Greener Journal of Business and Management Studies

Greener Journal of  Business and Management Studies  Vol. 4 (4), pp. 138-145, August 2014

 ISSN: 2276-7827 

Research Paper

Manuscript Number: 060214260

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15580/GJBMS.2014.4.060214260 

Evaluating Product Ethics in Grocery Retailing: The View of Harare Customers

 

Vutete Clever*, Chikosha Felix

 

Department of Business Management, Zimbabwe Open University, 209 Hay Road Bindura.

*Corresponding Author’s Email: frixch @hotmail .com

Abstract:

While grocery retailers and other businesses in the developed world are now worried about green ethics and social responsibility, their counterparts in Zimbabwe are facing ethical complaints around the marketing of their products. A descriptive study conducted on whether Harare grocery retail customers were ethically satisfied by the products offered by grocery retailers was carried out with 210 customers taken from various suburbs in Harare. The sample was established through quota and systematic sampling methods. Product unethical practices were found to include selling old food, use of deceiving packaging volumes, weights and sizes, and mislabelled products. The study recommends grocery retailers to take product ethical audits twice per year. Consumers are recommended to report all unethical practices to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe and to any other regulatory authorities. The government was recommended to heighten consumer education, implement anti- dumping policies and set laws that empower consumers.

Keywords: marketing mix, ethical values, ethical audit, grocery customers, grocery retailers.

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