Newing, A orcid.org/0000-0002-3222-6640, Hood, N orcid.org/0000-0002-2084-2155, Videira, F et al. (1 more author) (2022) ‘Sorry we do not deliver to your area’: geographical inequalities in online groceries provision. International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 32 (1). pp. 80-99. ISSN 0959-3969
Abstract
The British grocery retail sector is experiencing rapid growth in online ordering for home delivery, resulting in considerable supply side investment in delivery and fulfilment infrastructure. For retailers with a physical store network, investments typically utilise larger format stores as delivery and fulfilment hubs. Proximity to the store network and delivery infrastructure capacity thus drive the availability and choice of online groceries provider at the neighbourhood level. We aim to assess the geographical extent of online groceries coverage at a small-area level in Great Britain (GB). We carry out a nationwide assessment of the provision of online groceries, revealing generally excellent coverage within urban and suburban areas, including those neighbourhoods that may have once been considered urban food deserts. However, rural–urban inequalities are evident, with the most remote and rural catchments experiencing comparatively poor online groceries provision. We argue that these inequalities give rise to a new form of food desert: remote and rural neighbourhoods with the compounded effects of poor access to physical retail provision (akin to ‘traditional’ food deserts) and the additional disadvantage of poor coverage by online groceries providers. Many of these neighbourhoods are already the most remote from physical store provision and may also be faced with withdrawal of physical (retail) services. We make a number of recommendations that could support the provision of online groceries services in these areas and reflect on the tremendous potential for ongoing research into widening inequalities in access to grocery retailing driven by the geography of online groceries.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | delivery coverage; Food desert; Gb; online groceries; urban-rural inequalities |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Centre for Spatial Analysis & Policy (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 24 Jan 2022 10:05 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:53 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Routledge |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/09593969.2021.2017321 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:182772 |