"Gender Differences Relating to Hyperstar Promotion, Convenience, low price and other...

BBA Final Project

PRO-301

Project Report

"Gender Differences Relating to Hyperstar Promotion, Convenience, low price and other Characteristics"

Submitted To

The Institute of Management & Sciences

Submission Date

13th November, 2012

Muhammad Tayyab 083316

Mohsin Jamil 083320

Ahsan Javed 083362

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Acknowledgement

We are thankful to Almighty ALLAH the most merciful the most beneficent who gave us the

strength to complete our thesis report and overcome the hurdles that we faced in it.

We would like to thank our Mentor Mr.Shazif Iqbal who encouraged, assisted and helped us to

complete our report on time. We would like to thanks our Parents who supported us financially

and morally both and fellows who were always there to support us with their magnificent

knowledge whenever we needed it.

Lastly, I would like to pay special thanks to all of those who helped us directly or indirectly

which include Hyperstar Management also for finalizing this report and believe in us.

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Table of Contents

(1.0)Abstract 4

(2.0)Introduction 6

(2.1)Scope & Purpose 8

(2.2)Hypothesis & Variables 8

(2.3)What Hyperstar Do & How 9

(3.0)Literature Review 13

(4.0)The Methodology 46

(4.0.1)Nature & Research 47

(4.0.2)Target Population 47

(4.0.3)Data Sources 47

(4.0.4)Research Approach 47

(4.0.5)Sample Size & Sampling Procedure 47

(4.0.6)Data Collection Method 48

(4.0.7)Research Instrument 48

(4.0.8)SPSS Data Analysis 48

(5.0)Limitations 61

(6.0)Conclusions 63

(7.0)References 65

Appendix - I (Questionnaire) 67

Appendix – II (Pie Charts) 70

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Abstract

We are focusing on super store characteristics which are importantly perceived by the genders.

This research study concept is taken from the base article “Supermarket consumers and gender

difference relating to their perceived importance levels of store characteristics” by Mortimer,

Gary & Clarke and Peter to work on the basis of gender perception difference in super store. The

specific store is Hyperstar on which research is conducted and the result shows female love to

shop and they want efficient operator, Bi-weekly promotion and discount while the men spends

less time on shopping and they need convenience factor more like easy access to car park and

location. Sample size of 280 respondents is taken and conducted in the environment of Hyperstar

through administer questionnaires. This research has used 16 journals for the ground work to

support its results.

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"INTRODUCTION"

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(2.0) Introduction:

Retail industry in Pakistan has gained much awareness after the entrance of these megastores

before this it was ran by traditionally owned retailers which were not much educated. Super

store, departmental stores and utility stores or discount stores concept was unheard till the

independence of Pakistan. Canteen store department CSD and utility stores were considered to

be the Mini supermarkets. Today retail stores accounts a good no for the economy of Pakistan

and retailers are working on their best. Today retail store industry is highly competitive because

the real supermarkets and departmental stores came into existence and giving a good competition

to each other. Retailers are quiet worried about the changing trends quickly because they need to

match and compete the strategies developed by other retailers.

This research is conducted on a super store to distinguish the gender perceived importance of

level while he/she shops. In Pakistan currently only four super stores are working in Pakistan in

which few does not completes the definition of a super store so they are considered to be mini

super markets they are as follow:

Hyperstar

Best way

CSD

Utility store

Metro cash n carry

Makro

The research is conducted in the territory of cantonment board Lahore where Hyperstar is

situated. Hyperstar belongs to the Carrefour group based in Germany but in Pakistan it is

currently ran by the Majid-Al-Futtaim-Retail belonging to a gulf country .It established in 2009

and more than 100000 products are available under one roof. Basic motive was to provide

consumers convenience, leisure, cleanliness and competitive prices which they can’t find less

than one roof this is one of the major reason that today Hyperstar is the most active supermarket

in Lahore.Genders differ in their choices and their like and dislikes but do genders differ in their

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perception while they are doing shopping if so what are the characteristics that differentiate

them. This has become an important question for a researcher today. Gender differs in store

characteristics and those characteristics which we found through our research are as follows:

Female

Females like to shop but they want friendly operators who could help them

while shopping as in Hyperstar.

Female enjoys shopping and they want promotional items more

Pakistani females are price sensitive so they need discounted prices

Packaged and hygienic food is also the priority for the family health car

Male

Males are not fond of shopping they need ‘’convenience’’

They buy products which are easy accessible

They buy things where parking is easily available like Hyperstar

Today gender is one of the key factors for a retailer because a new emergent male group is

stressing the nerves of retailers to do something for them or make strategies for them. Our

academic research is purely relied upon the gender to see what genders prefer while they are at

superstore like Hyperstar. Result of this study is proposed in the coming pages and we tried our

level best to explore this study to help future researchers.

Sample size of 280 administer questions helped us to fill the questionnaires while we roam

around the Hyperstar asking questions from every upcoming person or going out from Hyperstar.

Result is evaluated through the SPSS which played major role in terms of figures.

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(2.1) Scope of the research

‘’Hyperstar consumers male & female targeted from the age of 18to 48 and their differences relating to perceived importance levels of store characteristics’’

(2.1.1) Purpose of the study

The basic purpose of the study is to find the gender difference relating to Hyperstar

characteristics (Cleanliness, Promotion, Discount, low price) and which of these characteristics is

more important in the perception of genders. We conducted this research in Hyperstar through

administer questionnaire and filled 280 questionnaires and came to know that gender differs in

their perception while they shop at Hyperstar .Few variables on which we focused and took out

from the ground article were Promotion and discounts, Product availability, Advertised specials,

Competitive prices, Cleanliness and hygienic food and convenience and location factor.

Furthermore through this research we came to knew about Pakistani consumers how they behave

in a particular way while shopping and what could be the strategies that a retailer needed to focus

on.

(2.2) Research hypothesis

"Hyperstar Characteristics (promotion, Convenience, Cleanliness, Product availability) relating

to gender differences and their perceived importance of level”

(2.2.1) Dependent variable

Gender

(2.2.2) Independent Variable

Bi-Weekly promotion

Trained staff

Easy access to car park

Well stocked shelves

Convenient location

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Healthy fresh food

Competitive price

(2.3) What Hyperstar Do and how?

Hyperstar the only mega superstore in Lahore with wonderful shopping characteristics running

throughout the year for consumer and giving lasting experience while we conducted research on

Hyperstar some of the interesting things were known to us and we constructed them as our

variables too. Promotion, Staffing of serviced departments, Advertised special promotions,

Efficient & accurate operations, Easy access to car park, Convenient location, Product

availability, Cleanliness ,High quality fresh food with stable low prices are some of the important

variables we considered for our research and applied on the Hyperstar that how they work and

how they satisfy genders on these characteristics. In depth detail is as follows:

(2.3.1) Promotion &Specials

Bi-weekly promotion (10%): In store after every 15 days the promotion gondola

changes on various products these days the promotion is put with minimum 10 %

discount on more than 2000 grocery products.

Special gift cards: it runs for whole year you can buy that gift card for worth 1000

rupees and you can give to your loved ones very few people are familiar with this

opportunity you can easily find it on cash counters.

Occasional specials: Products which are specially promoted on occasion for e.g. on Eid

and Christmas cakes and clothes are discounted with special offer another e.g. could be

valentine day on which Chocolates are on promotion with advertised leaflets.

(2.3.2) Staffing of serviced departments

No waiting: This characteristic is primarily concerned with the staff standing near aisles

we can say the sales person they are hired on every concerned aisles and gondola so that

customer needs not to wait for any query.

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Served quickly: what customers say it is done by the sales person. For e.g. if a customer

wants to know the size of the desired shirt salesperson will guide him.

Trained staff: Each and every single person of department knows what he has to do.

(2.3.3) Advertised special promotions

Specials I want: Specials which customer thinks before coming to the store and he/she

gets that desired thing because vast variety of branded and non-branded products is

available. For e.g. A customer thinks to buy a HP laptop from their and he/she gets it.

Product of the day: Validity for five days but items vary for e.g. product of the day on

Monday are meat, Vegetables or mazes etc.

(2.3.4) Efficient & accurate operations (Relating cash counters)

Friendly operators: Most of the Hyperstar cash counter operators are friendly as per

training consumers perception also differs.

Efficient operator: Yes they doing their work efficiently

Accurate operators: Cashier takes special care of while taking and receiving cash

(2.3.5) Easy Access:

Easy access to car parks: enough cars & bike parking more than 800 cars can be parked.

Easy parking: even for handicap people special parking is made on both the roofs.

Parcel pick up area: after the payment is given it will be parceled to your home within 2

days but this concept is quiet week in there.

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(2.3.6) Product availability

Well stocked shelves: Yes on every shelf we can see the leaflet or the guidance which

reflects the organized shelf’s of the store. On every aisle a salesperson is standing which

keeps on organizing the products if they get scattered.

Products I want: It’s not possible the product which customer demanded is not there

either the other brand is available or substitute of it .Products like fruits & vegetables

items are seasonal if available in market.

(2.3.7) Convenience & locality

Easy to find: Fortress stadium is considered to be heart of Lahore so to find Hyperstar is

not a big deal.

Easy to go: Not an issue

Convenient location: Ideal and expensive place of Lahore

(2.3.8) Cleanliness

Hygienic practices: Yes every day for e.g. if the vegetable or fruit is rotten it is wasted

and every day Cantonment Board vehicle comes to collect the waste.

Cleanliness: After every hour floor is cleaned and store is up to date with cleanliness.

Quality food handling: as mentioned above every day quality is checked either the fruit

is rotten or clothes are not torn etc. Recently Hyperstar food is certified from HACCP.

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(2.3.9) High quality fresh food

Healthy fresh food: Certification from HACCP do not let them compromise on quality

of food so it is fresh. Duration of Meats shelf life is three days and for confectionary is

four days live baking is done on the spot.

Quality fresh food: Shelf life of food is less as compare to market so it is thrown away

after 3 to 4 days if not sold which happens less.

(2.3.10) Consistent stable low prices

Competitive prices: from market Hyperstar prices are quiet less which are identified in

promotion also.

Low, everyday prices: Due to heavy promotions and competitive edges.

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"LITERATURE REVIEW"

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(3.0) Literature Review

This research is supported through 16 articles and journals and written briefly by our own self.

The article consists of consumer behavior, Loyalty, Disloyalty, Satisfaction, Male emergent

group, Neuro science, Bargaining, discount and Re-patronage these all have supported the

research variables directly or indirectly. We didn’t use any reference of author in the articles we

did citation in the end .The articles are as follows.

Article # 1

Supermarket consumers and gender difference relating to their

perceived importance levels of store characteristics

Authors: Mortimer, Gary & Clarke, Peter

Summary:

The article by Mortimer, Gary & Clarke, and Peter is the key article of this research in which

gender difference relating to consumers perceived importance of characteristic in supermarket

are researched. This article identifies differences between male and female grocery shoppers,

there buying pattern, their attitudes and beliefs in retail context, and level of importance with

specific store characteristics and that specific store which is assigned is Hyperstar the mega retail

superstore store in Lahore.

The study takes place in the city of Australia (Brisbane) and they took equal sample of both male

and female and they also develop almost ten hypothesis based on the store characteristics with

the different level of importance for male and female. In article they believe that the traditional

male roles no longer exists as clearly defined social barriers to families roles. The merging of

traditional family roles and the acceptance of the society believes that men are now undertake

traditional female roles such as grocery shopping because of the societal shift men now able to

adopt more female traditional roles and grocery shopping is one of them.

They have ten different hypothesis as mentioned above based on the store characteristics they

have mention for e.g. Merchandise range, availability, quality, freshness, cleanliness, atmosphere

other service features are staffing competence, friendliness, speed of check out services, easy

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parking, convenient location, low prices so in a nutshell "Four Ps" associated with the store

characteristics. Then different factors which affect buying pattern like age, income, education,

occupation and they believe that age can impact on enjoyment levels because younger men

appear disengaged and are generally unhappy when shopping, older men are either bored or

disinterested.

So keeping in view all the hypothesis and the factors affecting buying, store characteristics the

result demonstrate that male and female grocery shoppers considered important store

characteristics differently and all but one of the ten hypothesis is proven Male shoppers

considered Speed, Convenience & Efficiency to be the most important factors whereas in

contrast to male, female shoppers considered pricing cleanliness and quality.

As this research does not belong to Pakistan and our Pakistani society is female dominated

society where eighty five percent of shopping is done by our females. Males belong to working

class while most women’s are housewife as seen in our questionnaire also so female do shopping

and males earn money for it. Similar is the case in hyper star when we started asking questions to

customers in Hyperstar we came to know 80-85percent of customer was female some housewife

and few working class which is shown in the end result. The basic reasoning for conducting this

research was to investigate the gender difference affecting the store characteristic and what are

their perceptions about it. Some of the store characteristics which could affect or force consumer

to perceive were:

Bi-Weekly promotion

Trained staff

Easy access to car park


Convenient location

Healthy fresh food

Competitive prices

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Article # 2

Attitudes toward coupon use and bargain hunting: an examination

of differences by gender.

Authors: Hill, C. Jeanne Harmon, Susan K

Summary:

Coupon and bargaining is one of the favorite tools of females while they are shopping. They love

to bargain and to use maximum amount of coupons and the preferred shopping places of

women’s are either where they can get discount or the coupon in which they could get things or a

discount. When we talk about Pakistani women they are not far behind any other they want

discount and coupon in which anything free they can get. Why is it so because Pakistani

women’s are price sensitive?

Author continues that today male are more responsible for shopping they contribute more

towards the household’s things. As the research is conducted in U.S so the author says 54% of

male contribute towards their household chores whether they are singled, married or divorced.

The attitude towards the shopping of males is increased from past and many studies have been

revised and newly written on this new group of shoppers.

In upcoming studies in gender male are more specified because retailers are working today on

this group. The main objective of this study is to find out the gender difference and their attitude

towards the coupon use and bargain are based on age or some other group like male. While

shopping females enjoy which is inherently and males do not enjoy they just shop and the reason

that is hypothesized in this article that males bargain due to power and success.

Enjoyment while shopping in previous studies is discussed with a deep literature but in relation

with a coupon use what would be the enjoyment for both gender?

Females: When a female gets a free coupon her level of enjoyment increases but this

enjoyment could be due to its family care she spent less and got more products.

Male: For male level of enjoyment could be egoistic in terms of coupon use for him

enjoyment might be that he challenged the system or earned a price advantage.

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This is the similar case of our research also which also predicts the same thing in use of coupon.

Sample size of 535 university student taken in two way sample process and conducted on a

university of USA. Twenty five statements were developed in which women more was inclined

that they are engage more in coupon use and bargaining hunting.

In the end different thoughts have been provoked in which the first one is that using coupons and

bargaining process is an economic reward process and females are more price sensitive .Few

males and females believes in U.S that coupons and bargaining is a embarrassing activity which

might hurt your social status. Different age groups suggest different things in it which again

proves gender and different groups in gender have different opinion .For e.g. 40+ people don’t

consider it an embarrassing situation and older people enjoy doing shopping.

Variations always occur some are happy some are not happy and convenient with this bargaining

or coupon process. Companies are trying to reduce this coupon thing they wanted to replace it

with incentive or discount according to them it’s not a healthy activity and more time consuming.

In Hyperstar similar to a coupon a gift card of 1000 rupees is given which is mentioned in our

variable but due to the less literacy rate of Pakistan people are not well familiar with it or they

don’t know the benefit they can get. It’s one of the best gift that you can give to any of your

friend or family member prior to it after doing a shopping of 10000 rupees you can win a trolley

with products of 10000 rupees but only though lucky draw. The procedure is as follows:

“Do shopping more than 10000 rupees and you will get a coupon fill it and put it in a luck box

At the date of lucky draw you might be able win a trolley with products of amount 10000

rupees’’

People in Hyperstar are quiet happy with the discounts, promotion, coupon and gift card because

this the only super store in Lahore which offer such kind of shopping characteristics running

throughout the year. In our research we also figure out that females are more willing for the

discount in terms of bargain and coupons while men’s are not that much interested in the

activities going around.

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Article # 3

Why companies should make their customer happy the neural

correlates customer loyalty

Authors: Hilke Plassmann, Peter Kenning and Dieter Ahlert

Summary:

Customer loyalty in one of the important factor that every superstore needs to focus on it

practically and as far as literature review is concerned also. In this article we study that how

customer builds affective relationships with brand or companies. As we are working on

superstore so we will go for supermarkets that how people build strong relationship with a

superstore .Different biological and neurological tests are applied on it relating to brain we can

say a hard and fast brain storming session study.

Loyalty definition described by Oliver that if your customer is satisfied with your store he/she

will definitely come in future to repurchase. A study was design to check and investigate the

difference between loyal and disloyal customer of a departmental store which would be

converted to super store as per our study. Total 300 sample size of customer was taken from the

club card of the departmental store in which 9 were females and 13 were males after several

screening process. Based on previous findings we came to know that the brands which were put

in the store loyal customer decision was changed due to emotionally attachment with it for e.g.

Puma etc

A technical term named fMRI is used which is related to neuro science which stands for

functional magnetic resonance imaging. fMRI is one of the lesser persistent method for studying

oxygenation levels of the brain the blood flow and used for brain mapping in it that at what

particular time it will buy or do a emotional or rational buying. In implication of this study it is

proven that the store should not only concentrate on their existing customer who comes only due

to promotion or any other technical things company or store should talk to their customer

personally also and communicate with them on monthly basis. The end result describes loyal

customers are loyal to store because due to some psychological drivers which might be

technology or any other thing.

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Pakistani customers are also loyal but most of the customers are emotionally attached with the

brand or the company as mentioned above that a person might come to store due to his or her

favorite brand which forces him to come again and again. In Hyperstar there are multiple local

and Multinational brands which attract people to come for e.g. Puma, Muncherz noodles,

Lorealetc so same is the case with Hyperstar also that people come to buy that they are getting

their favorite brands from there. Next comes the psychological driver which makes Hyperstar

customer to be loyal due to its promotion, Cleanliness, easy access to car park and the

advertisement .Basic factor that the Hyperstar provides to its customer is convenience but the

level of communication is very low and slow. Customer only comes and talk to the desired

person only when he is not finding the thing but in this case also most of the customer hesitate to

talk they either buy a substitute or they leave the product it happens mostly in the case of

women’s so communication should be done with customer on regular basis. In Hyperstar

women’s seems to be quiet loyal than men’s due to spending more time in store.

Article # 4

Shoppers’ satisfaction levels are not the only key to store loyalty

Authors: Mario J.Miranda,Laszlo konya, InkaHavrila

Summary:

The study conducted centralizing the grocery shoppers in order to discover the major factors that

influence satisfaction with their primary store and the factors that encourage them to keep on

supporting this store in spite of being presented with support to shop at another store. For study

purpose two models were estimated for research out of which one was predicting store

satisfaction while the other one was predicting the store loyalty when shoppers are presented

with a special purchase opportunity in an alternative store.

The research methodology is based on a structured questionnaire over a two-week period to adult

grocery shoppers across Melbourne, Australia, who exited retail stores of varying sizes excluding

Woolworth, Safeway and Coles stores. The sample consists of 376 male and 558 female

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respondents and 558 of different occupations and average age of 45 years. Respondents were

carefully selected who regularly shop their groceries from the exited store. Many factors are

realized in this study that what makes consumer to be loyal with the store. There could be a

reason that consumers are loyal to the store because of continuous repurchase.

This research is specifically written on that what are the important elements in retail firms like

marketing mix should be used to retain the customer. Study demonstrates that overall satisfaction

with a store did not influence customers to stay loyal to the store. The reason why a customer

stays loyal to its current store is that they are influenced by many things regular buyer program,

known staff and familiarity with shelf.

This study limitation was household size, employment status, and education background and

income level of the sample respondents. The studies indicates that increased in income, assured

employment, through greater education ability to process more information and slighter burden

in the family give the consumer get confidence to try some different stores that they may not

have visited before. Being a good income holder does not only work education plays a vital role

for shopping.

It’s recommended after research study that it is self-evident that shoppers will be exposing to

offer from competing retailers. Depending on the nature of the offer and quality of stock present

at the other store, a range of customers will outlook the offer and some among them might even

come to a decision to change their permanent loyalty to competition that may lead to destructive

effect on the retail firm’s profitability. The inconsistency of this loss to the retail firm is that

these escape customers may not have been dissatisfied with the service provide that were made

prior primary store but it’s refer just that the store did not protect them adequately from

switching to another! Whereas determined in this research study, there are the customers who

frequently resist the smart offers made by market competitors and stay loyal to their present

store.

Loyalty again after studying many articles is on the top priority .Store loyalty and store

satisfaction is also one of the significant parts that mega stores like Metro and hyperstar always

keep in their mind. Generally in Pakistan it is consider that when a customer is satisfied he/she

will be loyal to the store but this not always the case .In our study we found that few customers

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were not loyal to the store but to the brands that they were offering for e.g. Puma, Kenwood,

Pioneer etc. Satisfaction is the major tool but things prove it should not be applied to the whole

store because the story sometimes gets different.

Article # 5

Consumer Shopping and Spending Across Retail Formats

Authors: Edward J. Fox, Alan L. Montgomery, and Leonard M. Lodish

Summary:

Grocery shopping being the key factor of this research because the household shoppers are

mostly the grocery shoppers this study is a deep long study on the grocery shopping. In simple

words if we interpret the meaning that why the researcher is conducting the research is because

the small retail stores which are specifically for grocery shopping are facing the serious threat

from the big mega stores taking the e.g. of Wal-Mart which is a mass merchandiser and eaten up

the business of the small grocery merchandiser. For Pakistan we take the e.g. of Hyperstar which

is in retail context and more than plus 2000 grocery items are available in it eaten up the business

of grocery shoppers like best buy, HKB and etc. Researcher conducted a deep long experiential

study of household shopping and packaged foods (Gaining awareness in Pakistan also e.g. K &

Ns) speeded across retail formats and the formats are:

Grocery Stores :In Pakistani context the stores could be best buy, Bismillah store etc

Mass Merchandiser: e.g. Wal-Mart and in Pakistan Hyperstar, CSD

Drug stores: Drug stores are the medical stores which in Pakistan are mostly know as

pharmacy shops e.g. Servaid, Noble, Zainab etc.

The basic reason to conduct this research is to find the difference between this retail formats and

what are the effects on shopping behavior of the consumer and how does he/she spends money

when the retailer has explored:

Assortment: How well the retailer or mass merchandiser has assorted the products and is

consumer happy with the small grocery shopper or with Mass Merchandise. In our

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research we consider a variable named well stock shelf that are customers happy with the

well-organized or assorted shelf’s in Hyperstar and the maximum response was quiet

satisfied and some other told that in local grocery shopper store products are not that

much assorted as they should be. Satisfaction level of women for Hyperstar is more as

compared to men.

Pricing: Mass merchandiser have good offered price or the grocery retailers or the

packaged foods that are available with drug store has the more effective pricing. We

consider variables named “Everyday low prices” which is the reflection of this shopping

format.

Promotional Policies: Which store has the highest promotional polices in this the highest

voting is with Mass merchandiser as they have more than 2000 products to offer they

promote items on larger scale and customer becomes happy with the time being

discount. In our study Hyperstar customer heavily focus on promotional items because

it’s the only store in the city which offers promotion throughout the year on grocery

items.

Household demographics: Are female married or unmarried? Aged or not? Income and

occupation etc. We also considered it an important part of our research and we asked

consumers Sex, Age, occupation, Marital status.

This research is made possible by a new panel dataset collected by Information Resources Inc

and estimated consumer decisions through a hierarchical multivariate tobit model that

Where consumer like to shop

&

How much to spend or buy

This study is concluded upon that retailer marketing mix has more variation in shopping

behavior than the consumers travel time and in expenditure more variation is assorted products

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rather than price and promotion .In drug store consumer is more concerned about the travel times

because it is related to convenience just get the product as fast as you could.

In Pakistan there is no such pharmacy which provides packaged food or the grocery there only

the Mass merchandiser got the drug store in it. Shoppers who shop more at Mass merchandiser

also go to other formats also so they do not alternate trips to the grocery store. Similarly people

at Hyperstar were window shoppers who just came for price comparison there to say that people

only buy or they can get best grocery there would be wrong consumer changes places and they

try the small grocers too.

Article # 6

Shopping Experience Enjoyment: Impact on Customers’ Re-patronage Intentions, and Gender Influence

Authors: Cathy, Andrew, Grazyna, Gary and John

Summary:

Shopping experience today is gaining popularity in the view of researchers this study is also

related to consumer shopping experience and level of enjoyment influencing on the intention to

repurchase or Repatronage. There is always a question arises in the mind of the consumer

Q. Where to shop?

Q. Why to shop?

Consumer wanted to enjoy and have the lasting experience where ever he/she shops. It could be

the regional area where he/she lives or any other place which is on geographical boundaries. For

e.g. people of Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha and many other places comes for shopping at

Hyperstar possibilities are their they don’t like shopping in there regional areas or they are not

convenient with those stores.

The three things which are highlighted in this article and at the core are:

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Enjoyment of shopping experience: Stores needs to create an image for the consumers

so they look better than its competitors and consumer gets a lasting experience while they

shop. Image is a basic thing which perceives the mind of the consumer while genders are

shopping. Hyperstar image is positive in mind so the consumer comes again and again

apart from all this once the image is created your consumer starts enjoying shopping.

Researcher believes that once the image or perception of the regional store is located in

the mind of the customer he/she gets emotionally attached with the store and spends more

time for shopping and will have a lasting experience. Store managers can work on the

strategies to improve the image of the store. In Pakistan Hyperstar or metro is the only

superstore which works on the image of the store.

Customer’s intention to repurchase/Re-Patronage: Researcher correlates enjoyment

and excitement of consumer completely with the repurchase .If the consumer is happy

and excited while shopping in the store he/she will definitely come to repurchase in the

same store. Today why people come to Hyperstar again and again for shopping? The

reason because they enjoy shopping in the environment of Hyperstar which is one of the

leading superstore of Pakistan in retail context. If customer enjoys shopping the level of

excitement gets double. Pakistan youth only enjoys the environment of the store like

Hyperstar rather than concentrating more on shopping.

Enjoyment of shopping in Gender differences: Researcher investigates after creating

the image and repurchases element with shopping experience that which gender is more

satisfied with the enjoyment of shopping and repurchase. After studying this deep long

research again the matter stood on the gender which is getting complex for the

researchers also to investigate who are more satisfied and dissatisfied with the super

store.

The basic reason to conduct this research was to construct the shopping experience and its

relationship towards the consumer intention of repurchase in United Kingdom shopping districts.

Questionnaire and face to face interviews were conducted with the consumer. Study targeted

total 536 usable consumers across five countries of United Kingdom.

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Four dimensions of shopping enjoyment are expressed above and 16 measures are developed.

The result of this study indicated that there is a positive relationship between the enjoyments of

shopping experience influencing on repurchase intentions. Hypothesis expressed that enjoyment

of shopping experience is reflected by four dimensions which were:

Accessibility: How easy a customer can reach to the store .For e.g. According to

consumer who comes for shopping at Hyperstar said it is easy accessible located in the

heart of Lahore.

Atmosphere: Physical attributes of the store which click in the mind of the consumer. In

Lahore Atmospheric stores are Mall of Lahore, Pot pori, Al-fateh and Hyperstar.

Environment: Enjoyment has a direct relationship with environment of the store. Some

of the factors which cover the environment are security, cleanliness, good and opening

hours which are convenient. Our research covers all these variables which are necessary

for making environment of store.

Service: Researcher stresses upon that people who are working on a store there attitude

should be positive and the most important thing their behavior should be normal. While

we were conducting research we heard that hyperstar staff is not friendly most of the time

In Pakistan mostly the service personnel are not friendly might be because they are not

well trained.

This study implicated much more for mangers how they can create an enjoyable shopping

experience for a consumer that influence on their repurchase decision. Gender playing important

role and again the gender difference came in the end result that men have a stronger intention of

repurchase with enjoyment as compared to females.

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Pakistani men’s are always in rush and they spend less time for shopping so if they enjoy a

environment of a specific super store say for instance Hyperstar then most probably they will

come to repurchase that’s what our research also indicated us.

Article # 7

On Shelf Availability: An Examination of the Extent, the Causes, and the Efforts to Address Retail Out-of-Stocks

Authors: Daniel Corsten and Thomas Gruen

Summary:

Retail out of stock is previous concept but it is getting a good awareness which can lead to profit.

Fast moving consumer goods are the victim of this disease so called Retail out of stock OOS. In

this study several reasons are proposed why there is out of stock. Pakistani consumers are quiet

far away from this concept retail out of stock because they do not update their shelf on daily

basis special the local merchandiser or retailer

Over the past few years the big mega store like Metro, Makro and Hyperstar have started

working on this out of stock concept especially in fast moving consumer’s goods.

In our study the one variable which we choose is product availability in which customer’s

response was quiet good that they get things what they want and on shelf with assortment and

variety.

Study stresses that retailers are not paying attention to out of stock which lead to decrease in

profit of the store. Retailers can increase their revenue by 5% if they concentrate on this OOS

concept because market still got potential in it. Customer might get disloyal if he/she doesn’t find

products twice on shelf retailer and suppliers both need to work on this. Average out of stock rate

through whole world is 8.3 percent according to a research by coca cola. Europe 8.6 and USA

7.9 percent out of stock average where Pakistan retail expected potential rate is $42 billion.

Promotional items out of stock is more as compared to normal products we faced the same case

in Hyperstar to because the promotional items mostly get out of stock if we talk about electronics

Page | 26

they were short if they come in promotion. Once your consumer knows about the promotion they

will just fall on things like Honey bee if we talk about Hyperstar especially.

There is no such method used in this study involving any special methodology but the interesting

questions and their answers are answered in it which is like:

Consumer reaction at shelf out of stock

What OOS cost a retailer

Root causes of shelf out of stock

Extent out of stock

Remedies for OOS

Almost six items are proposed for OOS in this article and several conclusions also. Firstly and

OOS is a costly problem and it will sustain in future also. Secondly the duration of OOS is

threatening for the retailer to be disloyal all over the world OOS rate is increasing. It will be

difficult to say that OOS is an only problem of retailer but in fact it’s also the problem of third

party like supplier. In Hyperstar consumer face very less problem regarding out of stock and they

get things which they want only few of them faced problem in which things were in promotion.

Hyperstar doesn’t own any warehouses things just come and sell very few grocery items are

stocked.

Article # 7

Gender, store satisfaction and antecedents: a case study of a

grocery store.

Authors: Helgesen and Nesset

Summary:

Researcher over the past few decades are focusing on the customer satisfaction level that

How to satisfy a customer

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When to satisfy a customer

Where to satisfy a customer

These few sentences are always roaming around a retailer what is the best possible way to satisfy

a customer .Again we are working on a super store and the article is related to the store and

various definition of customer satisfaction is given in different years.

This desired article will revolve around the consumer market, gender that how it differs while

shopping either male is more respondent or female is more respondent and gender difference is

one of the major topics of this report but in this article store satisfaction related to gender is on

priority. Lastly the study is conducted in Norway grocery store to check gender impact on store

satisfaction. Antecedent a term used in this article which means or we can say the

attributes/drivers before satisfaction.

The research is conducted in a Norwegian grocery store which is the part of the largest chains of

grocery stores. Sample size of 106 customer is taken in which 52 are males and 54 are females

from the age of 18-65 years old. The analysis was based on the 19 variables including

antecedents and t test also applied. Store satisfaction contains some elements or it reflects to

them such as positive word of mouth creates satisfaction, loyalty etc. Gender difference is also

influence on income, age and occupation which we have also asked in our questionnaire and it is

named as personal information of a customer to figure out the gender differences.

Concluding it that value proposition is the important factor for any manager and in the benefit of

the store. Cost is directly related to customer value so store cost should be cut and customer

should be provided a value which will increase the customer satisfaction level. Female’s

satisfaction level is more as compared to male but Antecedents, drivers or attributes are

independent of a gender.

Customer satisfaction level in Hyperstar is much higher it’s the only proper made superstore in

the metropolitan city of Lahore and people get almost all desired things that they are looking for

More than 2000 grocery products are placed inside the store and as far as gender difference is

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concerned females are more satisfied which was seen while asking administer questions.

Attributes of Hyperstar like promotion, Gift card, hygienic food all the environment reflects the

satisfaction level of customer. As far as genders roles are concerned house wife or working class

shops more and they want value for what they buy.

Article # 9

Sharing of Home Responsibilities between Professionally Employed Women and Their Husbands

Authors: Monica Biernat, Camille B. Wortman

Summary:

This research sharing home responsibility is conducted in United States where working couples

are on top priority. Some of the highlights on which this article revolves around are:

What are the difficulties women faced while working

Family get suffered

Children care especially with above 6 years

Welfare of the family

Mental health gets suffered of family and mother both

Equal status carriers

Sharing home responsibility when male is at home looking after home and vice versa. Women

labor force increased after 1998 in United States and they are facing much more difficulties then

before .Pakistani context will be different because we have less than 50% of females in working

class.

The basic theme behind the study is that it’s getting difficult to meet the job and family

pressures get understood. When both partners are in working class how can they manage their

child care if one of the partners is working for say female works then child’s attention can get

diverted so how to take care of this thing researcher says none of the study is done on child care.

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College studies has sophisticated effect on the females so they wanted that their husband should

be more educated rather than having a status only so education and income plays a vital role in

the carrier of a women .In this research author indicates now it is needed to find that the men

work on job gives less time to children and this case is opposite in female case. The research is

quiet complicated and lengthy in which role conflict, stress and women managing children with

above 6 years are targeted.

Sample size of 139 couples was taken in which both agreed to participate subsample include 68

university professor and 71 businesswomen. This research took almost a year to be completed

because wife was asked 4 structured interviews and two self-report surveys were done with

husband for a whole year. Almost 8 questions were asked from husband and wife about the child

care involvement with the help of profile analysis.

Conclusion ends on this that study proves that women are more complicated in terms of spouse

and children as compared to men in sharing equal responsibilities. The drawback of this study

might be that this study does not cover the couples who both are earning in general population.

Traditional values also effects the sharing responsibility of home in which females are more

involved both male and female our trying to get familiar with the social changes that are

becoming their daily need. So children are definitely involved when we study couples or sharing

their responsibilities.

Store involvement in this article was not a priority, child involvement while the couples work

was more in it. Pakistan no doubt is a free state but again working women’s are very less so the

concept of sharing home responsibility between husband and wife finishes because maximum

number of women’s are house wife and they take care of the home chores.

In case if both couples are working then again female involvement is more in house she comes

home and takes care of children and the house too. Pakistani women attitude towards the home is

positive men rely more on women to get their home chores get done. A woman goes for

shopping more while we were doing our survey in Hyperstar we notice maximum no of women’s

buying grocery for their home.

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Article # 10

The female fashion consumer behavior (From the perspective of the shop Fever in Gothenburg)

Authors: Julia Holmberg Rebecca Ohnfeldt

Summary:

Fashion is one of the fast moving processes which changes almost daily similarly this research is

about that how a small independent retailer named as Fever should affect the female consumers.

In March 1998 Fever started its operations as an independent retailer in Gothenburg, Sweden

with one shop and one web shop. The clothes made sold by fever were found at the middle of

fashion pyramid means the clothes which were sold they were in so fast process that sold clothes

get in the middle of fashion when new are coming in. In Hyperstar clothes are not that much

prominent as they should there are two to three sections of clothes in which females and males

clothes both are different. Consumers at Hyperstar are not that much happy with clothes there

because they are expensive in terms of quality.

The target market of Fever is the men and women who are 20 to 40 years old. Large clothing

chains like H&M, Lindex and Kappahl are market leaders at that time when research is

conducted so due to this the fever store was in a problematic situation. Now days we can easily

buy a high fashion at a lower price from fever and this is how customer shows a response

towards Fever retail.

This retail is facing the difficulty in reaching the female target group the male customers are

loyal to the retail. The main purpose of the study is to investigate that why female customers are

not able to understand the Fevers clothes shopping but in Hyperstar you can get convenience

trendy clothes not specialized clothes like fancy or bridal wear etc so our study with this relation

is different.

The theories and models that constitute the theoretical framework include market segmentation,

the Marketing Mix, consumer behavior and the female consumer behavior. The market

segmentation they have segmented the market on the bases of geographic (according to region),

demographic, psychographic and behavioral. In marketing mix they will focus on the 4ps that are

product, price, place and promotion.

Page | 31

The scientific research approach which they have used is hypothetical deduction in which they

will first derive the hypothesis and then tested empirically and in this the hypothesis is how the

female consumer behavior affects the shop Fever.

The method which they have used is the combination of two quantitative surveys of female

consumer behavior and an interview to obtain more knowledge about the female behavior. In the

beginning the research is exploratory because the knowledge and understanding of the problem

area is needed for the rest of the thesis. And this is also descriptive because this study is based on

primary data that seeks information about specific situations.

They techniques which they have used for the data collection involved both interviews and

surveys which is quiet similar to our research. They use two types of interview one they

conducted in city and outside Fever and other are the less structured interview.

The conclusion shows that the female consumer behavior effect the Fever is both positive and

negative.Positive aspects are in such a way that women considered that shopping is a joyful

activity. Several women had heard about Fever from the friends this means Fever has a good

reputation which means word of mouth counts for retailer. Fevers unique clothes help them to

make their strong identity which could be a brand image but in Hyperstar it will not be the same

situation for e.g. if a person bought puma shoes from Hyperstar then friends or family after

watching might say bought from an outlet specifically for puma. Negativeaspects are that

women’s were preferred strong chain for shopping which sell fast fashion at low price. And the

major problem was to get women to purchase the clothes at their shop.

This research is little bit different from Hyperstar no doubt the fashion changes in it but

consumer are buying on their convenience and some crazy people come twice a month to check

promotion on clothes.

Article # 11

Gender Differences in the Fashion Consumption and Store Characteristics in Swedish Clothing Stores

Author: PiseyChea

Summary:

Page | 32

Study examines and explains the different behavior of male and female in the shop again gender

difference. This shows that the women’s who go for shopping they will spent most of the time

for enjoyment and relaxation and they will spend more time on comparing price, products, and

their quality but men’s on the other hand found that they will go only when there is need for

shopping they don’t spent any extra time while shopping as mentioned and discussed in above

studies also.

Shopping is a relaxing activity so women’s will be involved more in it as compared to the men’s

but now a days there is a change in the trend that men’s also go for shopping in which retailers

are trying to make strategies and target this new group also which is gaining a good popularity.

Bakewell& Mitchell (2006) indicated that men had a high independent, confident, risk in

spending. They seem to make quick and careless decision on purchasing clothes, and they are

less influenced by opinion from friends or companions this argument is set by only this article

but in Pakistani context males mostly are influenced by their friends and family or peer groups.

Descriptive research methodology is adopted for this study and the study is conducted in

Boras’s city, in the south of Sweden. This is a small city where all the need is within walking

distance more often you can say the convenience stores you just step out and get the things

specifically researcher wanted to work on the textile and fashion clothing so they choose it. Few

criteria’s are set for this studies which are as follow:

location close to the University with numerous of fashion shopping stores.

a large number of shoppers

Combination of shop selling both women and men.

Both primary and secondary data was used in this research. Secondary data were sources such as

journal articles, theses, dissertations, books, statistic and reports. Data is also collected from

website of shop, magazine, newsletter and brochure. Few retail stores which are used for the

study is H&M, MQ, Carlings, Gina tricot and Dressman.

Concluding this article it is proved that men are speedy in doing shopping the lanes which are

made in mega stores men’s are seen walking fast while women stay and enjoy the shopping

Page | 33

Researcher expresses that men do shopping like a hunter. Men are more specific in buying they

just think what to buy and just come back impulse buying in men is very less.

In our study when we were asking questioning from men they were in rush as they just bought

and wanted to go .Hyperstar being the busiest super store of Lahore customer enters after every 5

to 20 seconds on average men spend 15 to 20 minutes in Hyperstar while they enter in so it’s true

in Pakistan men shop like hunters. Women’s are totally different then the male shoppers they do

shopping in a very relax mood they will take a lot of time while shopping in comparing goods,

their prices and their quality.

In Pakistan people got a lot of time they only get busy when someone ask to do them in other

words the most busy people on planet while we were conducting research maximum respondents

refused due to time constraint and yes it is proved men do shopping quickly while women’s

enjoy whether professional or non-professional.

Article # 12

Age gender effects on consumer’s awareness and source of awareness for food related private label brand

Authors: IriniTzimitra,Irene kamenidou, Konstantinos, VasilisTziakas

Summary:

This article is about that how age and gender effects on the consumer’s awareness and source of

awareness for food regarding private label brands available in market. There are four types of

awareness i.e.:

Top-of-mind awareness

Brand recall

Brand recognition

Unaware of a brand.

Page | 34

All these kind of awareness regarding the product that if any one recall the name of the product

then the image of the product will be recall in your mind and you will recognized that this person

is talking about that brand. For e.g. telling anyone about the Cadbury and they will quickly recall

the sizes, shape and color of the Cadburys everyone know that it’s in blue and white colored

labeled.

Taking another e.g. from our own research if ladies tried the cosmetics there they will definitely

let other females know about it also and the other females can easily recall the last time they

shop a loreal nail polish or any other cosmetic.

The nature of the study is exploratory and they have used qualitative research method in which

they have taken three adult groups with 15 adults ranging from different ages in the central

division of Thessaloniki.

The research hypothesis is based on three points that:

1: In case of food related private label brand, genders effect on the awareness of private label

brand?

2: In case of food related private label brand, genders effect on the source which produced

awareness?

3: In case of food related private label brand, age effects on the recall of the supermarket which

practices these brands?

For verifying the above hypothesis structured questionnaire was designed and it was divided in

four parts:

Private label brand awareness

Source of awareness

Purchasing behavior and attitude

Demographic variables

Page | 35

And the results of first hypothesis is that the difference between males and females exists in the

awareness of food related private label brand that females have greater level of awareness as

compared to the males and the females are the dominant shoppers in the family.

This hypothesis completely applies on Pakistani context because males are less aware of the food

related private label brands. In Hyperstar while questioning we noticed females were more aware

of the food related private label brands for e.g. K & Ns, Menu etc.

In the case of second hypothesis that is the effect of gender on the source which produced

awareness are that the males are more common source of awareness then the females because

males are less willing to pay higher price premium for national brands then the females. In

Pakistan males do less shopping preferably wanted to buy the local brands.

In the case of third hypothesis in which age effect on the recall of the nearby supermarket which

shows that the difference in the age exists and the people of the older age have a high level of the

recall for the supermarket that is near to their home because the people of elder age may be not

able to pronounce or remember it due to age factor so preferably they to places where there are

going for years. For e.g. after starting a retired life a major living in sadar started buying grocery

from Hyperstar it’s convenient with competitive prices.

Article # 13

Drivers of local merchant loyalty: Understanding the influence of gender and shopping motives

Authors: Stephanie M. Noble, David A. Griffith, Mavis T. Adjei

Summary:

Loyalty once again the most important thing for a store but in this article the loyalty will be seen

among the local merchants .How to make loyalty among the local merchant who comes to a store

like Wal-Mart? What are the drivers which forcing the merchandiser to come and shop and stay

loyal and how important gender role is important in it. In a previous study loyalty to local

merchants by (stone 1954) 124 married females interviewed because they support the local

Page | 36

merchants and larger chains like Wal-Mart .Study conducted by stone was a exploratory research

in which stone divided the respondent into four different groups which were:

Economic: Consumers who look price, quality and variety when they go for shopping or

they choose according to these factors. Pakistani maximum consumers are price

conscious so Hyperstar would be the right place to shop due to variety and promotion on

several things.

Personalizing: Consumers who go to their local area shops due to their interaction with

the staff. For instance in Pakistani context people of Y block in defence goes for

shopping to HKB because they are familiar with staff.

Ethical: Consumer who go to local merchants due to the personal attention they get from

there.

Apathetic: Consumer who find convenience say for e.g. the nearby merchandiser

The purpose of this research is to give a theoretical background to the local merchant’s loyalty.

Particularly this study investigated how gender influence consumers local merchants loyalty. A

consumer who goes for shopping at local merchant he will get more attention and the

merchandiser will try to build personal contacts with the customer but store like Wal-Mart and in

Hyperstar in Pakistani context doesn’t make self-interaction with consumer they only distribute

their leaflets. This could be a biggest tool for local merchants that they distinguish themselves

from a discount store by their personal personalization with the consumer. The second

hypothesis also proves that there is the negative relationship price and loyalty of local merchants.

Some of the shopping motives like convenience, information attainment, price attainment,

assortment and uniqueness, as well as social interaction and browsing on which most of the

consumer rely .These shopping motives are helpful in this study and 15 hypotheses are

developed on the basis of these shopping motives keeping gender and local merchant loyalty in

view.

Sample size of 2000 consumer was selected randomly nationwide with the age of 16 years and

above in a retail context. Some of the restriction that was put on the consumer he/she should

Page | 37

have access to the internet and the consumer should have three main means of shopping

available to them:

Brick and mortar (Nearby local grocery or any other store)

Catalogue

Internet

The reason for these shopping means was that consumer just not only shop to the local

merchandise but he/she had option for buying. After the findings of this study indicted again the

gender difference in which males are more relied upon information attainment and convenience

seeking whereas females are more towards uniqueness and assortment seeking, social

interaction, and browsing. Females got more association while shopping and males got

information attainment when they shop so it's proven that shopping motives are different of both

genders.

This study is already extended relating to loyalty to local merchants as discussed above and

furthermore it is based on some sociological theories of gender differences and some of the

shopping motives on which hypothesis is built upon. It is proven in this study that today loyalty

is not only important for the large chain store perhaps now it is equally important for local

merchants .Some light is also thrown upon the strategies that how can a local merchant can make

its customer loyal .

Some of the shopping motives discussed above like convenience, information attainment, price

attainment, assortment and uniqueness all of these are present in hyperstar except the personal

interaction .Hyperstar being the largest retail chain of Pakistan also does not works on this

personalization concept their customers are loyal due the shopping motives like say for e.g.

uniqueness of price and product they have kept in it which are local and multinational both.

Stores like best buy in cavalry ground have more interaction with customer and they are making

Page | 38

their customer day by day. Hyperstar is capturing there customer and making them loyal on the

basis of as follows:

Attractive promotion

Competitive prices

Cleanliness and hygienic food

Easy access and car parking

While the local merchants are only struggling to make loyal on the basis of personal interaction

for e.g. in a best buy store if you can’t find anything the staff there will ask you May I help you!

Where the concept in Hyperstar changes with how I may help you printed on the shirt of staff

which simply means they will help you as per desire. Loyalty of a local merchant in the area of

Lahore and retail chain like Hyperstar is different local merchants need to build more strategies

and Hyperstar need to work on personalization

Article # 14

The Emergent Male Grocery Shopper: An Identification of Male Supermarket Shopper Types

Authors: Mortimer, Gary

Summary:

Male grocery shopping is gaining popularity day by day so the researcher needed to research on

this specific male group how it should be treated in the retail environment. As the traditional

values are changing all over the world males are more interested in shopping as far as female is

compared. A question that comes in mind of the researcher could be that:

Should this specific male grocery shopper should be treated differently? If so what should be

the strategies be adopted to treat this specific group?

Though the researcher has segmented shoppers demographically and psychographic-ally as well

but they have over looked the male grocery shoppers. This research “the emergent of male

Page | 39

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Mortimer,_Gary.html

grocery shopper” is purely conducted on a superstore situated in Australia which will be quiet

easy to compare this research with Pakistani context where we are working on a super store

namely Hyperstar. Five types of male grocery shoppers are identified in this research.

Different studies with their reference of authors are discussed in this research which is quiet

helpful for this research as well as our own research. Researchers say that men who shop are

highly educated with income group and they are with white collar jobs. Men are completely price

insensitive they don’t bother for price which we also while we were asking question in hyperstar

they don’t care for price as far as Pakistani consumers are concerned it might be males are the

earners so they know what and for how much they have to buy.

Old people plans and then go for buying while the younger ones just go and buy and spent less

time than the women’s do .According to previous studies the researcher says men do not care for

the parking, friendly operators, friendly environment they just go and shop but the women needs

all these characteristics.

A questionnaire survey was done with 140 male respondents who go for shopping and it

conducted in four different supermarkets of Australia with different demographics. After the

procedure is done a 5 new group of male shopper are identified in which equitable is the new

one. The 5 group of male shoppers are as follows:

1. Budget conscious: Group of male who were price conscious ranging from age of 26-45

who spent time in supermarkets and check prices which suits their budget. They are not

comfortable with this task but they have to control their home expenses .Yes this

completely relates with our male consumers in Pakistan also because most of them are

earning for their family and the middle class spend money according to their budget.

2. Controlled: The one who make the complex decision makings not because of financial

limitations but due to some purpose. They are the good salaried class people. For e.g. We

met a person in Hyperstar who was a financial analyst in a firm with quiet a good salary

and he came there to buy a Nokia N9 there but he couldn’t get it thought he can bought

any other model but he didn’t.

Page | 40

3. Egocentric: Generally these people according to the study are older married and buy

things which are unplanned we can say these are the people who do impulse buying. In

Hyperstar we many people who didn’t get the right sizes of their shirts or pants and they

bought something else which attracted them.

4. Equitable: A completely new identified group which consists of younger people with

low and they involved in activities going around while enjoying shopping. For e.g. In

Hyperstar we met many youngsters who came to enjoy the environment of hyperstar and

do very less buying but while going outside or coming inside of the store they don’t

forget to get the pamphlet of Hyperstar with advertised promotion and products. Our

Pakistani youth mostly comes in this context.

5. Convenience: One of the variables that we have used for our research was convenience

that customer needs while he comes for shopping it could be parking, hyperstar location,

efficient staffing etc. They are the educated earner shoppers.

The male shoppers from 16 and above learnt to do shopping through the tradition of the society

or from the family where their father or elder brothers used to shop. The male shoppers will

emerge up with new segments so retailers should get aware of this segment now.

In Pakistan a child when started growing he learns to do shopping from family or friends which

are the tradition of Pakistan till now and yes we got all these 5 group of male shoppers in

Pakistan as discussed above while asking question from the male shoppers in Hyperstar we came

across all of these 5 group of male shoppers.

Article # 15

Factors Influencing Customer Loyalty and Choice of Retailer While Buying Fast Moving Consumer Goods

Author: PoornimaPugazhenthi

Page | 41

Summary:

This research makes us clear with the name that this article is about the factors which influence

the customer loyalty and choice of retailer while buying FMCG. Retail includes every kind of

business in which we sell different products to the customers or consumers and type of retail

stores are:

Departmental stores

Supermarkets: Like Hyperstar, Metro & Makro

Hypermarkets

Discount stores

General merchandise stores

Warehouse stores

Variety store or "dollar store"

Boutiques

Convenience stores

Automated Retail stores like Kiosks

Grocery stores and e-Retails.

Only few of them are active in Pakistan rest are related to the studies done abroad. The concept

of retail store few years ago was that it is a small shop nearby from where consumers will buy

grocery or other products. Now there is a great change in the retail industry from small retail

store to hypermarkets. Every retail store is doing some kind of activity to attract customers and

to fulfill their needs. The main reason of doing this is that there are a lot of competitors in the

market and everyone is trying to get a competitive edge over the other. Taking the e.g. of

Hyperstar when it came into existence in 2009 other retailers like HKB, pot pori and Al-Fateh

faced a bad competition but only few retailers knew about the Hyperstar and they started

refocusing on their strategies.

Page | 42

All of the products sold in the market the fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) have a high

volume because these products will be used by everyone in his/her daily life. There are six kind

of FMCGs on which we are focusing in this article that are:

A. Highly Perishable Fast Moving Consumer Goods:

I. Vegetables & Fruits

ii. Dairy Products

Iii. Bakery Items

B. Other Fast Moving Consumer Goods:

I. Personal Care Products 6

ii. Cleaning Products

iii. Confectionaries

All of these FMCG products are available at Hyperstar and consumer are quiet happy with the

FMCG products because mostly promotion is put on any of the fast moving consumer goods.

The research methodology they have used in this research is that they have developed a

questionnaire based on the various characteristics/demographics of the customers that will help

to attract customers to buy FMCG. They are gathering information by using interviews,

questionnaires and online survey. For data collection they have used various methods like

personal interviewing, telephone, mail and the Internet.

The result which they get they have to link with the background of the customer, Price, Product

Quality and availability. Women prefer location while buying vegetables & fruits and dairy

products while men prefer ambience, location and availability. Pakistani men need a quick free

of rush place so they choose the place like Hyperstar where easy access to car park, Convenient

location and friendly operator with clean and hygienic food.

Page | 43

Article # 16

Men and shopping Exploring the ‘Mister Myths’

Authors: Stephen Ogden-Barnes

Summary:

Gender difference chasing in every second article again come to the male gender in which we

will come to know what the behavior of men is and how they do shopping? Today

researchers are more concerned about this new emergent male group while previously in whole

world there was the concept of feminine shopping only which is reducing on daily basis. After

having the brief review of this research again it proved men just hate to do shopping while

female feels enjoyment or pleasure while shopping and it is identified that males are not good

shoppers. Men are always in rush there are different personality people who spend time while

shopping but few in fact many don’t like to spend time on shopping.

Study also proves they don’t like to do shopping with their partners neither their partners so this

means they prefer to do shopping alone. As far as Pakistani males are concerned they do like do

shopping with their friends either or partner concept of doing shopping of males in Pakistan is

very less while we interviewed males in Hyperstar they were either with friends or with their

partner.

They are a hunter gathers means that when they will go into the malls for shopping they will not

waste their time in comparing the quality or price like women’s but they will search that product

for which they have come to buy. We consider male from abroad and Pakistani studies as a time

saver more than females. Women neither like to do shopping rather they love to do shopping

Pakistani females do shopping twice or thrice a week automatically they get different from men.

Not all men hate shopping but most of the men’s will like to do shopping as mentioned above

depends on the personality of that person but still in fact that they do shopping faster than the

women’s. They will usually go for which product they will find and buy that they will not go

through many products and then buy which is looking best which feels like men’s are hunters or

chasers.

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In Pakistan it is also little bit same that there most of the shopping will be done by the women’s

because the men is not available for shopping they have to work and on the weekend they will

like to do rest but in some case men’s will also go to the shopping centers but they will not waste

their time like women’s. In our research we got more male on weekends which were mostly

married.

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"THE METHODOLOGY"

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(4.0) Methodology:

(4.0.1) Nature of research:

Nature of our research is exploratory because we explored almost all the data by our own self.

We explore the Hyperstar consumers and gender differences relating to their perceived

importance levels of store characteristics.

(4.0.2) Target population:

The research has been conducted in Lahore cantonment board area where Hyperstar is located in

therefore the target population for this research is all the people who shop at Hyperstar. When we

were conducting research we came to knew that people from Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, and

Bahawalpur also come for shopping.

(4.0.3) Primary Data sources:

Our primary data source was the administer questionnaire in which we ask the questions from

the customer in the environment of Hyperstar and fill it by our own self.

Secondary data sources:

Our primary data sources were Internet, journals & articles.

(4.0.4) Research approach:

We have used administer questionnaires in which interviewee asks questions from the

respondent and filled the questionnaire on the spot. A copy of evaluative questionnaire is

attached in appendix.

(4.0.5) Sample size:

The sample of our research is the ultimate consumers who are shopping at Hyperstar A sample

size of 280 respondents is taken from Hyperstar only which is the best superstore of Lahore.

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Sampling procedure:

We have used non-probability sampling due to lack of time and resource constraint.

(4.0.6) Data collection method:

Method which we have adopted for research is personally administered questionnaire (PAQ).

The questionnaire technique which we have used is evaluation technique means only close ended

questions are asked and the sample of 280 questionnaires are filled by us by asking customer

questions and filling their responses in right box and questionnaire is attached in the Appendix.

(4.0.7) Research instrument:

Survey is conducted through administer questionnaire which is a research instrument.

(4.0.8) SPSS Data analysis:

Statistics:

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Biweekly promotion

Trained staff

Easy Access to car parks

Well Stocked Shelves

Convenient location

NValid 264 264 264 264 264

Missing 0 0 0 0 0

Mean 2.10 1.95 1.39 2.03 2.05

Median 2.00 2.00 1.00 2.00 2.00

Mode 1 1 1 1 2

Std. Deviation

1.151 .942 .834 1.052 .989

Variance 1.324 .887 .696 1.106 .978

Sum 555 514 368 535 542

Biweekly promotion:

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

Extremely Important 100 37.9 37.9 37.9

Very important 86 32.6 32.6 70.5

Somewhat important 42 15.9 15.9 86.4

Not very important 23 8.7 8.7 95.1

Not at all important 13 4.9 4.9 100.0

Total 264 100.0 100.0

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Statistics:

Healthy fresh food Competitive prices

NValid 264 264

Missing 0 0

Mean 1.90 1.48

Median 2.00 1.00

Mode 2 1

Std. Deviation .790 .745

Variance .624 .555

Sum 501 392

Trained Staff:


Valid

Extremly Important 103 39.0 39.0 39.0




Total 264 100.0 100.0

Easy Access to car parks:


Valid






Total 264 100.0 100.0

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Well Stocked Shelves:


Valid






Total 264 100.0 100.0

Convenient Location:


Valid


Very important 102 38.6 38.6 72.0




Total 264 100.0 100.0

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Healthy fresh food:


Valid


Very important 115 43.6 43.6 78.0



Total 264 100.0 100.0

Competitive Prices:


Valid

Extremely Important

167 63.3 63.3 63.3


Somewhat important

13 4.9 4.9 96.6


Total 264 100.0 100.0

One-Sample Test:

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N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Biweekly promotion 264 2.10 1.151 .071

Trained staff 264 1.95 .942 .058

Easy access to car parks 264 1.39 .834 .051

Well stocked shelves 264 2.03 1.052 .065

Convenient location 264 2.05 .989 .061

Healthy fresh food 264 1.90 .790 .049

Competitive prices 264 1.48 .745 .046

Test Value = 0

t df Sig. (2-tailed)

Mean Difference

95% Confidence Interval of the Difference

Lower

Biweekly promotion

29.685 263 .000 2.102 1.96

Trained staff 33.591 263 .000 1.947 1.83

Easy access to car parks

27.150 263 .000 1.394 1.29


31.313 263 .000 2.027 1.90

Convenient location

33.728 263 .000 2.053 1.93

Healthy fresh food 39.019 263 .000 1.898 1.80

Competitive prices 32.387 263 .000 1.485 1.39

One-Sample Test:

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Test Value = 0

95% Confidence Interval of the Difference

Upper

Biweekly promotion 2.24

Trained staff 2.06

Easy access to car parks 1.50

Well stocked shelves 2.15

Convenient location 2.17

Healthy fresh food 1.99

Competitive prices 1.58

Correlations:

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Biweekly promotion

Trained staff


Biweekly promotion

Pearson Correlation

1 -.044 -.010

Sig. (2-tailed) .476 .866

N 264 264 264

Trained staff

Pearson Correlation

-.044 1 .002

Sig. (2-tailed) .476 .968

N 264 264 264

easy_access_to_car_parks

Pearson Correlation

-.010 .002 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .866 .968

N 264 264 264


Pearson Correlation

.111 -.075 .010

Sig. (2-tailed) .072 .222 .875

N 264 264 264

Convenient location

Pearson Correlation

.002 .040 .030

Sig. (2-tailed) .976 .520 .629

N 264 264 264

Healthy fresh food

Pearson Correlation

.070 -.155* -.048

Sig. (2-tailed) .256 .011 .435

N 264 264 264

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Competitive prices

Pearson Correlation

.097 -.023 -.021

Sig. (2-tailed) .115 .712 .735

N 264 264 264

Correlation:


Convenient location

Healthy fresh food

Biweekly promotion

Pearson Correlation

.111 .002 .070

Sig. (2-tailed) .072 .976 .256

N 264 264 264

Trained staff

Pearson Correlation

-.075 .040 -.155

Sig. (2-tailed) .222 .520 .011

N 264 264 264


Pearson Correlation

.010 .030 -.048

Sig. (2-tailed) .875 .629 .435

N 264 264 264


Pearson Correlation

1 -.016 -.015

Sig. (2-tailed) .796 .808

N 264 264 264

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Convenient location

Pearson Correlation

-.016 1 -.032

Sig. (2-tailed) .796 .605

N 264 264 264

Healthy fresh food

Pearson Correlation

-.015 -.032* 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .808 .605

N 264 264 264

Competitive prices

Pearson Correlation

.047 -.112 -.006

Sig. (2-tailed) .451 .068 .924

N 264 264 264

Correlations:

Competitive prices

Biweekly promotion

Pearson Correlation .097

Sig. (2-tailed) .115

N 264

Trained staff

Pearson Correlation -.023


N 264

Easy access to car parks Pearson Correlation -.021


Page | 57

N 264


Pearson Correlation .047


N 264

Convenient location



N 264

Healthy fresh food



N 264

Competitive prices

Pearson Correlation 1

Sig. (2-tailed)

N 264

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

If Pearson correlation = 1 then each variable has a perfect relation with itself.

a. Dependent Variable: gender

b. All requested variables entered.

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Model Summary:

Model R R Square Adjusted R SquareStd. Error of the

Estimate

1 .134a .018 -.009 .492

a. Predictors: (Constant), Competitive prices, Healthy fresh food,

well stocked shelves, easy access to car parks, convenient

location, biweekly promotion, trained staff

Anovaa:

ModelSum of Squares

df Mean Square F Sig.

1

Regression 1.134 7 .162 .670 .697b

Residual 61.896 256 .242

Total 63.030 263


b. Predictors: (Constant), Competitive prices, Healthy fresh food, well stocked shelves,

easy access to car parks, convenient location, biweekly promotion, trained staff

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Coefficient'sa:

ModelUnstandardized

Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients t Sig.

B Std. Error Beta

1

(Constant) 1.559 .171 9.127 .000

Biweekly promotion .034 .027 .081 1.283 .201

Trained staff -.029 .033 -.055 -.879 .380

Easy access to car parks .039 .036 .066 1.069 .286

Well stocked shelves -.002 .029 -.005 -.082 .935

Convenient location -.001 .031 -.001 -.019 .985

Healthy fresh food .019 .039 .031 .499 .618

Competitive prices -.036 .041 -.055 -.879 .380


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(5.0) Limitations of the study:

As we were conducting research and its one of the basic type of research there were certain

limitations for this study which are as follows:

There were certain limitations involved which crawled out of the research process due to

time and resource constraint. This research is on the basic level and so to complete on

time with minimal budget was the priority.

While conducting research people were not cooperative.

The biggest constraint was we had to speak and explain each and every question to the

respondent and then fill on the right space.

We conducted an exploratory research so we had to choose the non-probability sampling

and convenience sampling as a sub-sample.

Due to busy life’s respondents was not that much accurate as they should be.

Due to illiteracy rate in Pakistan it went difficult for us to rephrase the question to

consumer.

Again due to illiteracy we met many window shoppers in Hyperstar.

One of the biggest constraints we faced that Hyperstar office management was not

cooperative so we had to talk to floor manager and different concern persons inside the

store.

First time experience with SPSS became a problem.

Due to family days on weekend became a time constraint.

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"CONCLUSION"

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(6.0) Conclusion:

For the past 4 -5 years retail industry is on boom and growing rapidly it is all due to entrance of

new retailers .In 2009 Hyperstar was launched which is the major giant super store of middle

east then metro cash n carry and Makro were already existing in the market but metro and Makro

are more of wholesaler side while Hyperstar is a retail outlet.

Small retailers like HKB, Alfateh, and Potpourri are working on their places and targeting people

living in nearby areas furthermore with their personal communication with the customer. Today

customer needs the attention of the retailers while he/she shops in store if that attention is not

given then customer might become disloyal.

This exploratory study with 280 administered questionnaires conducted in the environment of

Hyperstar deduces many results ranging gender from age of 16 to 48. In Pakistan shopping was

only consider to be the concept of females but now it’s changed as our society is moving towards

the independent family system men also goes for shopping.

In past our society was a female dominated society where men use to work and women use to

shop as a housewife but now it’s changing that men use to work and shop but with different

characteristics while women works and enjoy shopping. In our research we came to the result

that men differs from men and their perceived importance relating to store characteristics are also

different and which are as follows:

Female:

Result deducted from female questionnaire and supporting journal is:

Pakistan has female dominated society where female use to shop and men use to work

but now it’s changing female work and does shopping also.

Females enjoy shopping we met many who were either enjoying shopping or express it

by themselves.

Female spend more time on shopping.

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They are price sensitive and they wanted to buy more in less money but in more time.

They prefer more Promotion & specials and try to utilize items which are on promotion

in Hyperstar.

They require organized staff which could help them whenever help is required while

shopping in a concern section.

Cleanliness and hygienic food is more preferred and they have started preferring

Hyperstar packaged and unpackaged food due to the certification from HACCP.

Focus more on competitive prices as they knew more about grocery shopping and

household chores from men.

Male:

Result deducted from male questionnaire and supporting journal is:

Males are the new emergent shoppers in the retail environment so retailers are trying to

work on this new group that how to target male customers now.

Men spent less time on shopping.

They are always rushing either for home or back to office.

They want the convince factor that either the store like Hyperstar has wide parking and

easy access to car parks.

Product availability is also one of the factor that male requires now because they set their

mind and buy that product from the store.

If retailers wanted to be successful they need to work on both genders because personality and

age differs like older males spend more time while shopping and they are the most loyal

customers of the store.

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(7.0) Refrences:

Barnes, S. O. (2012). Men and shopping Exploring the ‘Mister Myths’ . Retail Mangement , 19.

Biernat, M., & Wortman, C. B. (1991). Sharing of Home Responsibilities between Professionally Employed Women and Their Husbands. Personality and Social Psychology , 60 (6), 844-860.

Chea, P. (2011). Gender Differences in the Fashion Consumption and Store Characteristics in Swedish Clothing Stores . Business Adminsitartion , 41.

Corsten, D., & Gruen, T. (2003). On Shelf Availability: An Examination of the Extent, the Causes, and the Efforts to Address Retail Out-of-Stocks. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management , 31 (12), 605-617.

fox, E. J., Montgomery, A. L., & Lodish, L. M. (2004). Consumer shopping and spending across retail formats . Journal of Business , 77, 25-60.

Hart, C., Fareell, A. M., Stachow, G., Reed, G., & Cadogan, J. W. (2007). Enjoyment of the Shopping Experience: Impact on Customers' Repatronage Intentions and Gender Influence. The Service Industries Journal , 27 (5), 583-604.

Helgesen, O., & Nesset, E. (2010). Gender, store satisfaction and antecedents: a case study of a grocery store. Journal of Consumer Marketing , 27 (2), 114-126.

Hill, Harmon, C. J., & k, S. (2009). Attitudes toward coupon use and bargain hunting: an examination of differences by gender. Business general , 13 (1), 13.

Holmberg, J., & Ohnfeldt, R. (2010, June 22). The female fashion consumer behaviour - From the perspective of the shop Fever in Gothenburg. Consumer Economics/Marketing , 76.

Miranda, M. J., konya, L., & Havrila, I. (2005). Shoppers' satisfaction levels are not the only key to store loyalty. Marketing Intelligence & Planning , 23 (2), 220-232.

Mortimer, & Gary. (2011). The emergent male shopper : an identification of male supermarket shopper types. Conference Paper , 9.

Mortimer, Gary, Clarke, & Pter. (2011, October ). Supermarket cosnumers and gender differnces realting to their percieved imporatnce levels of store characteristics . Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services , 575-585.

Noble, S. M., Griffith, D. A., & Adjei, M. T. (2006). Drivers of localmerchant loyalty: Understanding the influence of gender and shopping motives. Journal of Retailing , 82 (3), 177.

Plassmann, H., kenning, P., & Ahlert, D. (2007). Why Companies Should Make Their Customers Happy: the Neural Correlates of Customer Loyalty. Consumer Research , 34, 735-739.

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Pugazhenthi, P. (2011). Factors Influencing Customer Loyalty and Choice of Retailer While Buying Fast Moving Consumer Goods. Företagsekonomi - Business Administration\Marketing , 53.

Tzimitra, I. K., Kamenidou, I., Piporas, K. V., & Tziakas, V. (2002). Age gender affects on consumers awareness and source of awareness for food related private label brand. Agricultural Economics Review , 3 (1), 14.

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"Appendix – I"

Questionnaire:

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Age: _______ Gender: ______ Occupation: ______________ Marital status: ______

On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being the extremely important, 2 very important, 3 somewhat important, 4 not very important, and 5 not at all important.

Promotion & Specials 1 2 3 4 5

Bi-weekly promotion

Special gift cards

Occasional Specials

Staffing of serviced departments

No waiting

Served quickly

Trained staff

Advertised special promotions

Product of the day

Specials I want

Efficient & accurate operations

Friendly operators

Efficient operators

Accurate operators

Easy Access


Easy parking

Parcel pick up area

Product availability

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Products i want

Convenience & locality

Easy to find

Easy to go

Convenient location

Cleanliness

Hygienic practices

Cleanliness

Quality food handling

High quality fresh food

Healthy fresh food

Quality fresh food

Stable low prices

Competitive prices

Low, everyday prices

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"Appendix – II"

Pie Charts:

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"Gender Differences Relating to Hyperstar Promotion, Convenience, low price and other...

Economy & Finance

Transcript of "Gender Differences Relating to Hyperstar Promotion, Convenience, low price and other...