Abstract

The study argues that a complete “paradigm shift” in the grocery shop business sector is necessary. This will result in interventions which improve the quality of strategic marketing decisions and consequently profitability of the grocery shops. Due to the lack of a model available on how marketing strategy affects the profitability of grocery shops, a comprehensive literature search was done and norms of marketing strategies were developed and subsequently used to benchmark the practices of grocery shops in Mdantsane, East London. The grocery shop owners or managers were asked their manipulation of the marketing mix variables in their effort to attain profitability. A total of 36 grocery shops were examined within the context of the research framework.

Key words: Marketing strategies, profitability, Mdanstane, township.