Abstract
Food retailers are putting strength into sales promotion because of the scaling down of the food market of Japan. As well known, self-service selling is considered as a fixed style of supermarket that increases business efficiency. However, a change of strategy in supermarket has been occurring recent years, such as re-adopting the traditional clerk-service based style in meat departments to make an appeal of specialty to the customers. This study assessed the effect of the movement of meat sales specialization in supermarkets by examining the case of supermarket chain Y, which includes approximately 100 stores covering the Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu areas of west Japan. Supermarket Y differentiated the meat clerk-service from the self-service by merchandising the domestic brand meat along with the rare body parts and value-added hot 'ready to eat' meat products cooked inside the store kitchen. Moreover, the clerk-service in supermarket Y is oriented as a traditional butcher, providing flexible human services. The findings showed that it is significant for maintaining a certain customer base and increasing sales steadily, even slightly, by pre-selling domestic meat in clerk-service of supermarket. For that, it is essential that the domestic meat handled in clerk-service is provided with quality information that is clear and easy for consumers to understand.
