How many grocery prices do shoppers really know?

Whereas price was the major marketing weapon in food retailing in the 1960s and early 70s, most food retailers now acknowledge that this has been superseded by other more subtle approaches. From the customer's viewpoint, to what degree is s/he aware of a store's prices, in this changing economic climate? The Economic and Social Research Council sponsored a study in which the two authors set out to measure price awareness levels at two supermarkets in the Manchester area. The differences in awareness that emerged between product groups and between brand types are, the authors claim, “of the utmost importance to retail price makers.”