Profiling Sri Lankan shoppers: A comparative analysis of Southern and Western province super market visiting customers.

Abstract

Retailing started as a very pnm1t1ve business but today has grown tremendously. A significant amount of consumer purchases are shifting from traditional groceries to supermarkets. While the market is growing, number of supermarkets has also increased creating fierce competition among them. Today super markets are continuously looking at new ways to attract and retain customers. The study was aimed at identifying and developing a profile for Southern and Western shoppers by identifying their demographic, behavioral, and geographic characteristics & comparing them across provinces thus providing important insights to supermarkets when serving their customers. The study used survey method, where data was collected through conducting personal interviews using a structured Questionnaire. A sample of 200 was selected to represent Colombo and Matara districts. Study reveals that the majority of customers of supermarkets were between the ages of 41-50 in Matara and 31-40 in Colombo, further majority of shoppers were females in both districts. Family income of majority of shoppers varies between Rs 30000-40000 to Rs, 40000-50000 between Matara and Colombo. Comparatively Matara shoppers visit a greater number of times to supermarkets. Quality and convenience were the two most important criteria for shoppers to select a super market. While Matara shoppers are more scattered almost all shoppers in Colombo reside in and around 3 km radius. Sunday is the most preferred day to shop for Matara shoi:wers while Colombo shoppers prefer Saturday. Matara shoppers prefer 4 p.m to 6 p.m on both weekdays and weekends, where majority of Colombo shoppers choose 6 p.m to 8 p.m and 2 p.m to 4 p.m respectively. Study concludes that supermarkets have to develop strategies to cater the extra demand which will be there from Friday to Sunday, and especially in evening hours. Location of the supermarket is critical for the success while parking facilities is a must for all supermarkets especially in Colombo. Quality is important for customers but most of them sacrifice that for convenience.