alone in these feelings of alienation and punishment in the grocery store. Others like him, both male and female, are expressing their dissatisfaction with grocery stores and other retail establishments for not catering to their nonfamilial needs. As a group, little attention has been paid to single people who live alone and how such a living arrangement affects the various decisions such individuals make.

1. What problems directly related to socialization and culture do you see within this case?

2. What other emerging markets can you think of that may need to be addressed by grocery stores? How might they best address these markets?