Consumer credit in the retail food industry: attitudinal analysis and market segmentation

Abstract

Credit has been an important facet of consumer retail purchases in the United States for many years. As the possibility of a cashless society becomes more apparent, interest continues to develop in the application of charge cards to the retail food industry. The absence of charge cards in the retail food industry is becoming more conspicuous as it attains the status of the only major retail industry not involved in consumer credit. The retail food industry has not allowed this trend to for unnoticed. Some top-level management of the industry believe charge cards to be an inevitable occurrence, while others believe many limitation and barriers exist to their entrance in the retail food field. There exists no unified opinion on the subject of charge cards, rather a polarity of opinion. ...