Store merchandising practices

Typescript.Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1969.Bibliography: leaves [157]-158.ix, 158 l illus., tablesFood retailing is an important segment of Hawaii's economy. The national trend of consumer expenditures is toward an increasing number of purchases without advance planning. The present study was based on empirical information obtained from a group of 700 shoppers in a representative supermarket in Honolulu, Hawaii, during a five-week test period. It was hypothesized that consumers are aware of marketing techniques; namely, multiple pricing and increased display space on selected items. The primary objectives of this study were to find the behavior patterns of supermarket shoppers in Hawaii and their awareness of merchandising techniques and to ascertain how multiple pricing and increased display space influence the shopper in Hawaii to purchase unplanned selected items among the many that are avai1able and to determine the impact these merchandising practices have on sales. The selections of the test items were based on a study conducted by Jere Boyer, Food Distribution Specialist, entitled Producing Profits (A Training Clinic on Retail Produce Department Operation). The selections were also based on the sales of the supermarket chain and the fact that these products were representative of Hawaii. The high demand item was navel oranges; the semi-demand item was turnips; and the low demand item was bell peppers. Answers given to the following questions showed similarities between shoppers in Hawaii and on the Mainland. 1. Who does the family shopping? 2. How many marketing trips are taken per week? 3. How many stores are frequented per week? 4. How many food ads are read per week? Some findings that showed a marked deviation from Mainland findings were: 1. A greater number of Island shoppers used a written shopping list. 2. More Island women shoppers were fully employed. 3. Household incomes of Island shoppers are higher than on the Mainland. 4. Island shoppers come from more varied ethnic groups. Aside from these few deviations, Island shoppers are very similar to their counterparts on the Mainland. The statistical test, analysis of variance, was used to see if weekly volume movements were significantly different. The findings were: 1. 'The sale of navel oranges could be increased by increasing the display space even at the rather high cost of 30¢ per pound. 2. The sale of turnips was influenced by multiple pricing. 3. Each of the variables, multiple pricing and increased display space, increased the sale of bell peppers slightly. The effectiveness of the merchandising techniques, multiple pricing and increased display space was identified with the number of unplanned purchases the marketing technique induced. The results were: 1. The greatest number of unplanned purchases of navel oranges occurred in the week where the test variable was increased display space (35.9 percent of all purchases unplanned). 2. The greatest number of unplanned purchases of turnips occurred in the week where the test variable was multiple pricing (21.1 percent of all purchases unplanned). 3. The greatest number of unplanned purchases of bell peppers occurred in the week where the test variable was multiple pricing (44.7 percent of all purchases unplanned). There was no indication that increased display space or multiple pricing added significantly to the number of unplanned purchases. It was concluded that the shoppers' awareness of price and display changes is minimal at the ranges of prices and display spaces for navel oranges, turnips, and bell peppers