Defence of dissertation in the field of geoinformatics, James Culley, M.Sc.

Grocery retailing has undergone major changes in recent decades, which have impacted both where new outlets are located, as well as their physical characteristics. The importance of aspects such as brand loyalty, pricing and location to consumers means that it is no longer viable for retail decision makers to rely on regional statistics and analysis to draw conclusions about where and what service to provide. Instead, decisions should be taken based on localised characteristics.

This analysis looks at the reasons how the numbers, types and locations of grocery stores have changed across the Helsinki Metropolitan Area over a 30-year. The study looked at the type of consumers across the study area and whether the importance of different criteria, such as pricing and brand, varied according to the consumers’ locations.

In line with many other countries, there had been a shift from small to larger grocery stores dominating the grocery retailing landscape. These changes have not occurred evenly across areas, however, or at the same time. Using these results we defined spatial submarkets representing patterns of change of supply of grocery stores to residents.

As well as the demographics of inhabitants varying from location to location within the region, we found what they considered important to making their store choice varied greatly by location. These tools and the results can assist decision-makers in the grocery and retailing industry better understand their markets and make better, more informed decisions based upon data they hold.

The opponent is Dr. Urška Demšarfrom the University of St.Andrews, UK. 

The custos is professor Kirsi Virrantaus from the Department of Built Environment, Aalto University. 

Electronic dissertation:https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/49

Doctoral candidate's contact information:
James Culley, Knight Frank
[email protected]
+442078611340
 

A doctoral dissertation is a public document and shall be available at Aalto University, School of Engineering’s notice board in Otakaari 4, Espoo at the latest 10 days prior to public defence.