影响消费者日常购物地点选择的因素研究(英文原创)

影响消费者日常购物地点选择的因素研究(英文原创) Which factors will influence how people choose shopping place for everyday use and eat? 1 Abstract Based on primary and secondary data, this report systematically analyzes factors which influence people’s choice of shopping place, so as to provide an theoretical orientation for daily goods enterprises to adjust marketing strategy. The questionnaire method was chosen to conduct the market research, as this method can collect enough data within a short period of time, and has relatively low research cost. 40 participants completed the questionnaire and data were processed through Excel. Results show that factors influence how people choose shopping place for everyday use and eat include consumers’ purchasing behavior factors, service level of shopping places and development of internet information. Differentiated channels can be adopted to different types of consumer purchasing habits, and high service level should be established at shopping places, so as satisfy consumer demands and cultivate consumer loyalty. 2 Table of Contents Abstract 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 2. Literature review ................................................................................................. 1 3. Aims and methodology ....................................................................................... 2 4. Result and discussion .......................................................................................... 3 5. Conclusion and recommendations ...................................................................... 5 References ............................................................................................................... 6 Appendix ................................................................................................................. 7 3 1. Introduction With the increasing development of science, technology and market, consumer demands also change and develop constantly. Consumers’ purchasing behavior also become diversified, differentiated and personalized (Kardes et at, 2011). In order to attract more consumers, many daily goods shopping place operators want to use proper marketing channels to gain competitive advantage (Kotler et al, 2002). A way to solve the problem is to study what factors influence how people choose shopping place for everyday use and eat. Based on primary and secondary data, this report will systematically analyze factors which influence people’s choice of shopping place, so as to provide an theoretical orientation for daily goods enterprises to adjust marketing strategy. 2. Literature review Scholars have proposed their own views regarding which factors influence consumers’ choice of shopping place. Korgaonkar (1984) pointed out that product price is a key factor that influenced consumers’ shopping place choice. Schoenbachler and Gordon (2002) studied channel choice of consumer shopping in the retail sector and found that risks sensed by consumers, past shopping experience, shopping motives and product/service type can determine consumers’ choice. Featherman and Pavlou (2003) analyzed risks of shopping and concluded that risk was an important factor that determined consumers’ choice of shopping place. Inman et al (2004) pointed out that consumers’ demographics (gender, age, income etc.), psychological characteristics (life style, innovative spirit etc. ) and behavior characteristics ( past shopping experience etc.) have impacts on consumers’ choice and preference of shopping place. Strebel et al (2004) concerned the stage of information search during consumption, and discussed the importance of consumers’ perception towards information quality, research results show that online shopping channel is becoming an alternative channel. Based on above review, it can be found that research on factors that influence how 1 people choose shopping place are still very dispersive, as for studies on factors that influence how people choose shopping place for daily use and eat, it is lack of a systematic and comprehensive theoretical research. Therefore, it is of great significance to research on which factors will influence how people choose shopping place for everyday use and eat. 3. Aims and methodology The questionnaire method was chosen to conduct the market research, as this method can collect enough data within a short period of time, and has relatively low research cost(Bradbum et al, 2004). 10 close questions (8 single choice, 1 multiple choice and 1 sorting question) and 2 open questions were designed. Relevant personal information were collected including gender, age, occupation and income, because people’s personal factors can largely influence their consuming behavior. Besides, questions related to people’s daily goods shopping habits were also designed, so as to judge the influence of social factors, product type, service and information technology on consumers’ choice of shopping place. Finally, two open questions about their shopping experience were asked, in order to gain some unexpected and enlightening. An proper sampling procedure can guarantee certain features of a population sample to be represented in the way the researcher desires (Bradbum et al, 2004). In this research, the researcher visited four nearby shopping place (Tesco, M&S, Argos, Sainsbury) to select participants. The researcher identified relevant categories of customers, including gender and age, and then decided how many would be in every category, so that the number of participants in different categories was fixed. For instance, the researcher respectively chose 4 males and 4 females from each age group. 40 participants completed the questionnaire and all of the 40 questionnaires were effective. Collected data were processed through Excel and Word, and would presented by three pie graphs. 2 4. Result and discussion Through the questionnaire survey, it can be found that three key types of factors influence consumers’ choice of shopping place for everyday use and eat, which are consumer purchasing behavior factors, and service of shopping place and development of internet information. When consumers make shopping decisions, they are usually willing to listen to others’ opinions, so as to reduce potential risks of shopping decisions. Figure 1 shows that social factors such as family, friends, colleagues and celebrities can influence consumers’ decision on which shopping places to visit. Family is the basic unit of society and the most important shopping group. Families have different consumption features and rules, which determine their different shopping channel preferences. Based on collected data, most middle-aged consumers are cautious about daily goods consumption, they prefer to choose shopping places with transportation convenience, good quality and reasonable price. Young consumers more tend to believe celebrities’ recommendations. 5 young respondents answered in the opening question area that they chose shopping places their idols once recommended, regardless of price, convenience or service. Figure 1 As for personal factors, age is a significant factor which determines consumer demand. Consumers of different age groups have different preferences of shopping places. As 3 Figure 2 shows, the elder group like to go shopping at traditional groceries and commodity markets. While the young group prefer to enjoy online shopping. Consumers of different occupations also have different values and purchasing principles. For example, office workers are usually very busy, they like to buy daily goods at convenient and fast places such as the supermarkets. Economic level has more direct influence to consumers’ choice of shopping places. According to questionnaire results, low-income consumers generally choose to buy daily goods at groceries and supermarkets, but seldom visit large shopping malls and exclusive stores, while consumers with high income tend to visit shopping malls and exclusive stores with better but more expensive products and services. Figure 2 Service level at shopping places also affect people’s choice of shopping place. With the gradual maturity of the buyer market, consumers’ daily consumption becomes rational and personalized. According to Figure 3, nowadays, consumers do not only value product quality as they always do, their also pay much attention to service, product design, brand, shopping experience and shopping environment. Therefore, shopping places must provide both cost-effective products as well as quality service to attract customers. Service level actually goes through the whole purchasing process. Some respondents described their ideal shopping experience: before sales, shopping places take proper marketing methods to deliver product information to customers; when customers are shopping, shopping places provide them with convenient services such as free parking and free delivery, clerks should also have an enthusiastic attitude; 4 after sales, shopping places value customers’ feedback and offer considerable after-sale service. Figure 3 Lastly, rapid development of the internet makes shopping channel system undergo fundamental changes, as it breaks through the limitation of shopping area in traditional sense, and meanwhile provide convenient realizing conditions to consumers’ personalized demands (Li & Zhang, 2002). Existence and development of online shopping channel change many consumers’ purchasing behavior characteristics and largely influence their purchasing decision-making process. Online shopping channel has many advantages, such as fast information search and cheaper price, so it attracts a large amount of consumers. According to questionnaire survey, all respondents who chose online shopping frequently are between 18 to 35, and most of them are university students and office workers. Besides, female consumers are the main body of online shopping. Thirdly, online shoppers generally have a high educational background. 5. Conclusion and recommendations All in all, through the questionnaire survey, factors influence how people choose shopping place for everyday use and eat include consumers’ purchasing behavior factors, service level of shopping places and development of internet information. 5 Based on the analysis of the three factors, two recommendations are proposed to relevant enterprises. One is design of terminal shopping channel should be consumer-oriented, differentiated channels can be adopted to different types of consumer purchasing habits, so as to make products smoothly reach every target customer. Secondly, enterprises should fully understand service level required by target customers, establish high service level, so as cultivate consumer loyalty. Due to the insufficient research experience and time, as well as the limited sample, this research is somewhat biased and the results may be not suitable for general analysis of consumer’ choice of shopping places. Further research is worthwhile carried out so as to get a more in-depth understanding of consumer psychology and enterprises’ marketing decision-making. References Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., & Cunningham, M. H. 2002. Principles of marketing. Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice Hall. pp. 25-31. Bradburn, N. M., Sudman, S., & Wansink, B. 2004. Asking questions: the definitive guide to questionnaire design--for market research, political polls, and social and health questionnaires. John Wiley & Sons. pp.33-155. Featherman, M. S., & Pavlou, P. A. 2003. Predicting e-services adoption: a perceived risk facets perspective. International journal of human-computer studies, 59(4), 451-474. Inman, J. J., Shankar, V., & Ferraro, R. 2004. The roles of channel-category associations and geodemographics in channel patronage. Journal of Marketing, 68(2), pp. 51-71. 6 Kardes, F. R., Cline, T. W., & Cronley, M. L. 2011. Consumer behavior. South-Western Cengage Learning. pp. 101-168. Korgaonkar, P. K. 1984. Consumer shopping orientations, non-store retailers, and consumers' patronage intentions: a multivariate investigation.Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 12(1-2), pp.11-22. Li, N., & Zhang, P. 2002. Consumer online shopping attitudes and behavior: An assessment of research. In Eighth Americas Conference on Information Systems . pp. 508-517. Schoenbachler, D. D., & Gordon, G. L. 2002. Multi-channel shopping: understanding what drives channel choice. Journal of Consumer Marketing,19(1), pp. 42-53. Strebel, J., Erdem, T., & Swait, J. 2004. Consumer search in high technology markets: exploring the use of traditional information channels. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14(1), pp. 96-104. Appendix Questionnaire 1. Your gender is A. Male B. Female 2. Your age is between A. 21-30 B. 31-40 C. 41-50 D. 51-60 E. Over 60 7 3. Your occupation is A. Company employee B. Self-employed worker C. Student D. Unemployed E. Other 4. Your monthly income is between A. Below ?2,000 B. ?2,001-4,000 C. ?4,001-6,000 D. ?6,001-8,000 E. ?Over 8,000 5. How often do you buy daily goods? A. Once a day B. Twice a week or more C. Once a month D. Less than once a month 6. Which kind of shopping place do you visit most frequently when buying daily goods? A. Supermarket B. Grocery C. Commodity market D. Shopping mall E.Exclusive shop F. Online 7. How do you make decision on which shopping places to visit? A. By myself B. Recommendations from friends C. Recommendations from family members D Recommendations from colleagues E. Advertisements/Spokespersons 8. What do you value when you purchase daily goods now? ( Please sort the following choices according to your priority in the square, “1” is the most important and “8” is the least important) A. Product quality ? B. Product style/look ? C. Product Brand ? D. Service ? 8 E. Price ? F. Shopping environment ? G. Transportation convenience ? H. Shopping experience ? 10. What factors of future daily goods do you expect? A. Product quality B. Product style/look C. Brand D. Cheap price E. Pre-sale/After-sale service F. Other 11. 14. Do you have any unforgettable shopping experience? Could you please make a brief description? 12. In your opinion, what aspect(s) of your mostly-visited shopping place needed to be improved/ changed? 9