Indonesia Middle-Class Income and Stagnancy in the Growth of Fruit and Vegetable Supermarkets

Abstract

Research on supermarket developments has been quite intensive in the last three decades since the middle-class income has grown rapidly, especially in Asia and Africa. The purpose of this study is to describe sociologically the reason behind the stagnancy of fruit and vegetables supermarket in Indonesia while the increasing middle class income. Taking 170 informants from consumers who bought fruit and vegetables from supermarkets, 20 vendors, and 250 middle-class income families, ethnographic approach was used. Research result exhibits that Indonesia Middle-Class Income (IMCI) perceives more supermarkets as manufactured goods shopping and recreation area. Most IMCIs employ housemaids who prefer to shop at traditional markets, stalls or peddlers rather than supermarkets. Vegetable and fruit stalls also shifted the opening hours from early morning to late afternoon allowing career women to shop. That social situation simultaneously becomes a barrier for IMCI to shop fruits and vegetables to the supermarket. Based on three dimensions of the social practice theory, it can be concluded that the meaning and competencies dimension don’t support IMCI to at supermarkets, but the material dimensions tend to support. As the study focuses on the middle class, it has not yet provided a general view on the consumption of the society, and so further studies are needed.