CHAPTER 3: POSITIONING AND THE ATTRIBUTES SOUGHT IN CLOTHING
3.3 Factors Influencing the Purchase Process and Retail Store Selection
3.3.1 Attributes influencing the Selection of Retail Stores in General
An early study conducted by Jolson and Spath (1973: 49) set out to determine how consumers rank the various factors which influence their choice of where to shop, whether retailers fully comprehend these determinants of shopper patronage and what relationship exists “between the
34 retailer‟s understanding of patronage factors and the retailer‟s fulfilment of consumer needs”
(Jolson and Spath 1973: 39). In their attempt to understand shoppers‟ requirements, they subsequently found that the consumers‟ choice of which store to patronise depended mostly on customer perceptions of “price/value relationships, store specialisation, quality of merchandise, availability, salesclerk service, and store location” (Jolson and Spath 1973:49). Lindquist (1974- 1975 cited in Arnold et al. 1978: 663) summarised 26 “empirical and theoretical studies of retail store selection” (Arnold et al. 1978: 663) to identify the attributes most frequently mentioned across all studies. These included: Merchandise selection or assortment, Merchandise quality, Merchandise pricing, Locational convenience, Merchandise styling or fashion, Service in general and Service provided by the sales personnel (Arnold et al. 1978: 663). Further attributes potentially influencing retail store selection, including clothing retailers, were identified by Hansen and Deutscher (1977: 64-65) through summarising past literature and research and were hence concluded to be:
Table 3. 2 Attributes influencing Retail Store Selection
Numerous brands Courteous sales personnel
Wide selection Easy to return purchases
Well-known brands Store is known by friends
High fashion items Store is recommended by friends
Low prices compared to competition Attractive decor
Many specially priced items Company operates many stores
Store is nearby Easy to park
Short time to reach stores Advertising is informative
Easy drive to store Advertising helps planning
Convenient compared to other stores Advertising is appealing Advertising is believable Friendly store personnel
Company is well-known Been in community a long time
Easy to exchange purchases Fair on adjustments
Bearden (1977 cited in Paulins and Geistfeld 2003: 372), however, concluded from his research that “atmosphere, location, parking facilities, and friendliness of sales people” were the attributes which exerted the strongest influence over retail store selection. In addition,
35 Westbrook (1981: 78) conducted a study investigating the “sources of consumer satisfaction with retail outlets” (Westbrook 1981: 68), and subsequently argued that attributes such as stores‟ sales personnel, special store sales, products or services purchased at the store, store environment and the value-price relationship offered by the store were the most influential components of retail satisfaction (Westbrook 1981: 78).
A more recent study carried out by Leszczyc and Timmermans (2001: 498) investigated consumer shopping strategies, namely “how consumers organise their shopping behaviour in terms of the kinds of stores they choose to buy different bundles of goods from” (Leszczyc and Timmermans 2001: 495), from which they concluded that consumers tend to prefer a certain type of store or specific retail format over others when “prices were lower, parking costs were less, better assortments were offered, travel time was reduced, and checkout lanes were shorter”
(Leszczyc and Timmermans 2001: 508). Klein (1998 cited in Sullivan and Heitmeyer 2008:
286) also found that the vast majority of men and women (86% and 87% respectively) regard reasonable prices as the most important factor impacting their choice of retailer. Sinha, Banerjee and Uniyal (2002: 25) found that, across a variety of different types of retail stores, including grocery, durables, chemists, lifestyle, books and music, apparel, cigarette and accessory stores, the “primary reasons for choosing a store are convenience and merchandise, store ambiance and service” (Sinha et al. 2002: 25). Furthermore, shoppers across all retail types “would like to minimise the effort of shopping by reducing either the travel time or the time spent in the shop”
(Sinha et al. 2002: 25).
Moreover, a study conducted by Thang and Tan (2003: 199) found merchandising to be the most significant factor contributing to consumer preference of department stores, followed by accessibility, reputation, in-store service, store atmosphere and promotions. The attribute of merchandising included the merchandise mix, value for money and the availability of stock and merchandise within the retail outlet; while accessibility referred to the ease and duration of travel to the store, as well as parking facilities (Thang and Tan 2003: 197). Reputation was found to be the third most influential attribute impacting store preference thus highlighting that respondents in this particular study preferred reputable stores, and tended to link a good reputation with quality and value for money (Thang and Tan 2003: 198). The attribute of in- store service, the fourth most important factor in this study, included aspects such as congeniality (likeability), advice on purchase, gift wrapping and convenient payment options (Thang and Tan 2003: 197). Store atmosphere, the next most significant variable affecting consumer store preference, included components such as decorations, layout, ease of movement and the way the merchandise is displayed within the store (Thang and Tan 2003: 197). Finally, promotions, which referred to the advertising, promotions and special events planned by the
36 store (Thang and Tan 2003: 197), was found to be the sixth most significant variable of a total of eight variables potentially impacting consumer store preference.
Gehrt and Yan (2004: 17) also identified a set of attributes affecting consumer store selection by conducting a factor analysis to determine the specific attributes with the highest importance ratings and, in so doing, found four factors to be the most salient in impacting consumers‟
selection of traditional stores, catalogues and websites. These four factors were: transaction service, merchandise, retailer personality and price. The factor of transaction service referred to attributes such as: easy to place an order, 24 hour accessibility, ability to touch or try merchandise, security and privacy policy, several options for payment, and reliable shipping (Gehrt and Yan 2004: 17). The factor of merchandise included attributes such as: easy to find merchandise, quality merchandise, unique merchandise, large selection of merchandise, and immediate availability of merchandise (Gehrt and Yan 2004: 17). Retailer personality represented attributes such as: shopping atmosphere, well-known national brands, familiarity with the retailer, and sales assistance or merchandise information (Gehrt and Yan 2004: 17).
Lastly, the price factor refers to low prices and the ease of price comparison as important attributes (Gehrt and Yan 2004: 17).
Finally, most recently Pan and Zinkhan (2006: 238) also investigated the determinants of retail patronage and found the attribute of wide selection of merchandise to have “the highest average correlation with store choice, followed by service, quality, store atmosphere, low price levels, convenient location, fast checkout, convenient opening hours, friendliness of salespeople, and convenient parking facilities” (Pan and Zinkhan 2006: 238). Overall, these authors found that wide selection, service and product quality are the most important for explaining retail choice (Pan and Zinkhan 2006: 240).