To Organized or Unorganized: Which Retail Outlet Do You Prefer?

The assignment content discusses various aspects of retail shopping behavior and consumer preferences in the context of organized and unorganized retail formats. The questions cover factors such as pre-purchase preparation, shopping frequency, store attributes, pricing, word-of-mouth publicity, transfer mechanisms, and more. The references provided are a mix of academic journals, books, and research studies that explore different aspects of retailing, including consumer behavior, marketing strategies, and organizational dynamics.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA
Dissertation
Student
[Pick the date]

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 1
Abstract
The shoppers are fairly involved in the decision related to the choice of the store. The retail owners find
it important and necessary to understand the store choice behavior of the consumers because they use
this information to develop the appropriate marketing strategies so that the people are attracted
towards the store and the retailers are able to maintain their clientele. The study attempts to inquire
about the factors that pull the consumers in South Korea towards a particular retail store. The study
aims to determine this in general and then the findings are based on the particular attributes of the
consumers. The study is theoretical and descriptive in nature. Therefore, the research is descriptive. The
study aims to give an insight to the people and the consumers regarding the factors on the basis of
which they chose a particular retail store.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 2
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................................2
Chapter 2: Literature Review.....................................................................................................................10
Chapter 3: Research Methodology............................................................................................................11
Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS.........................................................................................................16
Chapter 6: CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................................................30
QUESTIONNAIRE........................................................................................................................................32
References.................................................................................................................................................36

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 3
Chapter 1: Introduction
The shoppers are fairly involved in the decision related to the choice of the store. The retail
owners find it important and necessary to understand the store choice behavior of the consumers
because they use this information to develop the appropriate marketing strategies so that the
people are attracted towards the store and the retailers are able to maintain their clientele (Coe,
2006). The major factors on which the buyers base their choice of store are the primary factors
and the image based factors. But, the factors depend on the type of store that the customer is
visiting. In a place like South Korea, the shoppers do not have a variety of choices to choose
from, so they simply like to go to a store which is recognized and sells many different products
(Coe, 2013). Also, the people here like to travel less, so they visit the store which is nearby to
their residence. But, different people have different choices and preferences; therefore, the study
tries to understand the behavior of different buyers regarding the retail setup in the country. The
buyers are explored in this study and the primary aim for that are the reasons due to which they
chose a particular store. All over the world, the store choice and the patronage is studied by the
researchers. With the growth of the stores and the retail setups in South Korea, this phenomenon
has gained significance in the market. New stores chains are being set up and they provide new
options to the buyers and leave them with new experiences (Neilson, 2014). The evaluation
phase is going on with the retailers and the buyers in this place and there is no clear verdict as to
what drives a person towards a particular store. Unfortunately, due to this, there is increase in the
footfall in the stores, but there is less purchases that happen in the stores. The conversion rate of
the actual purchases is very less which leads to high costs of giving service to the customers and
reduction in the level of profitability of the buyers. The small shops are the hallmark of this place

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 4
and this has held back the people to the traditional ways of shopping (Bronnenberg, 2015). Many
people still believe that the new formats of the retail shops are not effective in adding any value
to them; it is just a concept of novelty. There are many popular retail chains that are holding back
the new expansions. Therefore, the current study aims to understand the behavior of the people
regarding the choice of stores.
Basically, the process of choosing the relevant store is quite cognitive. It is very similar with the
choice of brand. When the consumers chose a particular brand, they, do not consider the
geographical limitations which is not the case with choosing the stores (Chkanikova, 2015). In
case of the store choice by the customers, the location of the store plays a major role. It is
believed that the cost of traveling while shopping is counted by the customers when they
determine their total cost of shopping from a retail outlet. Therefore, they regard the distance of
the store from their residence as an important factor while selecting the store (Cho, 2015).
It has been observed that the socio-economic background of the consumers, their personality and
the way they have made the shopping decisions in the past have influenced the store choice
behavior of the consumers (Shin, 2013). Apart from this, the shoppers have been observed to
consider the brand that is being sold in the various stores. Since the consumers regard the brand
and consider it for shopping, therefore, they also see that which of their favorite brands is sold in
which of the retail setup. Thus, the brand and the location have a strong link with the choice of
stores (Chkanikova, 2015). Apart from this, the age of people in South Korea, the age group of
people, the size of their family and the occupation in which they are involved are also a factor
that helps them in deciding that which store they must visit to shop from (Cho, 2015). Thus, the

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 5
personal attributes of the people are also connected to the factors that influence the choice of the
format of the retail stores i.e. the organized retail and the unorganized retail.
Organized retail is that retail setup where all the trading activities are undertaken by those
retailers who have the license to do that, and who have registered their retail outlets for the
payment of the sales tax; income tax; etc. (Yi, 2013). But, the unorganized retail is those low
cost retailing shops that follow the traditional formats. In South Korea, there are roadside
vendors who sell the food items and in some places, the clothes too. These all are the
unorganized ones. But, the shops that are located in the popular supermarkets, or the famous
retail chains, form a part of the organized retail in South Korea.
The choice of store is a major decision problem because this decision is very dynamic and it can
be conceptualized as an issue which is related to the decision of when to shop and from where to
shop. The shoppers have to decide about the location of the traditional store and then they have
to decide that how many shopping trips they require for getting their things collected from the
traditional stores (Bell, 1998). There is a relation between both of these problems. The choice of
the store depends on the timing of the trips of shopping because many shoppers generally visit
the local stores as filling in trips and for regular shopping, they go to the distant grocery shops
(Aaker, 1971). These two decisions are based on the characteristics of the shoppers and the
patterns of their consumption.
Also, the shopping tasks determine the choice of the store formats. The shopping can be planned
where the people prepare a list of things that they have to buy and shop according to that list.
Then, the shopping can be emergency too for example when the family member has fallen ill and
the medicines are required urgently. Or the shopping can be unplanned, where the ‘mood’ of the

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 6
shoppers plays a very important role. Thus, the stores that the consumers choose differ in the
salience rating as per the tasks that the shoppers intends to perform (Van Kenhove, 1999). The
situational factors like purchasing the necessity goods affect the salience of the stores. It is
important that the consumers evaluate the situational factors at their each visit and the choices of
the shoppers may get changed because of the situation-specific drivers (Van Kenhove, 1999).
All the situations may be evaluated by the shoppers on the basis of the cost that they incur and
the utilities that they get from the shopping. The costs that are associated with shopping are both
fixed and variable. When the size of the basket and the list of the items gets changed with the
trips of the customers, it is the variable cost and when the list remains same in regard to the
location of the store or the price format, then the cost is fixed (Darley, 1993). Broadly, it can be
concluded that when the buyers talk about their store choices, they carry an image and a
perception of the stores which has an influence on the final outcomes that they intend to achieve.
The tangible attributes of the stores drives the perceptions of the people for that store. The format
of the store, its distance from the main market or from the house of the consumers etc. is all
attributes that determine the choice of the stores by the consumers. Also, it has been observed
that the type of the product is related to the nature of stores (Malhotra, 1983).
The factors that affect the choice of format of the consumers
There are different ways in which the demography of the people and the socio-economic factors
has an impact on the choice of the retail format (Tang, 2001). Either these factors directly
influence the choices of the consumers, or they simply affect their buying behavior by affecting
the shopping basket of the consumers, or by altering the shopping trips of the consumers
(Fotheringham, 1988). Thus, the demography of the people and the socio-economic factors

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 7
impact the choice of the retail format in both direct and indirect ways. Apart from this, there are
several other factors that affect the choice of format of the consumers.
1. One factor is the gender of the shoppers. There has been difference in the shopping
behavior of males and females from the very beginning. The main reason behind this is
the differences in the occupation of the males and females, the distinction in their
preferences and the family responsibilities that they have. It has been on old practice by
the males that they are not the common and regular market visitors and they do not have
a practice of searching the market much (Dash, 1976). Thus, the marketers of the retail
shops place most of their marketing strategies in consideration of the females in the
market, rather than the males.
2. Another factor that affects the choice of store format is the age group of people, the
people of different age groups go for shopping for different things (Leszczyc, 2000). For
example, the children and the teenagers do not go to buy the furniture. So the buying
behavior differs as per the age groups of people. This is because, the requirements of the
people in different age groups in different from each other. For example, whether elderly
people go for shopping, they look for the things that will make their life easier and at that
time, they do not consider the price as a very important factor. Also, they tend to get
attracted towards the offers that the retailers are offering.
3. Then, the shopping also depends on the number of members who are present in a
particular family. When the size of the family is big, the consumption of that family is
high. So, the shopping has to be done on large scale. Also, when the size of the family is
big, the consumers look for a wider variety of the product range (Briesch, 2009). Their

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 8
behavior is channelized towards stocking the products so that they can meet the
consumption requirements of their families.
4. The employments status of the shoppers matters too. When the people are working, they
spend their income for shopping and thus, the size of their basket is dependent on the
income that they earn (Carpenter, 2006). Then the number of working people increase,
the consumption also increases in two ways. One is, that they start spending more, and
the other is, that the demand for the products rise which helps the country in earning a
higher level of GDP.
All these factors were important while studying the format of the stores. It helps in determining
that whether the consumers will go and shop from the organized retail or the unorganized retail.
Apart from this, there are other factors that have an impact on the choice of the stores by the
consumers. These factors include:
• price
• offers
• location from home
• variety
• services
• self service
• quality
• home delivery

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 9
• ambience
• all under one roof
• parking facility
• transfer mechanism
We have tried to analyze the effect of these factors in store choice behavior of consumers.
The rate of formation of the new formats of the retail stores in South Korea is very fast and rapid.
Thus, it is imperative for the country to understand that what impacts the behavior of the
consumers towards the choice of the retail formats and they also have to understand the changing
shopping behavior of the consumers with regard to the preferred points of their purchase. Since
the disposable incomes of the people are good and the infrastructure is also improved, therefore,
they have a large choice from where they can chose the products and they can shop from. It is
therefore, necessary for the owners of the retail shops to understand that what motivates the
people for buying from a particular showroom. To understand and study this, the following
objectives have been formulated.
Objectives:
The study attempts to inquire about the factors that pull the consumers in South Korea towards a
particular retail store. The study aims to determine this in general and then the findings are based
on the particular attributes of the consumers. The objectives for the current study are as follows:

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 10
1. To study the factors that make people chose a particular format of the retail store i.e. the
organized or the unorganized retail store.
2. To determine the attitude and the perceptions of the consumers towards the formats of the
retail store.
3. To find out the type of goods that the consumers look for in the organized and
unorganized retail setup.
4. To analyze the impact of consumers attributes on their choice of retail store.
5. To understand the various factors and their relative importance in determining the buying
behavior of the shoppers.
6. To find the level of consumer satisfaction from their choice of retail format and to ask for
the type of improvements that they are looking for in that particular format.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 11
Chapter 2: Literature Review

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 12
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
This chapter talks about the activities that are performed in the study for achieving the objectives
of the study. In this chapter, the proper sequence of the timings and the structure of the research
have been formulated. The completion of this research work is based on the performance of the
activities one after the other.
The type of research for this study
The topic of the research is ‘A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS
in SOUTH KOREA’ which is theoretical and descriptive in nature. Therefore, the research is
descriptive. The study aims to give an insight to the people and the consumers regarding the
factors on the basis of which they chose a particular retail store. The collection of the data for
this study has been done from the sales records of the retail outlets in the country, from the
customer sales executives and the salesmen, from the journals and articles that have been
published in the past and the other online sources. All the sources have been successful in
providing immense information for the topic because this topic has been in discussion for a long
time. Thus, the descriptive study has met the requirements of the current research study.
The sources of data for this study
The study has been done using the primary and the secondary sources of data. The role of the
secondary study is large in this because being a study for the undergraduate level; the secondary
research has a major role to play in this. But, all the objectives could not be satisfied with the
secondary data, so a bit of primary data was also collected and it has been analyzed at a very
basic level using the graphs and the pie-charts. The primary data collection has been done from

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 13
the salesmen, the customers and the marketing executives. The secondary data has been
collected from the records of sales of the company, the footfall in the outlets, the types of
products that have been sold from the retail outlets, the feedback forms that customers have filled
in those stores, the journals and other research papers and the articles as well as blogs that are
published on the various online websites.
Both the sources of data have been used because the aim was to capture every aspect of the
study. With the primary data, the responses related to the response and the behavior of the
employees was collected and analyzed and with the secondary data, the views, findings and
opinions of the previous researchers were found (McGivern, 2013). Each of these sources has
their own advantages and disadvantages but they have served the purpose of the current study.
Firstly, taking about the secondary data, it can be in either the written form, typed form or
electronic form. There are enormous sources available with the researchers by which they can
gather the data for the industry, topic, area etc. and thus they can analyze the impact of one
variable on the other variable. Then, when the study aims to gain an insight into any problem,
then the secondary data is very important. Secondary data can be obtained from the internal or
the external sources. When the data is gathered from within the company where the research is
being carried out, then it is the internal source of secondary data and when the outside sources
are used, then it is the external secondary data. Here, in the present study, the external secondary
data has been used.
Advantages and limitations of using the external secondary data in the study

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 14
The primary advantage that was obtained from using the external secondary data in the study
was that it was cheaper and the access to the information was faster. Then, the journals that have
publishes in the past years and have been used in the study are the results of the best works of the
scholars. So, the secondary data helped in accessing those works and get valuable information
from them. Then, this data helped in giving the present study a direction regarding what is the
correct direction of the study and how one should go about it. Finally, this data helped in saving
the time, effort and money for this project and the data that has been found from the sources is
valuable and relevant.
But, the secondary data could not be tested for validity and reliability. So, the accuracy of the
data in the sources cannot be guaranteed. The previous researches have been done in particular
area and that may not be relevant to another area. So the demographic and the geographical
limitations may make the secondary sources quite useless in the current study (Spiranovic,
2016). Some of the papers that have been used in the study are very old and with time, the data in
those papers may have become obsolete and irrelevant. There is possibility that the results
obtained from the secondary sources may distort the findings of the present research. This is
because different people have their different views and opinions and they can critically evaluate
the results of the study and prove that it is not relevant in the present context. So, the findings
from the secondary sources only are very debatable and open to many discussions. Finally, there
are issues related with the authenticity of the secondary information and the copyright.
Reasons for using the primary research
Since, there are few serious limitations with the use of secondary data sources; the primary
research has also been used in the study. In a topic like this, it is very important to collect the

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 15
first hand information especially from the consumers so that he latest trends in the market can be
captured easily and the recent views and opinions of the people can be gathered too. It was
important to do a primary research because the data which is collected form such research is
always original and it is relevant to the topic of the study. There is a way and scope of testing the
validity and the accuracy for the data in the primary research. There are large numbers of ways
of collecting such data like the telephonic interviews, the face-to-face interviews, the surveys,
focus groups, questionnaires etc. Then, the e-mails and posts can be used to collect the primary
data if the respondents are located cross border (Saunders, 2014). The large number of people
can be covered in this study and the area can also be customized. For example, this study had to
be limited to the market of South Korea, so the primary research was based on the respondents of
this area only. Then, the use of primary data helped in giving a realistic view of the topic to the
researcher. Due to all these reasons, the primary research has also been included in the project
because the limitations of the secondary research had to be overcome somehow.
Instruments used for collecting the data in the research
The secondary data has been collected mainly from the journals, research papers and the articles
and blogs published online. But, for the collection of the primary data, a questionnaire has been
prepared that consists of all the closed ended questions. This means that the respondents had to
answer from the given set of options only, they were not free to give their own opinions. Apart
from this, the mails were sent to the people so that they get an idea about the study and they get
time to read the questions and answer accordingly.
Sampling

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 16
The sample of 50 people has been taken in the study. Such small sample has been taken because
the study is at undergraduate level and the role of secondary sources is major in this study. So,
the sample of 50 will give an insight in this study and it will help in validating the secondary data
too. The sample has been chosen based on the random sampling method where all the
respondents had an equal chance of being chosen in the study. Also, it is much easier when a
small part of the population is involved in the study. But, when the sample was being selected,
then it was made sure that it represented the entire population. The time that was spent in
sampling and collecting the data was not very large because the size of the sample was small and
the efforts to collect the data were continuous.
Data analysis
There are very complicated and cumbersome methods that are used to analyze the primary data.
But, here in this study, the data has been analyzed with the bar graphs and the charts that has
been made in MS Excel and the basic functions of the excel have been used here. The secondary
data has been analyzed with the findings and analysis of the previous researchers.
Limitations of the study:
1. It was difficult to gather the data from the secondary sources.
2. The hesitation of the respondents posed a barrier in the communication and they did not
answer objectively.
3. The location was a problem because the geographical area of the country is wide and all
the corners of the country could not be captured.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 17
4. The sample size was relatively small and it could not represent the entire population in a
proper manner. Thus, there may be some limitations associated with that

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 18
Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
There are 45% males and 55% females in our study.
45%
55%
GENDER
MALES FEMALES
The age group profile is given as follows. The maximum number of people i.e. 35% of people in
our study are in the age group of 20-25. 19% are in the age group of 26-30, 10% in 31-35, 17%
in 35-40 and 18% are above the age of 41. This shows that are study mostly include young
people.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 19
20-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 ABOVE 41
39
21
11
19 20
AGE GROUP
In the sample of 50, 39% of people are doing job, 30% are students, 11% are doing business, 6%
are teachers, 9% people are retired and only 3% are doing other than these things. Since most
people are young in our study therefore either they are students or doing job.
30%
12%
39%
6%
9%
4%
OCCUPATION
STUDENT BUSINESS JOB TEACHER RETIRED OTHER

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 20
In the study, most people have a family of 4. Size of family is small for most people so there
would be less frequent purchases of goods and they will not be purchasing in bulk.
2 3 4 5 6 ABOVE 6
7
19
32
24
18
10
SIZE OF FAMILY
Most people prefer to go to organized retail stores-52%. 29% people say that their choice
depends and is not fixed. Only 18% go to unorganized retail outlets. Among these, only 34% of
males go to organized retail stores and 75% go to unorganized, whereas 65% of females go to
organized and only 25% prefer to go to unorganized. Then the people doing job or business
prefer to go to organized shops but retired people go to unorganized.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 21
53%
18%
29%
ORG UNORG DEPENDS
While studying the pre purchase preparation of consumers it is found that most of the people
shop with a list. Few of them go for unplanned visits, emergency shopping. As compared to
females (68%), less males (31%) shop with a list, and more males go for emergency shopping as
compared to females. Students, job persons and teachers shop with a list but retired people go for
emergency shopping. As per the family size, mostly all of them shop with a list. In today’s world
people don’t have much time to visit the market again and again because most of them are doing
job, that’s why they shop with a list so as to get all the required things in one go.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 22
WITH LIST UNPLANNED EMERGENCY OTHER
54
28
21
7
PRE PURCHASE PREPARATION
In the study it is observed that 50% of people purchase food weekly and 55% of them buy it
from organized retail. 70% buy hard goods monthly and 76% from them go to organized retail.
83% buys soft goods monthly and again 86% of them go to organized retailer. Both males and
females prefer organized or unorganized equally for the purchase of food. But they prefer
organized for hard and soft goods. The difference in gender behavior is not observed here
because people look for good quality in food, and other goods, therefore they have a similar
choice. The people with large family size go to unorganized retail for purchase of food because
they have to purchase it more frequently and in large quantities so location from home is to be
considered. Retired people also prefer to go to unorganized stores because they have generally
developed a personal relation with the store person and they get service form him like home
delivery, discounts etc.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 23
FOOD HARD SOFT
23
0 0
56
32
18
31
78
92
DAILY WEEKLY MONTHLY
FOOD HARD SOFT
60
84
95
50
26
10
ORG UNORG
The rating of various factors in choosing a retail outlet is as follows. Consumers consider quality,
price and location from home as most important and home delivery and ambience as less
important. For males, quality, location, price and parking facility are important things to
consider, for females, price, quality, offers and discounts are important. For a retired person price

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 24
is the most important factor to be considered an also location from home, all under one roof and
services, but for earning people price is not as important as quality or ambience or variety.
Retired people generally don’t have a source of income and hence price consideration is
important for them. People with large family size look for price and variety and they also try to
get everything under one roof, because they have to meet the demands of many people in the
house.
PRICE
OFFERS
LOCATION FROM HOME
VARIETY
SERVICES
SELF SERVICE
QUALITY OF PRODUCT
HOME DELIVERY
AMBIENCE
ALL UNDER 1 ROOF
68% 54% 68% 65% 51% 43%
83%
32% 33% 46%
IMPORTANCE OF FACTORS
39% of people are attracted towards a particular store because of the display of merchandise.
24% due to cleanliness in stores, 20% like the delivery of product and 15% are attracted because
of friendliness of sales people. Males are mostly attracted by the friendliness of sales persons
whereas women are not. Women are attracted due to the display of merchandise. This shows that
women do not get influenced by sales persons easily. Young people generally look for display

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 25
and retired people look for good delivery mechanism because they are unable to carry heavy
loads of their purchases.
FRIENDLINESS DISPLAY OF
MERCHANDISE CLEANLINESS DELIVERY
17
43
27
23
ATTRACTION TOWARDS RETAIL
STORE
40% respondents judge the genuineness of retail store by the variety of brands it offers. 21%
judge by status and perceptions. Only 18% consider price as a way to judge retail outlet. Mostly
male judge the genuineness by variety of brands offered and women by their perceptions. Young
people look at the status whereas retired people look for the price. The people with large family
size also look at the variety of brands offered. Variety of brands shows that a store is reputed
enough that’s why many different brands are putting their goods in that store and hence people
go to that store.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 26
STATUS VAREIETY OF
BRANDS OFFERED PRICE PERCEPTIONS
24
44
20 22
GENUINENESS
64% of respondents look for psychological pricing and 35% suggested. Both the gender prefers
psychological pricing. Our study includes majority of working class so they don’t have time to
indulge in bargaining for the prices. They consider the tagged price as genuine. But the people
who prefer unorganized store like retired people or people with large family size, they look for
suggested pricing.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 27
35%
65%
TYPE OF PRICING
SUGGESTED PSYCOLOGICAL
40% people prefer to go for shopping in the evening. 33% go in the afternoon and only 25% go
in the morning. Since our study includes working people so they prefer to shop in the evening
because they don’t have time in the morning or afternoon. Females and retired people generally
go for shopping in the morning because retail outlets are less crowded at that time and they have
enough space to select the product.
25%
34%
41%
TIME OF SHOPPING
MORNING AFTERNOON EVENING

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 28
30% of people say that they are often influenced by the word of mouth publicity of any retail
store. 25% say that they are occasionally influenced and 21% of people are always influenced.
As compared to males, females more often get influenced by word of mouth publicity of any
retail outlet.
NEVER RARELY OCCASSIONALLY OFTEN ALWAYS
8
17
28 33
24
INFLUENCE OF WORD OF MOUTH
PUBLICITY
43% agree to the statement that organized and unorganized retail have their own advantages and
disadvantages. People whose preference of organized or unorganized retail outlets depends on
the variety of product they purchase generally agree that both has its own advantages and
disadvantages.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 29
STRONGLY
DISAGREE DISAGREE NEUTRAL AGREE STRONGLY
AGREE
5 8
28
48
21
53% people want to continue buying from their respective organized/unorganized retail outlet.
This shows people are happy and satisfied about their selection of retail outlets.
54%
15%
31%
YES NO DEPENDS
28% respondents look for counter service or delivery. Only 10% prefer door to door service.
Most people look for counter service because they want to ensure that all the products they

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 30
purchase, they carry it along with them and nothing is left out or mistakably exchanged with
anyone else. If people go to a store where everything is under one roof the y tend to buy more
things and those people then look for delivery mechanism.
COUNTER
SERVICE DELIVERY DOOR TO
SOOR SELF SERVICE OTHER
31 31
12
24
10
TRANSFER MECHANISM
32% respondents feel that their retailer should improve upon customer relationship management.
23% and 20% want improvement in variety and discounts. 17% and 5% want in hygiene and
ambience. Customer relationship management is required for hard and soft goods like kitchen
appliances, clothes etc. People require improvement in after sales services and offers on further
purchase etc. Females want improvement in discounts and variety because they purchase more
often than males.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 31
CRM DISCOUNTS VARIETY HYGIENE AMBIENCE
36
23 26
19
6
IMPROVEMENT

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 32
Chapter 6: CONCLUSIONS
The summary of study and conclusions drawn from it are as follows:
 The primary reason for choosing a retail store is quality of product it offers, price and
location of store from home. Quality is rated highest by respondents because most of
them are earning and have a small family size so price is secondary for them.
 If given a choice they prefer to go to organized stores rather than unorganized retail
outlets. But choice also depends on type of product they are purchasing. They buy food
from organized but a lot many of them buy it from unorganized because it is purchased
more often than other goods. Hard goods and soft goods are purchased less often but
from organized retailers.
 People generally shop with a list because they don’t have time to visit the market again
and again. They try to purchase all required products in one go.
 Most people are attracted towards a retail store because of the display of merchandise.
They find it easy to pick products from these stores.
 Genuineness of a retail store is judged by the variety of brands it offers. Brands relates to
the status of a store. Also, in today’s world people have become more brand conscious.
 Most people look for psychological pricing (which is displayed on labels). They don’t
want to indulge in bargaining techniques.
 Since most people are working class, they go for shopping in the evening.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 33
 People are often influenced by word of mouth publicity.
 Most people look for counter service to avoid any misplacement or exchange of their
product.
 Improvement in customer relationship management is asked by the respondents for
retailers. People look for good after sales services and further discounts etc.
To sum it up, people buy goods from organized retail where quality is considered as most
important by them. Display of merchandise attracts consumers and they look for counter service
mechanism for transfer of goods.

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 34
QUESTIONNAIRE
1. What is your gender?
a. Male b. Female
2. What is your age?
a. 20-25 b. 26-30
c. 31-35 d.35-40
e. above 41
3 . What is your occupation?
a. Student b. Business
c. Job (Government/private) d. Teacher
e. Retired f. Other
4. What is the size of your family?
a. 2 b. 3
c. 4 d. 5
e. 6 f. Above 6

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 35
5. Do you prefer to go to organized retail or unorganized kirana shops?
a. Organized b. Unorganized
c. Depends/ not fixed
6. What is your pre-purchase preparation before going to a retail store?
a. Shop with list b. unplanned visits
c. Emergency shopping d. Other
7. How often do you shop the following products and from which retail outlet?
a. Food: Daily Weekly Monthly
Organized Unorganized
b. Hard goods (Do not quickly wear out):
Daily Weekly Monthly
Organized Unorganized
c. Soft goods (Cloths, apparels):
Daily Weekly Monthly

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 36
Organized Unorganized
8. Rate the following factors as per your importance in choosing a retail outlet.
1- Least important 5-most important
a. Price b. Offers
c. Location from home d. Variety
e. Services f. Self service
g. Quality of product h. Home delivery
i. Ambience j. All under one roof
k. Parking facility
9. Your particular retail shop for particular product attracts you because of
a. Friendliness of sales persons
b. Display of merchandise
c. Cleanliness
d. Delivery of product
10. How do you judge the genuineness of a retail store?
a. Status b. Variety of brands offered
c. Price d. Perceptions

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 37
11. What is the type of pricing you look for?
a. Suggested b. Psychological/odd (displayed on labels)
12. At what time do you prefer to go for your shopping?
a. morning(less crowded) b. afternoon(crowded) c. evening(very crowded)
13. Are you influenced by word of mouth publicity about a particular retailer?
a. Never b. Rarely c. Occasionally
d. Often e. Always
14. Do you agree that both the organized and unorganized retails have their own
advantages and disadvantages?
a. Strongly disagree b. Disagree c. Neutral
d. Agree e. Strongly agree
15. Do you plan to continue buying from organized/unorganized retail?
a. Yes b. No c. Depends
16. What kind of transfer mechanism you look for?
a. Counter service b. Delivery c. Door to Door
d. Self-service e. Other
17. In which of the following factors do you want further improvement in any retail shop?

A STUDY ON STORE CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS in SOUTH KOREA 38
a. Customer relationship Management b. Discounts
c. Variety d. Hygiene
e. Ambience
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