Comparative Analysis Of Grocery Store Shopping In The United States And The Netherlands
The first time I stepped into a grocery store here in Maastricht, I felt overwhelmed. I saw a wall full of scanners that I didn’t know how to use and people weighing and labeling their produce. I walked into Jumbo and turned to the right to grab my dry food first and a woman told me I was walking around the store in the wrong direction – that I should get my bread and cheese first. When I needed help finding certain products, I did not see any employees walking around the store to assist customers. Of all the cultural differences between the United States and the Netherlands that I learned about and prepared for before my trip, I did not expect something as simple as grocery shopping to feel so strange. Geert Hofstede, in Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations, studies “the differences and similarities among the culture patterns of countries”. To do this, he introduces the following dimensions of culture: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, and long-term versus short-term orientation. Later on, he added the concept of indulgence versus restraint to round out the six dimensions. Even in experiences as simple as buying food at a supermarket, cultural differences as explained by Hofstede’s 6-D model still play a role. The Dutch grocery shopping experience differs from the shopping experience in the US because the Netherlands is a low-masculinity society and holds a long-term orientation, as opposed to the US culture of high masculinity and short-term orientation.
Part of the difference between the grocery shopping experience in Maastricht versus in the US can be attributed to the fact that the US scores higher on the masculinity scale than the Netherlands does. According to Hofstede Insights, the US scores a 62 out of 100 on masculinity, rendering it a masculine society, whereas the Netherlands scores a low 14 out of 100. These ratings mean that the US values performance, success, and being “the best” at things, while the Netherlands values care and quality of life. These stark cultural differences are reflected in many aspects of life, even bleeding into their respective grocery shopping experiences. Because the US is a high MAS society, we “live to work”. Growing up, both of my parents were so busy juggling work, the kids, and other responsibilities that they simply did not have time to shop every day. Even when my dad’s “workday” officially ends, he still will work on projects at home and sometimes take calls or have virtual meetings if he has colleagues in a different time zone. This trend is supported by evidence of an expanding workweek in the US: “Between the 1980 U.S. Census and the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS), the share of men usually working more than 48 hours per week rose from 16.6% to 24.3%”. As a result, grocery stores in the US have adapted to this kind of lifestyle. We usually go grocery shopping once a week, as opposed to shopping every day. Whenever I would go to the store with my mom or dad as a child, we would load up an entire grocery cart to the brim with food. On average, I would say at least half or more of this food was either dry food or frozen food, with less than 50% consisting of fresh food. Stores in the US have huge isles full of processed and packaged foods in large portion sizes, in addition to much larger freezer sections than in the Netherlands.
Because the Netherlands is a low MAS society, the emphasis is placed more on “working to live”. Without the pressure to achieve by going above and beyond and working long hours, Dutch people have more time to enjoy life, including food. This cultural difference is evident in the way Dutch grocery stores are set up. Both Albert Heijn and Jumbo have smaller portion sizes and large sections of fresh food, with only a very small freezer section. I’ve observed that people buy much smaller quantities at a time as well, because of this idea that they have the time to grocery shop every day, ensuring that their food is fresh. I once filled up one of the small, hand-held baskets with food, and even though that is a much smaller quantity than I would buy in the US, I still felt somewhat self-conscious since everyone else was only scanning around ten items or less. Beyond just the physical shopping experience, you can see the difference in these masculine and feminine values reflected in company slogans. Food Lion’s “Get your lion’s share,” demonstrates the desire for everything in the US to be big and bold. Compare this slogan to Albert Heijn’s “Gewoon bij Albert Heijn,” meaning “Simply at Albert Heijn,” and you can see these cultural differences in just a few words. Short-term versus long-term orientation also plays a role in the differing grocery-shopping cultures in the US and the Netherlands. The US scores a 26 on the long-term orientation scale, whereas the Netherlands scores a 67. These rankings mean that the US is reluctant to change, thinking in the short-term and preferring tradition, whereas the Netherlands adapts to societal changes with the future in mind.
The effects of these cultural differences can be seen in the idea of paying with a credit card as opposed to paying with cash or a debit card. I’ve noticed that when I use a credit card at the grocery store I sometimes get strange looks from the employees. Some stores do not accept my credit cards at all, like Albert Heijn for example. Most Dutch people seem to pay with cash or a debit card, and this can be attributed back to the idea of long-term versus short-term orientation. I sat outside of Jumbo for 15 minutes and counted that about 1:2 customers paid with cash as opposed to a card. In the US, these numbers would be much lower, as people buy groceries in large quantities and typically pay with a credit card. Since people in Maastricht have a long-term orientation, they choose to pay with the money they have now, instead of waiting until later to be responsible for the money. Citizens in the US tend to blindly swipe a credit card, often without having a concrete grasp on the amount of money they will have to pay in the future and how they will pay it.
Another difference that can be attributed to the long-term orientation is the use of disposable bags in stores. In the US, you can get an unlimited number of plastic or paper bags with your purchase for no additional cost. People walk out of stores wasting hundreds upon thousands of plastic bags with no intention of reusing them or recycling them. Because the US holds a short-term orientation, people and businesses are not considering the detrimental impacts on the environment that this causes. Giving away unlimited plastic bags is not a sustainable practice, but no one seems to care, as very few people bring reusable bags to the store. However, that is not the case in Maastricht. Everyone brings their bags from home, and if you forget, you have to pay to purchase a plastic bag. This practice demonstrates how Dutch people are looking into the future, recognizing that the planet cannot sustain a reckless consumption of single-use plastics. The long-term orientation of the Dutch is supported by Philippe D’Iribarne’s La logique de l’honneur. D’Iribarne discusses the idea that people in the Netherlands are long-term planners. He uses an example of the Dutch working to create a new plant where they make plans “for up to two years in the future.” Both Hofstede and D’Iribarne demonstrate why there is a different attitude towards waste created by grocery stores in the US and the Netherlands. Given the long-term planning and orientation of Dutch people, it makes sense why free plastic bags aren’t given out in grocery stores in Maastricht.
In conclusion, Hofstede’s 6-D model can be used to explain even seemingly small cultural differences between the United States and the Netherlands, like grocery shopping. The Netherlands is a low MAS society with a long-term orientation, and these values of care, quality of life, and adaption for the future influence the way supermarkets are set up and the shopping experience is carried out. In Dutch supermarkets, the small portion sizes, fresh food, cash and debit card payments, and practice of bringing reusable bags all embody these ideals, creating a much different shopping experience than that of the US grocery stores.
