A supermarket promotion that customers welcome in one country may be judged differently in another. Survey responses from 991 shoppers in Croatia and Tanzania showed the largest cross-country gap in perceptions of promotional activity, followed by staff interactions.
What researchers studied
Researchers compared how regular supermarket shoppers evaluated five elements of retail marketing: products, prices, distribution, promotions and personnel. The cross-sectional survey took place in 2025 and included 400 adult respondents in Croatia and 591 in Tanzania.
Participants rated statements on five-point scales. The research team used statistical comparisons and factor analysis to assess the size of differences and whether the five dimensions were measured consistently across the two national samples.
The analysis addressed differences in shoppers’ perceptions. It did not directly measure changes in sales, campaign effectiveness or customer loyalty after a marketing intervention.
What they found
Respondents in Tanzania rated all five elements more positively on average. The clearest difference concerned promotion, where Tanzania’s mean score was 3.618 compared with Croatia’s 2.921. The reported standardised difference for promotion had an absolute Cohen’s d of 0.739.
Personnel ratings were also notably different, averaging 3.791 in Tanzania and 3.263 in Croatia. By contrast, product ratings were 3.740 and 3.393, respectively.
The researchers reported statistically significant differences across the five dimensions. Their confirmatory analysis supported the original five-part framework and found sufficient measurement comparability to interpret the country-level contrasts.
What it means
The study challenges the assumption that identical retail strategies will be perceived identically across markets. A supermarket operating internationally could use locally collected feedback to examine whether promotions are understood, staff are approachable and offers feel relevant.
Nevertheless, a higher survey rating does not establish that promotions caused greater satisfaction or spending. The most useful lesson is to measure customer experience locally, rather than simply copying a marketing programme that performs well elsewhere.
Important limitation
Participants were recruited through convenience sampling, so the findings are not nationally representative. Cultural values and market conditions were not directly measured, meaning the differences cannot be attributed to culture. Survey ratings also do not prove what shoppers actually bought.
Source Information
Study: Consumer perceptions of marketing mix in supermarkets: a cross-cultural analysis of Croatia and Tanzania
Authors: Marko Šostar, Robert Suphian, Gabrijela Garić and Josip Knežević
Journal / Source: Frontiers in Communication
Published: 15 October 2026
