New Shopper Profiles: Implications of Sunday Sales
1984; Wiley; Volume: 22; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0047-2778
Autores Tópico(s)Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
ResumoNEW SHOPPER PROFILES: IMPLICATIONS OF SUNDAY SALES INTRODUCTION Over the past ten years, the country's major retail markets have begun to stay open for business on Sundays. Some thirty states, however, still have Laws that ban certain types of Sunday openings. In most cases, small stores have been exempt from the Sunday sales ban. a trend towards repeal of Blue Laws, small businesses may be particularly affected by the increased competition. research summarized in this article was conducted in an effort to learn more about Sunday shoppers. following questions served as a basis for the reserach: * Are Sunday shoppers a unique and homogenous segment of the consumer population? * What, if any, are the characteristics which distinguish the Sunday shopper from shoppers at any other time during the week? * What are the implications for managerial marketing strategies if any, of the finding about Sunday shoppers? In an attempt to answer these questions, a questionnaire measuring twenty-two different vaiables was constructed. decision about whcih variables to include was based on a review of the literature on Sunday shopping and on interviews with retails store managers. statistical analysis centered around the relationship between the tendency to shop during the week or on Sundays and selected demographic and psychographic variables in order to develop shopper profiles. LITERATURE REVIEW Between 1969 and 1970 a dozen articles appeared in various business publications debating the issue of Sunday opening for retail stores (see especially Nation's Business, 1970; Chain Store Age, 1970; and Smallcombe, 1969). Since that time, Sunday sales have become more commonplace, but articles on the subject have become more scarce. Most of the recent articles focus on sales results and speculate about consumer motives for shopping on Sunday. According to a 1971 survey of 49 retail chains (representing 666 shopping center stores), 94 percent of those which remained open on Sunday reported increased sales as a result. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), this study tends to refute the commonly held notion that Sunday sales merely redistribute the week's sales for a given store without materially adding to them. 1970 Chain Store Age survey of 19 shopping center operations revealed that, for many, Sunday was recognized as the largest dollar volume per hour day. Comments ranged from that of a Los Angeles area discounter, who said, The conventional stores, in five Sunday hours, were doing the equivalent of eight hours' normal business, to that of a shopping center operator who stated, A greater percentage of volume is being done in the few hours on Sunday than is being done in a couple of days during the motivating factors for consumers who shop on Sunday have not been systematically examined. Some authors, however, have speculated about who might find Sunday shopping hours appealing. According to a Sears spokesman, downtwon Chicago is not a very popular place to shop Sundays. People must don't want to shop on State Street on Sunday; they'd rather stick close the home. comment made in Economist (1976) suggests that With so many women, married as well as single, now working full-time, it is almost impossible for them to do their shopping on weekdays. Also, for purchases involving expensive items, joint decisions with both spouses present are common. Sundays provide an opportunity for these shoppers. In fact, Sunday shopping may be part of a family outing. As one shopping center operator in the Chain Store Age survey observed, families go to church, have breakfast, and then shop as a family unit. Few studies have attempted to delineate the differences between the weekday or Saturday shopper and the Sunday shopper. Szybillo, Binstock, and Buchanan go only as far as stating that activity patterns may change for different days of the week. …
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