Family life in grocery stores - a study of interaction between adults and children
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Blackwell Science, LtdOxford, UKIJCInternational Journal of Consumer Studies1470-6423Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 200428••••••Original ArticleFamily life in grocery stores
A. Pettersson
et al.
Family life in grocery stores – a study of interaction between
adults and children
Anette Pettersson,1 Ulf Olsson2 and Christina Fjellström1
1 Department of Domestic Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
2 The Stockholm Institute of Education, Stockholm, Sweden
ple use these commodities in social activities. Food is a
Abstract
product for which this aspect is central. Thus, the con-
Today the family is seen as a unit for food choice and con- cept of consumption is not only related to product
sumption. The influence of family members on food choice choices, but also to wider structures of social interaction
comprises several stages that can be carried out both in the as seen in the family context.1 From infancy to adult-
private home and in the public sphere, such as the grocery hood, a large part of our everyday life is food related.
store. This makes the grocery store a context in which ordi- The meaning of this food-related behaviour varies
nary family life can be observed. The aim was to study among people and even within the same person across
families and the interaction between children and adults in different situations.2 Findings concerning the meaning
the grocery store, focusing on young people’s involvement and centrality of food in family life have been repli-
in food shopping. Hidden observation and family interview cated in a number of studies.3–8 Besides its nutritional
methods were used. A total of 338 people were observed in function, food can be used as comfort, reward or pun-
seven different grocery stores in Stockholm during the sum- ishment.9 People not only eat differently, but also
mer and autumn of 2003. Seven family interviews, involving behave differently with respect to food, and specific
a total of 29 persons, were conducted in Uppsala in the meals have different meanings depending on the his-
spring of 2003. In the interviews, parents reported avoiding tory and experiences of the person preparing or eating
shopping for food together with children as they experi- them.10
enced it as stressful and exhausting. The observations Within the family, during primary socialization, chil-
showed that family life in the grocery store comprises not dren begin to learn appropriate skills for food-related
only the food purchase, but also bringing up children and behaviour, which are established in the cultural setting.9
consumer education. Young people’s involvement in the Management of food is a gender issue, as mothers usu-
food purchase varied depending on their age and the spe- ally manage the planning, buying and preparation of
cific product. The different behaviour observed may be inter- food eaten at home.3–5 However, relationships within
preted as reflecting the variation in ways of bringing up the family determine the outcome of this procedure, as
children at home. Another conclusion is that a public place family members and their expectations and preferences
such the grocery store facilitates pedagogical situations and most likely affect the home manager’s purchase and
can work as a tool for informal education. preparation of food.1,5,7 It is therefore reasonable to
assume that food choice in the family derives not only
Keywords Children, consumer education, decision-making, from the preferences of a particular individual, but also
family life, food purchase, grocery store. from the collective. Individual food choice tends to be
regarded merely as the result of the household’s exter-
nal influences, such as friends, colleagues and advertis-
Introduction
ing, but this view fails to explain how family members
affect the food choice and habits of the entire house-
The family as a consumer unit
hold.11 In consumer research, the family household
In the material culture of the Western world, commod- should rather be seen as a unit for decision-making and
ities can function as mediators of relations because peo- consumption.12 Family members, together with their
communication and interaction during food manage-
ment at home, constitute the consumer unit. As intra-
Correspondence household relations may affect food choice, studying
Anette Pettersson, Department of Domestic Science, Uppsala University,
Dag Hammarskjöldsväg 21, 752 37 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: food choice requires an analysis of the internal dynam-
Anette.Pettersson@ihv.uu.se ics of domestic units.13
© 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp317–328 317Family life in grocery stores • A. Pettersson et al.
and a growing market of 24-h openings. In Europe there
Children as consumers
are still small shops, however, they are decreasing while
Today, young people are an increasing segment in mar- companies continue to establish super- and hypermar-
keting and an important group in consumer research. kets.23 In Sweden, the numbers of grocery stores have
The expansion in child advertising occurring during the continuously decreased from 39 000 stores in the 1950,
past decades has had an impact not only on current child reaching a number of 6000 stores today.24 Specialist
consumption, but also on future consumption, as child- retailers, such as butchers, green grocers, fishmongers or
hood habits will affect adult behaviour.14,15 Further- milk shops, are rare in Sweden. Instead, most stores are
more, consumer research has shown the importance of small or medium large supermarkets. A few manufac-
children’s influence on the household’s entire consump- turers dominate the Swedish market, with three main
tion.16 The degree of their influence depends on type of actors controlling 60% of it.24 This situation with poor
product and whether the child is an end consumer.12,17,18 competition is discussed to be one of the reasons of the
Children’s influence in decision-making can be direct high food prices in Sweden, which are 11% above the
(e.g. yielding, making suggestions or through discus- European Union average.24,25 During 2001 the average
sions) or indirect (e.g. caring about a family member Swedish household spent 36 700 Swedish Kronor (about
when buying food products). The latter is seen when $4.75 11-05-2004) on the food purchase.26
parents cook food that is preferred by the children. During the last decades the food industry has
However, the influence children have during a purchase changed dramatically from distributing and packing raw
varies with their age.19 Whereas younger children seem ingredients to transforming raw ingredients to pre-
to yield, teenagers use other methods such as negotiat- cooked or ready-to-go products. Instead of spending
ing or making a proposal. time on preparation, consumers are searching conve-
Children may introduce adult family members to nience products eliminating the effort of preparation
food products and dishes they never would have consid- and cooking as well as products with an added value.23
ered trying or had an opportunity to come across.8 In In a Swedish grocery store you can find anything you
turn, adult family members may modify their demands need, from meat to dairy products and vegetables under
to make the task of providing meals for the whole family the same roof. Even in the same category of product
easier. In this sense, children can function as a resocial- several different brands are offered. The large assort-
izing factor on their parents, as they may influence ment of products to choose between makes the food
parental attitudes and behaviour.10,20 purchase a complicated process.
The childhood experience of purchasing behaviour is Before a purchase, the decision-making process fol-
part of consumer socialization, defined as ‘the process by lows a number of stages, but it is not exactly known
which young people acquire skills, knowledge and atti- how many stages there are or how these appear to one
tudes relevant to their functioning as consumers in the individual when making a choice. According to Lee
marketplace’.21 As children grow older, they turn into and Marshall, the three stages – configuration, negotia-
attentive consumers, and with cognitive development tion and outcome – can be considered in the decision-
are able to understand economic concepts and acquire making process in families.16 Configuration is a phase
the appropriate consumer skills that allow processing of of orientation, when making possible options visual
product information. According to some researchers, the and learning about the setting for the decision. In fam-
primary consumer socialization agents among teenagers ilies, this undertaking can be compared to when mak-
are their peers, while parents and what is taught in the ing the rules of a game. During the negotiation stage
schools are less important to their decision-making.22 the alternatives from the configuration stage are dis-
cussed among the family members and negotiated
from their position in the family. The negotiation
Food purchase in the family
includes a variation of strategies, like emotional,
Shopping for food in the western world has never been expertise or like children’s yielding mentioned earlier.
easier than today. There are supermarkets, corner stores Eventually, the outcome of the decision-making pro-
318 International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp317–328 © 2004 Blackwell Publishing LtdA. Pettersson et al. • Family life in grocery stores
cess of families represents the final choice of the fam- any kind of interaction. The people observed are fur-
ily as a unit. During food purchase, the stages in thermore referred to as actors in an observed situation.
decision-making can be carried out both at home and At least two visits were made to each of the seven
in the grocery store. This process is often unconscious stores in the north suburb of Stockholm and in Upp-
and in many situations consumer behaviour is learned sala. Small local stores as well as supermarkets were
and internalized, and thus becomes habitual.2 The food included, reachable by bike, car, public transportation
purchase includes plenty of habitual behaviour – how or walking. The stores were located in different socio-
people walk through the store and put products in the economic areas and were visited between 11 AM and
wire basket or trolley, waiting at the check-out 8 PM both weekdays and weekends. A single situation
counter, as well as the payment and packing after- could be observed for a period of 15 min to 1 h,
wards. In the grocery store, other people as well as depending on the observed actors. The observer acted
advertising, the time of year and time of day are exam- like an ordinary customer shopping for food, which
ples of what may affect decisions concerning what to made her part of the social activities in the store.27 The
buy and eat. A shopping centre provides a synthesis of observer, however, did not participate in the actual sit-
activities and in the grocery store activities other than uation being observed and did not talk to the observed
food purchase can be observed. The shopping place is, actors. As a consequence, the age of the actors could
according to Goss (quoted in Jackson), a place where only be roughly estimated and it could not be estab-
‘You have to create a safe secure feeling and make lished with certainty that the actors actually belonged
sure it’s not intimidating to anyone’.1 When family to one ‘family unit’. However, by listening to the con-
members go shopping for food, ordinary family life is versation, most observed situations could be catego-
thus relocated to a public place. This makes the gro- rized as involving members of the same family. Field
cery store a potentially good place for studying social notes concerning behaviour and body language, conver-
activities and interaction in relation to food within sation and voice pitch as well as estimated age were
everyday family life. made directly after the observations and outside the
store.
A total of 127 situations were observed (see Table 1).
Aim To avoid possible seasonal effects on shopping behav-
The aim of this article was to study family life and the iour, 80 situations were observed in summer and
interaction between children and adults in the grocery another 47 observations were made in autumn of 2003.
store, focusing on young people’s involvement in food This resulted in a sample of 338 observed actors. After
shopping. analysing the first part of the material, the observations
during the second phase focused on children’s involve-
ment during the purchase, accepted behaviour and
Methods consumer education. Analyses were made by making
interpretations of the observed activities, searching for
This study was conducted in the spring, summer and patterns in the notes and categorizing the material into
autumn of 2003. Two qualitative methods for data col- themes.28,29 The analysis from the interviews was then
lection, ethnographic observations and interviews, were used to allow an emic approach to the activities.30,31 To
used. simplify the analysis, the children were categorized into
six groups based on their approximate age:
Children aged up to 1 year: infants
Observations
Children aged 1–2 years: small children
Hidden observations of the interaction between chil- Children aged 3–5 years: younger children
dren and adults were made in grocery stores by the first Children aged 6–12 years: older children
author. Attention was paid to all social activities in the Teenagers aged 13–15 years: younger teenagers
store that included at least one adult and one child in Teenagers aged 16–19 years: older teenager
© 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp317–328 319Family life in grocery stores • A. Pettersson et al.
Table 1 Observed actors shopping in
No. of situations including children
grocery stores. Details of the situations
Adults in situations 1 child 2 children 3 children Total No. of actors
Mother and father together with 18 8 6 32 ¥ 2 = 64
Single mothers with 31 13 1 45
Single fathers with 24 14 1 39
Other adults with 7 3 1 11
Total No. of children 80 ¥ 1 = 80 38 ¥ 2 = 72 9 ¥ 3 = 27 179a
338
a
No. of boys = 70, No. of girls = 109.
illustrated the observed activities during the fieldwork
Family interviews
were selected to strengthen the analysis.
Qualitative interviews were made by the first author
with two-parent families to develop an understanding
Discussion of methods
of their experience of food purchase. Families were con-
tacted through a secondary school and the interviews The observations were made in typical Swedish grocery
were conducted during the spring of 2003 at the Depart- stores and the results are thereby only representing the
ment of Domestic Science in Uppsala. A semi- Swedish situation on the market. The interaction
structured interview guide was used, and printed cards between adult and child may also be affected by cultural
with food items and dishes were used to stimulate talk- norms on behaviour. The family is an intimate social
ing about food choice and food habit. A pilot interview group, which makes it difficult for an outsider to
was made with one two-parent family, with no further observe, as one does not know the explicit meaning of
adjustments on the interview guide. Then another six words and actions used, because these are tied to the
families, with two or three children between the ages of unknown background of the family members and their
8–18 years, were interviewed. This made a total of 29 individual relations.31 Families and their members are
respondents. continuously consuming together and as individuals,
During the family interviews, lasting for 1 h to 1 h consciously and unconsciously. Consequently, the
20 min each, a preliminary analysis was started. To observed situations in grocery stores cannot be seen as
avoid the influence of the interviewer’s pre- reflecting general behaviour in the family consumption.
understanding and the respondents’ use of ‘cover This article should, thus, be seen as the author’s under-
terms’, respondents were asked to explain what they standing and interpretation of family life during food
meant when using words such as ‘healthy’, ‘quality’ purchase in Swedish grocery stores.
and ‘often’.32–34 Each interview was recorded and Observed situations could include all kind of family
video-taped to facilitate analysis of non-verbal com- structures, as well as only a few members of a family
munication.32,35 An analysis was conducted using the unit. However, the situations could also involve adults
method ad hoc of Kvale.34 This was made through and children with non-biological relations. This was not
complementary methods as categorizing the material considered a problem as the object of interest was any
in terms of content, looking for patterns and finding interaction between at least one adult and one child.
meaningful explanations. The first author listened to Many of the actors observed during the summer seemed
the tapes several times during which a secondary anal- to be on vacation. This could affect how parents acted
ysis was conducted. As each interview was structured when choosing to shop with or without the children.
in areas including aspects other than the actual food How these parents would interact with their children
purchase, only the part of current interest was tran- when not on vacation cannot be determined. The sec-
scribed verbatim. Quotations from the interviews that ond phase of the fieldwork, conducted in autumn, may
320 International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp317–328 © 2004 Blackwell Publishing LtdA. Pettersson et al. • Family life in grocery stores
have minimized the effect of parents being on summer ple, parents bringing up children, informal education
vacation. Because one of the criteria of the observed and emotional reactions like crying, seemed to con-
situations was that they include at least one parent and tinue in the public place and this was confirmed in the
one child, parents who deliberately avoided shopping interviews.
with their children were not observed. This could also
affect the results. Participating observation was not cho-
Experience of shopping with children
sen as method as the observer should have become part
of the actual situation and thereby may have affected Shopping with children can be a way to spend time with
people’s behaviour and the interaction between family them, but it can also be arduous and time-consuming.
members. Because of the demanding nature of such experiences,
Two-parent families were interviewed to study the many parents avoid shopping for food with their
interaction among adults, including both mothers and children:
fathers, and their children. This family structure was
chosen because it was a part of a larger project studying Sometimes you avoid shopping together with the
food-related behaviour in two-parent families, a family whole family because they (meaning the two sons)
structure that still is the most common one in Sweden. fight at times, so it got to be a bit tough . . . and
One part of the larger project deals with the food pur- then you prefer shopping alone. (Mother, family
chase and these data were used in this paper. Families interview 2)
participating in the interviews accepted the recording
and seemed to be comfortable talking about the topic. Most observed families and parents were seen shop-
The two-parent families can then be viewed as repre- ping at weekends, probably because the parents work
senting a group interested in talking about food and 8 h a day and do not have the time or energy to go
food habits. Thus, the interviews introduced ways to shopping with their children after work. In the inter-
strengthen the understanding about how people feel views, it was confirmed that one parent may make the
about grocery shopping, which helped in analysing the supplementary daily food purchase, like milk or fresh
observed behaviour during fieldwork.31,36 bread, alone after work and then do the ‘weekly shop-
While the observations displayed ‘reality’ in a natural ping’ with the children at weekends.
setting, the grocery store, the interviews can only illus-
trate the respondents’ experience of the grocery pur-
Accepted behaviour in the grocery store – to play
chase.37 The choice of two different methods thereby
or to behave
seemed to be a good way of collecting rich and supple-
mentary data. The observations confirmed and illus- Many of the observed children had no problem activat-
trated food-related activities in the store, which were ing themselves in the store. They were seen running
discussed in the interviews to get an understanding of it through the premises, playing hide-and-seek, diving into
on a deeper level. boxes of fruit or pushing each other around in trolleys.
Accepted behaviour in the grocery store differed among
families. Some parents did not seem to care what the
Results
children did, whereas others told them to stop. The sit-
The following results are presented from the recurring uations below show variations in behaviour accepted.
pattern in the analyses of the interviews and the obser- At one supermarket free bananas were offered to
vations. From entering the grocery store to the final children. Many children gave the impression of being
choice of a product, several factors seemed to affect well aware of this and ran to the banana baskets before
the interaction between child and adult. It appeared their parents reached this section. It seemed as if the
that other social activities than the decision-making banana gift was something the children looked forward
process was a frequent sight in the store. One of the to and this made the shopping more fun for them. Some
major results was that the private family life, for exam- children took a banana without a second thought; others
© 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp317–328 321Family life in grocery stores • A. Pettersson et al.
asked their parents whether they were allowed to take situations may reflect each family’s ordinary life at
one: home, as internal norms and roles as well as relations in
the family affect the accepted behaviour and how to
A young boy reaches the banana basket, shouting: become conscious cititzens.38 The way of bringing up
‘daddy, daddy, look’, looking at his father and holding children can be compared to the configuration stage in
a banana towards him. ‘Yes, you can take one’, the the decision-making process theory by Lee and Mar-
father says (Observation 7). Another young boy shall.16 This way of making specific behaviour correct in
reaches the banana baskets but there are no free the store can be seen as the same kind of activity as in
bananas. He turns to the ordinary banana counter and families setting the rules of a game, mentioned in the
is going to take a banana from there. ‘NO, they are theory. Children need to know how they are expected
out, you must not take bananas from that counter’, the to act and to behave as a proper consumer. In this stage,
mother says with a serious tone. The son obeys and it is also shown the way cultural rules on behaviour in
immediately finds something else to do (Observation the grocery store are internalized.
33). Later a mother and her two young children turn
to the section. When approaching the fruit counters,
Responsibility and involvement among children
the girl says that she wants a banana. The boy rushes
to the banana baskets, but as they are out he cannot Another application of the theory of Lee and Marshall
bring any to his sister. The girl starts to scream and is the phase of children’s involvement.16 During their
cry. The mother then tells the son to pick two bananas growing capability, children become a part of the deci-
from the ordinary counter (Observation 58). sion and can thereby have an effect on the outcome,
alhough the observations showed clear variation in
In their attempts to help the children avoid breaking involvement among the children. Some parents spent a
something, parents often discussed how to handle prod- great deal of time listening to proposals or explaining
ucts and to be gentle, as the following observation at the things to their children, others were more distanced
vegetable section exemplifies: towards them and did not encourage any kind of
involvement during shopping. The children who were
A young girl is throwing red bell peppers around. She not involved were seen playing around in the store
drops one on the floor. ‘Pick up the one you dropped while the parents made the purchases. The behaviour
on the floor’, the father says to the daughter. She among the children involved in the purchase varied
does so and puts the pepper in the counter according to their age and type of product. When
(Observation 71). younger children were involved in the shopping, it was
mostly through fetching products and carrying things,
Justice is another topic children may learn about in especially when the wire basket was overloaded.
the store. The following example shows a girl caring for Younger children seemed to enjoy collecting fruit and
her brother and being fair, although it also shows her vegetables together with the adults. Older children
fear of having to split a bag of candy with him: were often seen yielding in discussions about candy,
lemonade and other non-food products found in super-
A young girl is allowed to pick a bag of bulk candy. markets, for instance, candles, toys and magazines.
When she is satisfied, she puts the bag at the top of Some of the older children were willing to help their
the trolley and asks her mother ‘Should we bring a parents make purchases, and girls in this category
bag of candy to John too?’ ‘We’d better since he’s not seemed to be more involved in the shopping than boys.
here’ the mother answers with laughter in her voice They often helped by carrying or fetching products and
(Observation 70). were also allowed to choose products, especially break-
fast cereals or fruit. When code scanners were used, a
The observed situations above show the variation in common task for older children was to guard the trol-
families’ ways of bringing up their children, and these ley, something that may encourage awareness of finan-
322 International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp317–328 © 2004 Blackwell Publishing LtdA. Pettersson et al. • Family life in grocery stores
cial matters. In some situations, older children were not where food purchase, meal planning and preparation
involved at all in the food shopping and were instead may be the parents’ roles.
seen playing around. The observed teenagers were
more involved in grocery purchase than were the chil-
Product choice – conveying knowledge to the children
dren, either by helping the adults, making suggestions
or negotiating about products. They also made their A learning process was observed in many situations;
own decisions to fetch products and they could even examples of learning involved how to use a code scan-
put products in the shopping trolley without asking the ner, returning plastic bottles, placing products on the
adults. However, these independent decisions can be a check-out counter or packing products into bags after
result of peer influence on teenagers’ attitudes and paying. The effort parent expended on this learning pro-
behaviour, as was discussed by Kamaruddin and cess was noteworthy in the situations with younger chil-
Mokhlis.22 dren. For example, children were seen helping to pack
There was no sign of gender differences in the adults’ the food into bags – bags the parents then had to repack
behaviour towards the younger children, although there to avoid damage. When the parents explained why the
was one exception in the categories older children and food had to be packed in a specific way, the children
younger teenagers, where the recurrent pattern of learned to be careful in situations such as these. Older
fathers asking for advice was noticeable: teenagers involved seemed to have the consumer skills
needed to make food purchases, as one younger teenage
A father and his old teenage son stand at the boy demonstrated by cautiously packing the food in
butcher’s counter. They discuss the barbecue they are plastic bags while his mother was paying. The following
going to have and try to find some lamb chops. The episode shows consumer knowledge about brands and
father is holding a package up to his son, asking for awareness of the value of money, which even quite
his opinion. ‘They look small . . .’, the son says. The young children appeared to have:
father picks up another package, saying ‘This one is
so dark’. ‘I think so too’, the son answers. Eventually Two parents and their younger son stand at the break-
they find a package they can both accept (Observa- fast cereal shelf. The mother picks a box of whole
tion 6). grain cereal with fruit. ‘Now you choose a box you
like’, the father says to the son. The son immediately
In the Swedish study by Wesslén, shopping for food grabs a box of Sugar Pops from the shelf looking at
was the mother’s task and when fathers and sons were his father. ‘Or . . . is there a cheaper one?’ he cau-
shopping they needed a shopping list written by the tiously asks. The father looks at the shelf and says
mother.39 The observation of fathers and sons consulta- ‘There’s Signum Honey Puffs (a cheaper trademark)
tion during the purchase in this study can be a sign of it’s almost the same thing . . . but it’s only a little
their lack of confidence when shopping for food, but it cheaper, so – you can have Sugar Pops’ (Observation
can also be a sign of the teenager’s participation and 64).
responsibility in the food purchase. However, even if
young people are involved in the food purchase, it is not In Sweden today, there is a growing market of retail-
possible to determine whether they are active in the ers’ own food brands, which are usually cheaper than
cooking at home. According to Holmberg, purchase the market’s leading brand, for example, Kellogg’s. This
behaviour differs among families.2 In this study, the vari- situation of numerous brands creates a need for con-
ation in children’s involvement is one indication of this. sumer knowledge concerning the price and quality of
The parents who did not encourage involvement may the different products. Not only brand knowledge is
not have had the time or patience required to explain needed, but also an understanding of how to handle the
to the children about food products while shopping. positioning in the marketing process, as children are
Another explanation may be that the differences seen likely to be more open to marketing appeals and thus
during the observations illustrated family life at home, need to avoid becoming vulnerable consumers.14 In a
© 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp317–328 323Family life in grocery stores • A. Pettersson et al.
study on Swedish teenagers, Wesslén writes that the nag about products.14,15 Yet such behaviour was rare in
skills and knowledge of food-related behaviour were this study, as these children had little success in this
things teenagers had learned at home and mostly by regard. The observed children seemed to accept when
observing their mothers cooking when they were their parents denied them the product and did not con-
small.39 This way of acquiring consumer knowledge was tinue to ask about it. The few observed situations of
also seen in the observations where children learned by parent yielding appeared mostly around the bins of bulk
asking parents about the name of raw ingredients and candy. The rows of bulk candy near the check-out
when they were fresh or ripe: counter are a common sight in every grocery store, and
it is usually a tempting sight for children. Here they can
A family with two younger girls enters the vegetable pick pieces of candy one by one and carefully select
section. ‘What’s that?’ the younger daughter says their favourites. On Fridays and Saturdays, children’s
pointing at a vegetable on the counter. She does not deciding about sweets was more accepted by their par-
get an answer and repeats the question. ‘It’s a radish’, ents than on other weekdays, as ‘Saturday candy’ is a
the mother says. The younger girl asks the mother traditional weekly gift for children in the Swedish cul-
whether she can pick out some tomatoes. ‘Yes if you ture. On other weekdays, children could be observed
pick good ones’, the mother answers. The girl chooses nagging about candy without success. The following
one tomato at the time, showing her mother and ask- observation shows that children’s wishes are not always
ing ‘is this one good?’ When the mother has answered granted:
yes, the girl puts the tomatoes in a basket, which the
mother is holding. The mother exchanges only one of A mother and her young son stand at the check-out
the six tomatoes the girl has chosen (Observation 77). counter and the son looks at the bins of bulk candy
beside the queue. ‘Look mum, there’s such a mass of
Consumer socialization is an important phase in chil- candy’, the boy says. ‘You’ll have to wait until Satur-
dren’s development into consumers, as such knowledge day, then you can have candy’, the mother answers.
is needed the day the children are grown up and are The boy accepts and does not pursue his wish (Obser-
supposed to manage to live on their own.18,20 This con- vation 118).
veying of consumer knowledge can be accomplished
through easy information about what it means to make Sometimes during the shopping rounds, younger
food purchases, thus through teaching children what children loudly mentioned the name of one product
vegetables to choose, what fresh fish looks like and the well known to them to tell the parents they were
value of money. The consumer socialization thereby can interested. Another kind of negotiation was silent. The
be seen as the configuration stage in the decision-mak- children did not ask to buy a product, but instead
ing process when and how to make the right choice.16 pointed at something they wanted or even fetched a
The above results show that the grocery store may facil- product from the shelves and held it in front of the
itate moments of consumer education in many ways – parent. An example of this is shown in the following
not only by providing specific product knowledge, but situation:
also by giving information on how to handle and store
food as well as on economic aspects of food. The A family with two young girls enters the dairy section.
observed teenagers seemed to have reached a level of One of the girls sees fruit yoghurt on a counter.
consumer knowledge that may be deemed adequate this Among them there are the brands ‘Yoggi Junior’ and
far, as had some of the older children. ‘Safari’ (both are positioned to children with cartoons
on the package). ‘Daddy’, she says pointing at the
yoghurt. ‘We already have it at home’, he answers and
Decision-making and negotiation in the store
moves forward through the section. The girl does
As Coakley and Schlosser emphasized, the massiveness not say anything more about the yoghurt
of marketing aimed at young children drives them to (Observation 77).
324 International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp317–328 © 2004 Blackwell Publishing LtdA. Pettersson et al. • Family life in grocery stores
The observed situations also showed actors taking the in this study. Children did not have the tools to induce
wishes of other family members, being present or not, their parents to buy, while teenagers acted more like
in account when choosing a product. This can be con- knowledgeable and respected consumers.
sidered as a non-visual negotiation in the decision-
making process among family units. According to the
Concluding remarks
interviews, the influence of family members could also
be a reason for buying something not needed in the
Informal education
household:
In the present study, the family has been shown to act
It was always those offers with three bottles of lem- as mediator of consumer knowledge in an informal way.
onade for 20 (Swedish Kronor) and there was some According to Palojoki and Tuomi-Gröhn, there is a
nagging and I said, if I can choose one, you (meaning need for crossing boundaries between school and every-
her two sons) can choose one each too. (Mother, day life in order to promote learning in a societal con-
family interview 2) text.10 While society is changing, teaching methods and
pedagogical tools need to be reconsidered to fulfil the
According to consumer research, teenagers use strat- aims of consumer education. Benn stresses that ‘Con-
egies other than yielding to influence purchases, such as sumer education must be a part of subject areas and
making proposals or through discussions.12,17–19 This was cross-curricular projects’, meaning that there is a need
confirmed in the observations, where parents were seen to integrate consumer socialization and consumer edu-
to be induced by the teenagers through questions, sug- cation.41,42 Some parents in the study demonstrated that
gestions or in dialogue: they could work to convey both practical skills and the-
oretical knowledge while making food purchases, as
A mother and her older teenage daughter stand at when teaching the child about a rape fruit or high-
the bread counter. The mother says ‘have you tried quality products. This informal method of consumer
this?’ showing her daughter a packet of whole grain education from parents to children can furthermore be
bread. ‘No’, the daughter answers slowly. ‘It’s lovely seen as the necessary link between theory and practice,
and healthy – lots of fibre’, the mother continues. and may thus be fruitful as an intervention in school and
‘That really doesn’t look tasty’, the daughter says everyday life. Children and teenagers may also teach
laughing. ‘It’s got lots of fibre . . .’ the mother tries their parents about new products and introduce them
again. ‘Well, there’s tasty bread with fibre too’, the to foreign dishes, as adults also need to update their
daughter says. They continue trying to find another knowledge in the changing society. This can be viewed
bread (Observation 78). as a kind of consumer resocialization, using the termi-
nology of Ward.21 The consumer socialization and infor-
Family members do not often share the same pur- mal education between children and adults observed in
chase motives, choice criteria or product preferences. this study thereby can be viewed as important not only
Neither is the degree of influence constant across type as boundary crossing between school and everyday life,
of commodity, decision stage or several subdecisions but also in terms of the passing of knowledge and skills
such as the time for the purchase.40 This was confirmed between generations.
in the observations, which showed both joint decisions
made between teenagers and parents and different
Children’s understanding of food
kinds of negotiation as mentioned in Lee and Marshall’s
decision-making process.16 Individual preferences in the In an era of child consumers, niche products for children
actual situation as well as type of product determined in grocery stores are an expanding sector. The position-
the outcome of the decision-making process. The age ing towards children can be seen in that products are
difference seemed to be an important factor in terms of placed at suitable levels and the package designs are
the level and type of involvement among young people overflowing with cartoons and other multicoloured fig-
© 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp317–328 325Family life in grocery stores • A. Pettersson et al.
ures. This was seen in the results when children were food and food-related activities. Moreover, according to
talking about a package or pointing at products posi- an investigation in the USA, stores are also designed to
tioned towards young consumers. Play is often seen as make the shopping experience pleasant for families.43
an added value and, thus, games and toys are included Among the frequent ways of making shopping family
in the purchase to appeal to children. Other examples friendly were provision of play areas, special trolleys for
of products positioned to children are biscuits in the children and diaper-changing areas. Such a friendly
shape of animals, funny designed breakfast cereals, climate in grocery stores also reflects the creation of a
pasta miniatures and strangely flavoured ice cream. safe place for family shopping.1 The design of the
Though, most popular among the children, that is, the store also facilitates necessary pedagogical situations
young actors in the observed situations, was the huge and the passing of knowledge between family members
assortment of sweets, conveniently placed at the check- was a common view in this study. Another function of
out counter. This way of creating products that appeal the grocery store is that it may offer opportunities to
to children reveals the complexity of highly processed make children aware of proper behaviour and of how
food. Coakley, who has explored the reconstruction of to act like responsible citizens. This means that, in mod-
food products for children, discusses how the global ern society, activities at the grocery store have come to
market is reconstructing childhood by producing ‘vir- form an integral part of bringing up children.
tual’ food rather than real food, by processing raw
ingredients until they remind the consumer neither of
Conclusion
the natural taste nor of the texture.14 Virtual food also
makes it difficult for a child to imagine the connection This study has explored that the grocery store facilitates
between a processed product and the raw ingredients, pedagogical situations in which children can acquire
such as grain and how it is grown. The virtual food, consumer skills concerning real food and how to choose
aimed at children, thereby causes alienation from the the right products. The store thus turns into a place
natural product. This modern phenomenon makes chil- where parents can educate and socialize young consum-
dren’s involvement in the grocery purchase even more ers. Another result was that ordinary family life con-
important, as they can learn about products through tinues in a public place such as the grocery store.
asking about, smelling, looking at, touching and some- Numerous situations showed interaction between gen-
times even tasting ingredients. In this study, this was erations that were considered as everyday family life,
noticed in situations like when asking about a fish or the among others the different stages in the decision-
name of a vegetable and to pick tomatoes. Thus, the making process and parents bringing up their children.
grocery purchase can help children understand the phe-
nomenon of real food.
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