Urban food shopping trends: An analysis of Istanbul's grocery preferences via multi group structural equation model

With the advancement of technology and the internet, online grocery shopping has become increasingly prevalent, transforming into an integral part of contemporary urban life and quality of living. This study investigates the demographic features of households, the presence of technology, and their grocery shopping frequency, while also addressing household internet satisfaction. While existing literature typically examines grocery shopping habits in-store and online, this research categorizes seven food retail points into traditional, alternative, and online categories. The study focuses on Istanbul, Türkiye's largest and most populous metropolitan city, utilizing data from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Open Data Portal. Due to the complexity of the relationships, we use the multi-group structural equation model, an advanced statistical method. Thus, we can make spatial evaluations at the district level as well as the general trend of the city. The findings indicate that as demographic features improve, the frequency of grocery shopping decreases. With the presence of technology, online and alternative grocery shopping points are preferred. Socioeconomic status is the most influential factor in determining shopping point preferences among demographic features. Specifically, the results show that while the relationship between online grocery shopping and demographic characteristics is weak in the city center of the European side, it strengthens as one moves toward the periphery. In contrast, the Anatolian side displays more balanced relationships. The study's findings are expected to serve as a foundation for developing food policies at the metropolitan scale and provide relevant insights for stakeholders in the grocery retail sector.