ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270044
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Marketplace
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
Next time you go grocery shopping, stop for a minute and look around.
(But please don't block traffic in the cereal aisle. Shoppers become rather irate when they can't reach their sugar-coated puffs).
Why are you here? Not at the grocery store in general, but at this particular supermarket?
Duncan Herrington, an assistant professor of marketing at Radford University, gave his students an assignment to find the answer back in September.
The students polled 600 residents of Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Dublin, Pulaski and Radford about the four major grocery chains with stores in the New River Valley (Wade's, Harris-Teeter, Kroger and Food Lion). Respondents were asked, among other things, to rank what they think is the most important characteristic in a supermarket.
Here's what they found:
48.7 percent of the shoppers surveyed said price is most important.
16.6 percent: location.
16.5 percent: selection.
10.5 percent: customer service.
7.6 percent: other, including pleasant surroundings and good advertisements.
The Food Marketing Institute, a national trade association, asked 1,000 shoppers nationwide what they looked for in grocery stores. Their results are similar to Herrington's: Good variety, low prices and convenient location are all near the top of the list.
More of the people who shop at Kroger and Harris-Teeter consider product selection to be more important than location, while those who shop at Wade's and Food Lion rate location as more important than selection.
It's not a big surprise to see price top the list for almost half the shoppers. But that means low prices are secondary to the other half of the shopping population.
That could be an important factor later in 1996, when the new Harris-Teeter opens in Blacksburg and the new Wal-Mart Supercenter opens in Christiansburg. If the prices at the new stores are low but the locations are inconvenient, these new stores may not be able to compete. But if the new stores are able to deliver both greater value and better product selection, then existing supermarkets may see losses.
Archie Fralin, a spokesman for Kroger, says he isn't surprised at the rankings.
"Things like location, convenience, service - all of those value-added services - they always show up on our surveys," Fralin says. "It's more than just price."
Herrington says the survey questions weren't specific enough to help grocery stores plan marketing strategies, but the results may help them identify strengths and weaknesses.
"This is like a big shovel," Herrington says, "when what you might need is a trowel."
Other survey results:
Some 96 percent of the NRV shoppers surveyed are satisfied with their primary grocery store. Only 2 percent are dissatisfied.
About 45 percent of the respondents said they never or almost never read grocery store ads before shopping, while 38 percent said they always or almost always read the ads.
Almost 34 percent of the respondents said they always or almost always use coupons; 44 percent rarely or never do.
Now that Santa has come and gone, you can start firing up the old wood-burning stove again. Here are some firewood-buying tips from the Better Business Bureau.
Firewood usually is sold by the cord, which measures 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 4 feet high. If you aren't familiar with the seller, you may want to pay to have the wood stacked, rather than dumped, so you can double-check the size of the load.
Look for dry, seasoned wood that was cut at least six months - and preferably a year - ago. Fresh-cut green wood won't burn efficiently. Wood that has been aged will have cracks and splits in it.
Kiln-dried or construction wood isn't recommended for burning. These woods have very low moisture levels and burn quickly, and they leave deposits that can cause a buildup of tar and soot in your chimney.
If you're buying wood for heating purposes, consider hardwood such as oak, ash, maple, birch or the wood from most fruit trees. They may cost more, but they generally give off more heat because they're heavier and denser than soft woods.
Soft woods such as pines generally leave more ash and have a higher moisture content, which causes a popping sound when they burn.
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart: Why do we shop for groceries where we do?by CNBcolor.