Exploring night-time grocery shopping behaviour

Recent legal and societal developments have provided an impetus for rethinking retail opening hours in many European countries. In many of these countries, large supermarket chains are now developing an interest in extending their opening hours to a 24-hour regime. This paper discusses the conceptual foundations for understanding night-time shopping behaviour both from a sociological and a consumer research perspective. It also presents exploratory evidence from a study combining participant observation with a survey of 146 night-time grocery shoppers in a large supermarket in the Republic of Ireland. The results indicate that with a proliferation of ‘unconventional’ lifestyles among modern consumers, night-time supermarkets offer a service that is highly appreciated by parts of the Irish population. The study also shows that despite the prevalence of functional motivators for night-time grocery shoppers, the hedonic and social aspects of this shopping behaviour should not be overlooked. The paper finishes by developing a research agenda for consumer behaviour in the new 24-hour society.