Purchasing decision behaviour by Chinese supermarkets

This paper reports a pilot study on the relative importance of supplier selection criteria as rated by seafood purchasers for Chinese supermarkets. A sample of 192 supermarkets in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu participated in the study. The purchasers rated product quality as the most important criterion when buying seafood, followed by the supplier's reliability, the policy regarding returns and handling of complaints, the service level, the willingness to co-operate, ability to supply products, product certification by an authorized organization and competitive prices. Significant differences in the relative importance of supplier criteria were found across the supermarkets' buying behaviour, firm demographics and the cities where they are located. This will have managerial implications for suppliers of food products to the fast-growing Chinese supermarket segment.