Graph 2
Question 4 gives information about the level of satisfaction with the main services offered by each supermarket in the city. The marks received for each service, then their average were found. According to graph below, the highest average mark was given to the physical factor (mark is 4.7), which includes convenience, cleanliness, music, conditioning, design of supermarket. Food quality also regarded as good, with the average 4.12, while other types of services such as the service quality, price and range of products were rated below 4 marks.
Graph 3
Question 6 was used to identify what makes consumers level of satisfaction to decrease, where open question is used. Answers given by respondents were put into 5 main categories:
· high prices
· small range of products
· untrained personnel providing service
· long queues
· others
Graph 4
Collected data is represented by the bar chart above, where it can be seen that the higher prices (44%) is the major cause of dissatisfaction of customers. While another main influences are limited assortment of products, long queues near cashier’s desk, untrained and rude personnel who is not able to serve consumer. 16% of respondents answered that other factors like low quality of some national product, poor arrangement of products within supermarket, and no bargaining power as in bazaars can cause disappointment for customers.
Objective 3: To analyze the frequency of shopping in supermarkets and try to explore the seasonal effect on it.
To examine the objective, respondents were asked to answer where they shop for food in particular season during the year. Question 5 was designed to identify is there any seasonal effect on choice of customers. So according to data obtain, 85% of respondents shop in supermarkets in winter, 44% and 42% - in spring and autumn respectively, and only 26% of respondents purchase products in supermarkets in summer.
Objective 4: Identify the factors providing high popularity of bazaars in European countries
In order to identify what factors influence the growing popularity of bazaars in European countries, the secondary research was applied. So, according to the research done by Poulsen and Sonne (2004), the analysis of open markets was done in three cities of different countries:
Table 1
City | Bazaar name | Population | Popularity reasons |
Aarhus (Denmark) | “Bazar Vest” | Immigrants and Danes from other parts of the city, students | · Experience of something foreign and authentic· Eating authentically foreign cuisine |
Paris (France) | Marche d’Aligre | People of different nationalities, religion; young and old people; rich and poor people. | · Socialization (meeting place)· Variety and freshness of high quality products· Cheap prices· Availability of special products· Family-friendly area |
London (Great Britain) | Camden Lock Market and Old Spitalfield | People varying in age, ethnic belonging and profession. There are more students, families with children, elderly people. | · Creative environment· Diversity of products· Meeting place· High quality organic food· No chain store products· Exotic food |
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The conducted research was intended to investigate the popularity of supermarkets in Uzbekistan and the opposite trend in Europe. All of the objectives stated above were achieved and explained in the results section. First of all, referring to question 1, it can be seen that the majority of respondents who usually shop in supermarkets are people between ages 18-25. However, it was found out by making chi test, that possibility that there is no relationship between the frequency of shopping in supermarkets and the age of respondents is 87%. This results that our hypothesis is proved.
The analysis of the objective 2 illustrates that the main factor which influence the choice of the respondent is founded as quality of product offered by supermarket, the perception of people that the supermarket offers high quality food compared to bazaars have great impact in this case. Additionally, respondents also think that the price and the quality of service are the significant factors which could differentiate supermarkets from bazaars, while parking conditions has almost no impact on consumers. Furthermore, team group has found out that the majority of respondents are mostly satisfied with physical factors (environment of supermarkets, cleanness, air-conditioning, music), while others answered that there is still organization which should be improved, especially with arrangement of products and long queues. Moreover, it was clarified that also personnel (shop assistants) are not trained well in order to help customers and sometimes they are rude with them. This type of small issues has great impact on the consumer’s preference and decreases their dissatisfaction from purchased goods in supermarkets.
Furthermore the objective 3 was achieved which illustrates that there is seasonal effect on consumers choices to choose place for shopping. From the results, it is inferred that the supermarkets are at the pick of their popularity during the winter season.
The consideration of western situation, it can be inferred that the main factors influencing the increasing popularity of bazaars are freshness of the products, cheap prices, wide range of food-products and availability of exotic and special products. These factors cannot be applied to the supermarket features both in east and west. This trend in west comes from a change in the customers’ wishes. Europeans now want something else other than big chain stores. That is why the experience of bazaars in the west is becoming more and more popular. However, the globalization and modernization, which are being introduced in the last year in the local area, plays a great role in the growing popularity of supermarkets in the east.
This conducted research and its results could be helpful for people who are willing to identify the profitable way of distribution channel to sell their products, because research illustrates the factors influencing the choice of shopping place. Moreover, by identifying the significance of different aspects of shopping for consumers, the owners of supermarkets are able to improve the service provided and attract and maintain new customers. Potential investors who are willing to open supermarkets also could use this obtained information for deciding weather their need to open it in Uzbekistan or diversify across the country in order to be more profitable.
Limitations of the project:
· The research covered small sample size, which can poorly represent the whole population.
· Respondents could answer the questions not properly by devoting less time and attention to the research questions.
· The misunderstanding of the context of the questions could occur.
· The research was done only in few supermarkets and only in Tashkent city, which could not represent the whole population of Uzbekistan.
Bibliography
1. Brenner, E., 2005. ENTERPRISE; Market Day, Via France, New York Times [Online].
2. Bristol, 2008. Our Global Super Market, Evening Post [Online], 26 January.
3. Fritschel, H., 2003. Will Supermarkets Be Super for Small Farmers? IFPRI Forum [Online], December. Available from: http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/newsletters/ifpriforum/IF200312.htm (Accessed: 27 February 2008).
4. Gale, F., 2005. China's supermarkets present export opportunity. Asia Times [Online]. Available from: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GF24Ad02.html (Accessed 22 February 2008).
5. Kummer, C., 2007. The Supermarket of the Future, Atlantic Monthly [Online], May. Available from: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200705/supermarkets (Accessed: 24 February 2008).
6. Poulsen, L. V. S. and Sonne J. D., 2004. Authenticity and New Trends in Markets in Aarhus, Paris and London [Online]. Available from: http://www.hum.au.dk/cek/kontur/pdf/kontur_10/louise.jens.pdf (Accessed: 24 February 2008).
7. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2003-2004. Turkey, From Beijing to Budapest – Winning Brands, Winning Formats [Online], 4th ed. Available from: http://www.pwc.com/extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/docid/814235FAABCCFD678525708B00597DF7/$File/Turkey.pdf (Accessed: 24 February 2008).
8. Sairam Tourism, 2006. Bazaars of Uzbekistan. Available from: http://www.sairamtour.com/news/gems/53.html (Accessed 21 Febrary 2008).
9. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., 2003. Research Methods for Business Students, 3rd ed. England: Prentice Hall.
10. Shankar, B. R., 2006. The Big Food Bazaar Across The Great Wall, Frost & Sullivan [Online], 31 January. Available from: http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/market-insight-top.pag?docid=47941970 (Accessed: 24 February 2008).
11. Sirtioglu, I., 2004. Branded products best bets in Turkey's retail market, HighBeam Encyclopedia [Online],7 January. Available from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-121339733.html (Accessed: 24 February 2008).
12. Tianshannet, 2008. The Modern Dream of Bazaar. Available from: http://www.aboutxinjiang.com/topic/content/2008-01/11/content_2389662.htm (Accessed 22 February 2008).
13. Turdimov, J., 2002. Supermarketing, or western product on eastern ground, Economic Review, no.6, summer, pp 39-49.
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15. Zharan, A., 2005. Between Market and Supermarket, TURKMENISTAN Magazine [Online], February. Available from: http://www.turkmenistan.ru/?page_id=9&lang_id=en&elem_id=6210&type=event&sort=date_desc (Accessed: 24 February 2008).
APPENDIX
This questionnaire is a part of much broader research carried out by students of WIUT and aimed to find out main factors influencing consumers’ choice between Supermarkets and Bazaars, both in eastern countries and western countries. Please answer the questions freely. No personal information will be collected, thus providing you full anonymity. And if you decide to leave us your contacts for any reason, we guarantee that such information will not be disclosed to anyone but the group of researchers under strict confidentiality.
All the information provided will be held under strict confidentiality!
The questionnaire should take you no more then 5-7 minutes to complete. There are 15 multiple choice questions. Please put what first came to your mind, usually this best represents your true opinion.
Please read the instructions provided with the questions carefully in order to fill out the questionnaire correctly. Your opinion is very valuable for us, therefore we ask you to answer all the questions even if some of them might seem not to apply to you.
After the completion of the questionnaire please return it to the person who gave it to you. He/She will collect it in 10 minutes times
Thank you for your time and if you have any inquires please contact us via post, email or telephone.
Dan Anderson (fictional)
5BA MRM Group
Questionnaire
1. How old are you? (Tick one)
· Less than 18
· 18-25
· 26-40
· 41-60
· 61 and above
2. How often do you visit supermarkets? (circle one)
o More then once a week
o Once a week
o Twice a month
o Once a month or even rarely
3. Rank in order of importance the factors that affect your choice between supermarkets and bazaars for buying foods-stuff. (1-highest, 9-lowest significance).
o ___Foods quality
o ___Price
o ___Service quality
o ___Parking conditions
o ___Location
o ___Range of products
o ___Time spend on shopping
o ___Income level
o ___Physical factor (convenience, cleanliness, music, conditioning, design, etc)
4. Mark the level of services offered by supermarkets (5 – highest, 1 – lowest mark)
Food Quality___________
Service Quality____________
Range of products__________
Prices_______________
Physical factor (convenience, cleanliness, music, conditioning, design, etc)_________
5. Where do you mostly shop during different seasons? (Please circle one for each season)
o Winter -- Supermarket - Bazaar
o Spring -- Supermarket - Bazaar
o Summer - Supermarket - Bazaar
o Autumn - Supermarket - Bazaar
6. What you don’t like about supermarkets?
Thank You for your time and attention!