Article ID: | iaor20107323 |
Volume: | 26 |
Issue: | 5 |
Start Page Number: | 603 |
End Page Number: | 615 |
Publication Date: | Sep 2008 |
Journal: | Development Policy Review |
Authors: | D'Haese Marijke, Van den Berg Marrit, Speelman Stijn |
Keywords: | retailing, developing countries |
Studies portraying and quantifying supermarket clientele based on country-wide survey data are scarce in development economics literature. This article studies the choice of outlet of Nicaraguan consumers in 1998 and 2001 when supermarkets started to emerge and gain in importance. It applies comparative statistics and a multinomial logit model to countrywide data on 4,000 households. The results show an emerging supermarket sector with a slowly growing clientele, especially among the better endowed and more highly educated families. Small grocery shops or pulperias and the daily and weekly markets continue to serve most clients.