The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Online Grocery Supply Chain Management: A Case Study in Istanbul

Year 2024, Volume: 37 Issue: 1, 357 - 374, 01.03.2024

Sonya Javadi , Ali İhsan Özer , Olcay Keten , Remziye Zeynep Alkan

https://doi.org/10.35378/gujs.1025914

Cited By: 1

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has already crippled normal life all over the world. Its negative impact not only changed the human health system tragically but also disrupted the global economic system. One negative result was ended up in the global food supply chain. As the lockdown times have suspended the manufacturing and logistic activities, therefore, the customers have experienced unimaginable chaos in the shopping markets. Moreover, the purchasing habit of the consumers has remarkably changed compared to pre-pandemic. To meet this new demand pattern, many grocery retailers have tried to adapt to the new normal. While before COVID-19 offline grocery purchasing was popular, after the pandemic, online service got tremendous attention in market. In this study, online grocery supply chain management during the COVID-19 in Istanbul is considered. The aim is to find out how online grocery companies will serve more efficiently during the pandemics and which factors have more effect on the customer’s satisfaction. To do so, first, three popular grocery retailers in Istanbul were selected. Then, a related survey was designed to understand the consumer experience as doing online grocery shopping in COVID-19. Unsurprisingly, a result shows that 60% of the respondents did online shopping every 3-4 days in one week, and the delivery time is the most important factor for the customers. Then, the SWOT analyses were performed accordingly, and the related strategies were summarized. Finally, several managerial implications were given to may improve the company’s online services in COVID-19 and post COVID-19 in Turkey.

Keywords

Food supply chain, Grocery retailers, Online grocery shopping, COVID-19 pandemic

References

• [1] https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-update-on-covid-19---7-august-2020. Access date: 07.08.2020
• [2] https://www.thepacker.com/markets/marketing-news/retail/marketers-see-uptick-online-deliveries-amid-covid-19-restrictions. Access date: 01.09.2021
• [3] https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2020/07/20/the-coronavirus-pandemic-lifts-global-online-grocery-sales/. Access date: 08.07.2020
• [4] Mahajan, K. and Tomar, S., “COVID-19 and Supply Chain Disruption: Evidence from Food Markets in India”, American journal of agricultural economics, 103(1): 35-52, (2021).
• [5] Aday, S. and Aday M. S., “Impact of COVID-19 on the food supply chain”, Food Quality and Saftey, 4(4): 167-180, (2020).
• [6] Hobbs, J. E., “Food supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic”, Candan Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d’agroeconomie, 68(2): 171-176, (2020).
• [7] Rizou, M., Galanakis, I. M., Aldawoud, T. M. S. and Galanakis, C. M., “Safety of foods, food supply camin and environment within the COVID-19 pandemic”, Trends in food science and technology, 102: 293-299, (2000).
• [8] Singh, S., Kumar, R., Panchal, R. and Tiwari, M. K., “Impact of COVID-19 on logistics systems and disruptions in food supply chain”, International Journal of Production Research, 59(7): 1993-2008, (2021).
• [9] Rizou, M., Galanakis, I. M., Aldawoud, T. M. S. and Galanakis, C. M., “Safety of foods, food supply camin and environment within the COVID-19 pandemic”, Trends in food science and technology, 102: 293-299, (2000).
• [10] Thilmany, D., Canales, E., Low, S.A. and Boys,K., “Local Food Supply Chain Dynamics and Resilience during COVID‐19”, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 43(1): 86-104, (2021).
• [11] Mor, R. S., Srivastava, P. P., Jain, R., Varshney, S. and Goyal, V., “Managing Food Supply Chains Post COVID-19: A Perspective”, International Journal of Supply and Operations Management, 7(3): 295-298, (2020).
• [12] Özbek, K. G. K., Özcan, S. and Çalışkan, F. A., “Customer complaints encountered in the online food retail during the COVID-19 intermittent curfew period”, Turkish Journal of Marketing, 6(3): 223-238, (2022).
• [13] Meena, P. and Kumar, G., “Online food delivery companies' performance and consumer’s expectations during Covid-19: An investigation using machine learning approach”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 68:103052, (2022).
• [14] McCain, S.L.C., Lolli, J., Liu, E. and Lin, L.C., “An analysis of a third-party food delivery app during the COVID-19 pandemic”, British Food Journal, (2021).
• [15] Liu, S., “Food Supply Pressure in France and Germany During COVID-19”, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(4): 1-4, (2021).
• [16] Craighead, C. W., Jr, D. J. K. and Darby, J. L., “Pandemics and supply chain management research: toward a theoretical toolbox”, Decision Sciences, 51(4): 838-866, (2020).
• [17] Grashuis, J., Skevas, T. and Segovia, M. S., “Grocery shopping preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic”, Sustainability, 12(13): 5369, (2020).
• [18] Chenarides, L., Grebitus, C., Lusk J. L. and Printezis, I., “Food consumption behavior derin the COVID-19 pandemic”, Agribusiness, 37 (1): 44-81, (2021).
• [19] Brandtner, P., Darbanian, F., Falatouri, T. and Udokwu, C., “Impact of COVID-19 on the customer end of retail supply chains: A big data analysis of consumer satisfaction”, Sustainability, 13(3): 1464, (2021).
• [20] Hao, N., Wang, H. H. and Zhou, Q., “The impact of online grocery shopping on stockpile behavior in Covid-19”, China Agricultural Economic Review, 12(3): 459-470, (2020).
• [21] Lodni, C., Najmaei, M. and Mansori, S., “The Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on the German EGrocery Industry with Respect to Challenges for Retailers and Customer Satisfaction”, Journal of Marketing Management and Consumer Behavior, 3(3): 1-31, (2021).
• [22] Melis, K., Campo, K., Breugelmans, E. and Lamey, L., “The impact of the multi-channel retail mixes on online store choice: does online experience matter?”, Journal of Retailing, 91(2): 272-288, (2015).
• [23] Eriksson, N. and Stenius, M., “Online grocery shoppers due to the Covid-19 pandemic-An analysis of demographic and household characteristics”, Procedia Computer Science, 196: 93-100, (2022).
• [24]Gomes, S. and Lopes, J. M., “Evolution of the online grocery shopping experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Empiric study from Portugal”, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 17(3): 909-923, (2022).
• [25] Tyrväinen, O. and Karjaluoto, H., “Online grocery shopping before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analytical review”, Telematics and Informatics, 101839, (2022).
• [26]Mahajan, K. and Tomar, S., “COVID-19 and Supply Chain Disruption: Evidence from Food Markets in India”, American journal of agricultural economics, 103(1): 35-52, (2021).
• [27]Foster, I. S., Liu, S. Y., Hoffs, C. T., LeBoa, C., Chen, A. S. and Rummo, P. E., “Disparities in SNAP online grocery delivery and implementation: Lessons learned from California during the 2020-21 COVID pandemic”, Health and Place, 76: 102811, (2022).
• [28] Singh, S., Kumar, R., Panchal, R. and Tiwari, M. K., “Impact of COVID-19 on logistics systems and disruptions in food supply chain”, International Journal of Production Research, 59(7): 1993-2008, (2021).
• [29] https://www.supermarketnews.com/center-store/how-coronavirus-crisis-changing-grocery-shopping. Access date: 03.04.2020
• [30] Keane, M. and Neal, T., “Consumer panic in the COVID-19 pandemic”, Journal of Economics, 220: 86-105, (2021).
• [31]Özcan, G. B., “Surviving through transplantation and cloning: the Swiss migros hybrid, migrosturk”, Remaking Management: Between local and global, 181-205, (2008).
• [32]Appel, A., “Embeddedness and the (re) making of retail space in the revam of multichannel retailing: the case of Migros Sanal Market in Turkey”, Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 98(1): 55-69, (2016).
• [33]https://blog.startupmarket.co/nazim-salur-ile-girisimciligi-ve-girisimlerinin-hikayesini-konustuk/. Access date: 02.10.2018
• [34]Eken, I., and Gezmen, B., “E-Retailing practices in mobile marketing: the case of getir application”, In Tools and Techniques for Implementing International E-Trading Tactics for Competitive Advantage, IGI Global, 156-183, (2020).
• [35]Turkmen, A., “COVID-19’s Effects on Turkish Online Retail Consumers’ Retail Website Visiting Behavior”, Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, 19: 767-779, (2020).