CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumer behaviour

Consumer behavior

Task 1

Introduction

Retailers in the £171 billion UK consumer electronics market are faced with intense competition from intra and inter-type competitors (Kharif, 2009, 88). Consumer electronics such as televisions, DVD players, portable radios, CD players, telephones, small appliances, stereo, and computer-related items are sold by department stores (e.g. Sears, JC Penney), specialty stores (e.g. Tweeter, Bang and Olufsun, Radio Shack), discounters (e.g. Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart), category killers (e.g. Best Buy, Good Guys), internet-only retailers (e.g. Dell.com, Amazon.com, Egghead.com), and catalogs (e.g. Sharper Image, Crutchfield).

Shoppers are provided with an unprecedented number of retail formats from which to choose. While this array of alternatives is finally healthy the shopper, the grade of comparable power presents a dispute for consumer electronics retailers.

Concurrently, the latest economic downturn has shoved demand for consumer electronics to its smallest issue in recent history (Kharif, 2009, 66). Although retail sales in some merchandise classes for example appliances, televisions, and cameras increased as much as 10 per hundred throughout 2008, a March 2009 report from the UK Census Bureau proposes that general retail sales for consumer electronics are down roughly 3 per hundred as in evaluation to one year previous (US Census Bureau, 2009, 44). Circuit City, a foremost electronics retailer in the UK , announced bankruptcy in November 2008 and competitor Best Buy readjusted yearly sales outlook down high ground from projections of $47 billion to $43.7-$45.5 billion in income (Renfrow, 2008, 89).

 

Perceptions

Consumer demographics and retail format choice

 Previous study proposes that retail format alternative is connected to consumer demographic characteristics. Crask and Reynolds (1978) analyzed common and non-frequent shoppers of department shops, describing that common shoppers are junior and own higher grades of learning and income. Burt and Gabbott (1995) described a rather inconsistent finding to that of Crask and Reynolds (1978), proposing that aged consumers are inclined to patronize department and specialty stores. Arnold (1997) described that the demographic profile (e.g. age, learning, house size) of large format department shop shoppers differs from the profile of non-shoppers. Soriano and Nair (2002) described alike outcome to those of Burt and Gabbott (1995), illustrating that older people often favour to shop in department stores.

Wright (1996) analyzed the buying demeanor of baby boomers, completing that they often favour to shop at department stores. Carpenter (2008) described that discount shoppers are usually juvenile and have reduced grades of education. Lee et al. (2006) analyzed a junior segment, Generation X shoppers, describing that this assembly good turns class killers. Gillett (1976) recounted catalog shoppers to be of overhead mean socio-economic rank as assessed by house earnings, communal class, learning, and occupation of house head.

Later work by Jasper and Lan (1992) proposed that as age rises, inclination to catalog shop furthermore increases. Latest study by Goldsmith and Flynn (2005) furthermore described that catalog buying rises with age, while internet buying declines with age.

Taken simultaneously, the outcome of investigations connecting consumer demographics to retail format alternative propose a attachment between age, learning, earnings, and a shopper's supreme alternative of retail ...