Gender Differences Relating to Hyperstar Promotion, Convenience, low price and other Characteristics (Part 1)

Posted by admin on December 3, 2012 in Marketing No comments Final Project, Project Report, research, paper, articles, Questionnaire, analysis, marketing research, departmental stores report Table of Contents (1.0)Abstract (2.0)Introduction (2.1)Scope & Purpose (2.2)Hypothesis & Variables (2.3)What Hyperstar Do & How (3.0)Literature Review (4.0)The Methodology (4.0.1)Nature & Research (4.0.2)Target Population (4.0.3)Data Sources (4.0.4)Research Approach (4.0.5)Sample Size & Sampling Procedure (4.0.6)Data Collection Method (4.0.7)Research Instrument (4.0.8)SPSS Data Analysis (5.0)Limitations (6.0)Conclusions (7.0)References

Appendix I (Questionnaire) Appendix II (Pie Charts)

Abstract We are focusing on super store characteristics which are importantly perceived by the genders. This research study concept is taken from the base article Supermarket consumers and gender difference relating to their perceived importance levels of store characteristics by Mortimer, Gary & Clarke and Peter to work on the basis of gender perception difference in super store. The specific store is Hyperstar on which research is conducted and the result shows female love to shop and they want efficient operator, Bi-weekly promotion and discount while the men spends less time on shopping and they need convenience factor more like easy access to car park and location. Sample size of 280 respondents is taken and conducted in the environment of Hyperstar through administer questionnaires. This research has used 16 journals for the ground work to support its results. Introduction: Retail industry in Pakistan has gained much awareness after the entrance of these megastores before this it was ran by traditionally owned retailers which were not much educated. Super store, departmental stores and utility stores or discount stores concept was unheard till the independence of Pakistan. Canteen store department CSD and utility stores were considered to be the Mini supermarkets. Today retail stores accounts a good no for the economy of Pakistan and retailers are working on their best. Today retail store industry is highly competitive because the real supermarkets and departmental stores came into existence and giving a good competition to each other. Retailers are quiet worried about the changing trends quickly because they need to match and compete the strategies developed by other retailers. This research is conducted on a super store to distinguish the gender perceived importance of level while he/she shops. In Pakistan currently only four super stores are working in Pakistan in which few does not completes the definition of a super store so they are considered to be mini super markets they are as follow:

Hyperstar Best way CSD Utility store Metro cash n carry Makro

The research is conducted in the territory of cantonment board Lahore where Hyperstar is situated. Hyper star belongs to the Carrefour group based in Germany but in Pakistan it is currently ran by the Majid-Al-Futtaim-Retail belonging to a gulf country .It established in 2009

and more than 100000 products are available under one roof. Basic motive was to provide consumers convenience, leisure, cleanliness and competitive prices which they cant find less than one roof this is one of the major reason that today Hyperstar is the most active supermarket in Lahore.Genders differ in their choices and their like and dislikes but do genders differ in their perception while they are doing shopping if so what are the characteristics that differentiate them. This has become an important question for a researcher today. Gender differs in store characteristics and those characteristics which we found through our research are as follows: Female

Females like to shop but they want friendly operators who could help them while shopping as in Hyperstar. Female enjoys shopping and they want promotional items more Pakistani females are price sensitive so they need discounted prices Packaged and hygienic food is also the priority for the family health car

Male

Males are not fond of shopping they need convenience They buy products which are easy accessible They buy things where parking is easily available like Hyperstar

Today gender is one of the key factors for a retailer because a new emergent male group is stressing the nerves of retailers to do something for them or make strategies for them. Our academic research is purely relied upon the gender to see what genders prefer while they are at superstore like Hyperstar. Result of this study is proposed in the coming pages and we tried our level best to explore this study to help future researchers. Sample size of 280 administer questions helped us to fill the questionnaires while we roam around the Hyperstar asking questions from every upcoming person or going out from Hyperstar. Result is evaluated through the SPSS which played major role in terms of figures.

(2.1) Scope of the research Hyperstar consumers male & female targeted from the age of 18to 48 and their differences relating to perceived importance levels of store characteristics (2.1.1) Purpose of the study The basic purpose of the study is to find the gender difference relating to Hyperstar characteristics (Cleanliness, Promotion, Discount, low price) and which of these characteristics is more important in the perception of genders. We conducted this research in Hyperstar through administer questionnaire and filled 280 questionnaires and came to know that gender differs in their perception while they shop at Hyperstar .Few variables on which we focused and took out

from the ground article were Promotion and discounts, Product availability, Advertised specials, Competitive prices, Cleanliness and hygienic food and convenience and location factor. Furthermore through this research we came to knew about Pakistani consumers how they behave in a particular way while shopping and what could be the strategies that a retailer needed to focus on. (2.2) Research hypothesis Hyperstar Characteristics (promotion, Convenience, Cleanliness, Product availability) relating to gender differences and their perceived importance of level (2.2.1) Dependent variable

Gender

(2.2.2) Independent Variable

Bi-Weekly promotion Trained staff Easy access to car park Well stocked shelves Convenient location Healthy fresh food Competitive price

(2.3) What Hyperstar Do and how? Hyperstar the only mega superstore in Lahore with wonderful shopping characteristics running throughout the year for consumer and giving lasting experience while we conducted research on Hyperstar some of the interesting things were known to us and we constructed them as our variables too. Promotion, Staffing of serviced departments, Advertised special promotions, Efficient & accurate operations, Easy access to car park, Convenient location, Product availability, Cleanliness ,High quality fresh food with stable low prices are some of the important variables we considered for our research and applied on the Hyperstar that how they work and how they satisfy genders on these characteristics. In depth detail is as follows: (2.3.1) Promotion &Specials

Bi-weekly promotion (10%): In store after every 15 days the promotion gondola changes on various products these days the promotion is put with minimum 10 % discount on more than 2000 grocery products. Special gift cards: it runs for whole year you can buy that gift card for worth 1000 rupees and you can give to your loved ones very few people are familiar with this opportunity you can easily find it on cash counters.

Occasional specials: Products which are specially promoted on occasion for e.g. on Eid and Christmas cakes and clothes are discounted with special offer another e.g. could be valentine day on which Chocolates are on promotion with advertised leaflets.

(2.3.2) Staffing of serviced departments

No waiting: This characteristic is primarily concerned with the staff standing near aisles we can say the sales person they are hired on every concerned aisles and gondola so that customer needs not to wait for any query. Served quickly: what customers say it is done by the sales person. For e.g. if a customer wants to know the size of the desired shirt salesperson will guide him. Trained staff: Each and every single person of department knows what he has to do.

(2.3.3) Advertised special promotions

Specials I want: Specials which customer thinks before coming to the store and he/she gets that desired thing because vast variety of branded and non-branded products is available. For e.g. A customer thinks to buy a HP laptop from their and he/she gets it. Product of the day: Validity for five days but items vary for e.g. product of the day on Monday are meat, Vegetables or mazes etc.

(2.3.4) Efficient & accurate operations (Relating cash counters)

Friendly operators: Most of the Hyperstar cash counter operators are friendly as per training consumers perception also differs. Efficient operator: Yes they doing their work efficiently Accurate operators: Cashier takes special care of while taking and receiving cash

(2.3.5) Easy Access:

Easy access to car parks: enough cars & bike parking more than 800 cars can be parked. Easy parking: even for handicap people special parking is made on both the roofs. Parcel pick up area: after the payment is given it will be parceled to your home within 2 days but this concept is quiet week in there.

(2.3.6) Product availability

Well stocked shelves: Yes on every shelf we can see the leaflet or the guidance which reflects the organized shelfs of the store. On every aisle a salesperson is standing which keeps on organizing the products if they get scattered. Products I want: Its not possible the product which customer demanded is not there either the other brand is available or substitute of it .Products like fruits & vegetables items are seasonal if available in market.

(2.3.7) Convenience & locality

Easy to find: Fortress stadium is considered to be heart of Lahore so to find Hyperstar is not a big deal. Easy to go: Not an issue Convenient location: Ideal and expensive place of Lahore

(2.3.8) Cleanliness

Hygienic practices: Yes every day for e.g. if the vegetable or fruit is rotten it is wasted and every day Cantonment Board vehicle comes to collect the waste. Cleanliness: After every hour floor is cleaned and store is up to date with cleanliness. Quality food handling: as mentioned above every day quality is checked either the fruit is rotten or clothes are not torn etc. Recently Hyperstar food is certified from HACCP.

(2.3.9) High quality fresh food

Healthy fresh food: Certification from HACCP do not let them compromise on quality of food so it is fresh. Duration of Meats shelf life is three days and for confectionary is four days live baking is done on the spot. Quality fresh food: Shelf life of food is less as compare to market so it is thrown away after 3 to 4 days if not sold which happens less.

(2.3.10) Consistent stable low prices

Competitive prices: from market Hyperstar prices are quiet less which are identified in promotion also. Low, everyday prices: Due to heavy promotions and competitive edges.

LITERATURE REVIEW
(3.0) Literature Review This research is supported through 16 articles and journals and written briefly by our own self. The article consists of consumer behavior, Loyalty, Disloyalty, Satisfaction, Male emergent group, Neuro science, Bargaining, discount and Re-patronage these all have supported the research variables directly or indirectly. We didnt use any reference of author in the articles we did citation in the end .The articles are as follows. Article # 1 Supermarket consumers and gender difference relating to their perceived importance levels of store characteristics Authors: Mortimer, Gary & Clarke, Peter Summary: The article by Mortimer, Gary & Clarke, and Peter is the key article of this research in which gender difference relating to consumers perceived importance of characteristic in supermarket are researched. This article identifies differences between male and female grocery shoppers, there buying pattern, their attitudes and beliefs in retail context, and level of importance with specific store characteristics and that specific store which is assigned is Hyperstar the mega retail superstore store in Lahore. The study takes place in the city of Australia (Brisbane) and they took equal sample of both male and female and they also develop almost ten hypothesis based on the store characteristics with the different level of importance for male and female. In article they believe that the traditional male roles no longer exists as clearly defined social barriers to families roles. The merging of traditional family roles and the acceptance of the society believes that men are now undertake traditional female roles such as grocery shopping because of the societal shift men now able to adopt more female traditional roles and grocery shopping is one of them. They have ten different hypothesis as mentioned above based on the store characteristics they have mention for e.g. Merchandise range, availability, quality, freshness, cleanliness, atmosphere other service features are staffing competence, friendliness, speed of check out services, easy parking, convenient location, low prices so in a nutshell Four Ps associated with the store characteristics. Then different factors which affect buying pattern like age, income, education, occupation and they believe that age can impact on enjoyment levels because younger men appear disengaged and are generally unhappy when shopping, older men are either bored or disinterested. So keeping in view all the hypothesis and the factors affecting buying, store characteristics the result demonstrate that male and female grocery shoppers considered important store characteristics differently and all but one of the ten hypothesis is proven Male shoppers

considered Speed, Convenience & Efficiency to be the most important factors whereas in contrast to male, female shoppers considered pricing cleanliness and quality. As this research does not belong to Pakistan and our Pakistani society is female dominated society where eighty five percent of shopping is done by our females. Males belong to working class while most womens are housewife as seen in our questionnaire also so female do shopping and males earn money for it. Similar is the case in hyper star when we started asking questions to customers in Hyperstar we came to know 80-85percent of customer was female some housewife and few working class which is shown in the end result. The basic reasoning for conducting this research was to investigate the gender difference affecting the store characteristic and what are their perceptions about it. Some of the store characteristics which could affect or force consumer to perceive were:

Bi-Weekly promotion Trained staff Easy access to car park Well stocked shelves Convenient location Healthy fresh food Competitive prices

Article # 2 Attitudes toward coupon use and bargain hunting: an examination of differences by gender. Authors: Hill, C. Jeanne Harmon, Susan K Summary: Coupon and bargaining is one of the favorite tools of females while they are shopping. They love to bargain and to use maximum amount of coupons and the preferred shopping places of womens are either where they can get discount or the coupon in which they could get things or a discount. When we talk about Pakistani women they are not far behind any other they want discount and coupon in which anything free they can get. Why is it so because Pakistani womens are price sensitive? Author continues that today male are more responsible for shopping they contribute more towards the households things. As the research is conducted in U.S so the author says 54% of male contribute towards their household chores whether they are singled, married or divorced. The attitude towards the shopping of males is increased from past and many studies have been revised and newly written on this new group of shoppers. In upcoming studies in gender male are more specified because retailers are working today on this group. The main objective of this study is to find out the gender difference and their attitude

towards the coupon use and bargain are based on age or some other group like male. While shopping females enjoy which is inherently and males do not enjoy they just shop and the reason that is hypothesized in this article that males bargain due to power and success. Enjoyment while shopping in previous studies is discussed with a deep literature but in relation with a coupon use what would be the enjoyment for both gender?

Females: When a female gets a free coupon her level of enjoyment increases but this enjoyment could be due to its family care she spent less and got more products. Male: For male level of enjoyment could be egoistic in terms of coupon use for him enjoyment might be that he challenged the system or earned a price advantage.

This is the similar case of our research also which also predicts the same thing in use of coupon. Sample size of 535 university student taken in two way sample process and conducted on a university of USA. Twenty five statements were developed in which women more was inclined that they are engage more in coupon use and bargaining hunting. In the end different thoughts have been provoked in which the first one is that using coupons and bargaining process is an economic reward process and females are more price sensitive .Few males and females believes in U.S that coupons and bargaining is a embarrassing activity which might hurt your social status. Different age groups suggest different things in it which again proves gender and different groups in gender have different opinion .For e.g. 40+ people dont consider it an embarrassing situation and older people enjoy doing shopping. Variations always occur some are happy some are not happy and convenient with this bargaining or coupon process. Companies are trying to reduce this coupon thing they wanted to replace it with incentive or discount according to them its not a healthy activity and more time consuming. In Hyperstar similar to a coupon a gift card of 1000 rupees is given which is mentioned in our variable but due to the less literacy rate of Pakistan people are not well familiar with it or they dont know the benefit they can get. Its one of the best gift that you can give to any of your friend or family member prior to it after doing a shopping of 10000 rupees you can win a trolley with products of 10000 rupees but only though lucky draw. The procedure is as follows: Do shopping more than 10000 rupees and you will get a coupon fill it and put it in a luck box At the date of lucky draw you might be able win a trolley with products of amount 10000 rupees People in Hyperstar are quiet happy with the discounts, promotion, coupon and gift card because this the only super store in Lahore which offer such kind of shopping characteristics running throughout the year. In our research we also figure out that females are more willing for the discount in terms of bargain and coupons while mens are not that much interested in the activities going around.

Article # 3 Why companies should make their customer happy the neural correlates customer loyalty Authors: Hilke Plassmann, Peter Kenning and Dieter Ahlert Summary: Customer loyalty in one of the important factor that every superstore needs to focus on it practically and as far as literature review is concerned also. In this article we study that how customer builds affective relationships with brand or companies. As we are working on superstore so we will go for supermarkets that how people build strong relationship with a superstore .Different biological and neurological tests are applied on it relating to brain we can say a hard and fast brain storming session study. Loyalty definition described by Oliver that if your customer is satisfied with your store he/she will definitely come in future to repurchase. A study was design to check and investigate the difference between loyal and disloyal customer of a departmental store which would be converted to super store as per our study. Total 300 sample size of customer was taken from the club card of the departmental store in which 9 were females and 13 were males after several screening process. Based on previous findings we came to know that the brands which were put in the store loyal customer decision was changed due to emotionally attachment with it for e.g. Puma etc A technical term named fMRI is used which is related to neuro science which stands for functional magnetic resonance imaging. fMRI is one of the lesser persistent method for studying oxygenation levels of the brain the blood flow and used for brain mapping in it that at what particular time it will buy or do a emotional or rational buying. In implication of this study it is proven that the store should not only concentrate on their existing customer who comes only due to promotion or any other technical things company or store should talk to their customer personally also and communicate with them on monthly basis. The end result describes loyal customers are loyal to store because due to some psychological drivers which might be technology or any other thing. Pakistani customers are also loyal but most of the customers are emotionally attached with the brand or the company as mentioned above that a person might come to store due to his or her favorite brand which forces him to come again and again. In Hyperstar there are multiple local and Multinational brands which attract people to come for e.g. Puma, Muncherz noodles, Lorealetc so same is the case with Hyperstar also that people come to buy that they are getting their favorite brands from there. Next comes the psychological driver which makes Hyperstar customer to be loyal due to its promotion, Cleanliness, easy access to car park and the advertisement .Basic factor that the Hyperstar provides to its customer is convenience but the level of communication is very low and slow. Customer only comes and talk to the desired person only when he is not finding the thing but in this case also most of the customer hesitate to talk they either buy a substitute or they leave the product it happens mostly in the case of

womens so communication should be done with customer on regular basis. In Hyperstar womens seems to be quiet loyal than mens due to spending more time in store.

Article # 4 Shoppers satisfaction levels are not the only key to store loyalty Authors: Mario J.Miranda,Laszlo konya, InkaHavrila Summary: The study conducted centralizing the grocery shoppers in order to discover the major factors that influence satisfaction with their primary store and the factors that encourage them to keep on supporting this store in spite of being presented with support to shop at another store. For study purpose two models were estimated for research out of which one was predicting store satisfaction while the other one was predicting the store loyalty when shoppers are presented with a special purchase opportunity in an alternative store. The research methodology is based on a structured questionnaire over a two-week period to adult grocery shoppers across Melbourne, Australia, who exited retail stores of varying sizes excluding Woolworth, Safeway and Coles stores. The sample consists of 376 male and 558 female respondents and 558 of different occupations and average age of 45 years. Respondents were carefully selected who regularly shop their groceries from the exited store. Many factors are realized in this study that what makes consumer to be loyal with the store. There could be a reason that consumers are loyal to the store because of continuous repurchase. This research is specifically written on that what are the important elements in retail firms like marketing mix should be used to retain the customer. Study demonstrates that overall satisfaction with a store did not influence customers to stay loyal to the store. The reason why a customer stays loyal to its current store is that they are influenced by many things regular buyer program, known staff and familiarity with shelf. This study limitation was household size, employment status, and education background and income level of the sample respondents. The studies indicates that increased in income, assured employment, through greater education ability to process more information and slighter burden in the family give the consumer get confidence to try some different stores that they may not have visited before. Being a good income holder does not only work education plays a vital role for shopping. Its recommended after research study that it is self-evident that shoppers will be exposing to offer from competing retailers. Depending on the nature of the offer and quality of stock present at the other store, a range of customers will outlook the offer and some among them might even come to a decision to change their permanent loyalty to competition that may lead to destructive effect on the retail firms profitability. The inconsistency of this loss to the retail firm is that

these escape customers may not have been dissatisfied with the service provide that were made prior primary store but its refer just that the store did not protect them adequately from switching to another! Whereas determined in this research study, there are the customers who frequently resist the smart offers made by market competitors and stay loyal to their present store. Loyalty again after studying many articles is on the top priority .Store loyalty and store satisfaction is also one of the significant parts that mega stores like Metro and hyperstar always keep in their mind. Generally in Pakistan it is consider that when a customer is satisfied he/she will be loyal to the store but this not always the case .In our study we found that few customers were not loyal to the store but to the brands that they were offering for e.g. Puma, Kenwood, Pioneer etc. Satisfaction is the major tool but things prove it should not be applied to the whole store because the story sometimes gets different.

Article # 5 Consumer Shopping and Spending Across Retail Formats Authors: Edward J. Fox, Alan L. Montgomery, and Leonard M. Lodish Summary: Grocery shopping being the key factor of this research because the household shoppers are mostly the grocery shoppers this study is a deep long study on the grocery shopping. In simple words if we interpret the meaning that why the researcher is conducting the research is because the small retail stores which are specifically for grocery shopping are facing the serious threat from the big mega stores taking the e.g. of Wal-Mart which is a mass merchandiser and eaten up the business of the small grocery merchandiser. For Pakistan we take the e.g. of Hyperstar which is in retail context and more than plus 2000 grocery items are available in it eaten up the business of grocery shoppers like best buy, HKB and etc. Researcher conducted a deep long experiential study of household shopping and packaged foods (Gaining awareness in Pakistan also e.g. K & Ns) speeded across retail formats and the formats are:

Grocery Stores :In Pakistani context the stores could be best buy, Bismillah store etc Mass Merchandiser: e.g. Wal-Mart and in Pakistan Hyperstar, CSD Drug stores: Drug stores are the medical stores which in Pakistan are mostly know as pharmacy shops e.g. Servaid, Noble, Zainab etc.

The basic reason to conduct this research is to find the difference between this retail formats and what are the effects on shopping behavior of the consumer and how does he/she spends money when the retailer has explored:

Assortment: How well the retailer or mass merchandiser has assorted the products and is consumer happy with the small grocery shopper or with Mass Merchandise. In our

research we consider a variable named well stock shelf that are customers happy with the well-organized or assorted shelfs in Hyperstar and the maximum response was quiet satisfied and some other told that in local grocery shopper store products are not that much assorted as they should be. Satisfaction level of women for Hyperstar is more as compared to men. Pricing: Mass merchandiser have good offered price or the grocery retailers or the packaged foods that are available with drug store has the more effective pricing. We consider variables named Everyday low prices which is the reflection of this shopping format. Promotional Policies: Which store has the highest promotional polices in this the highest voting is with Mass merchandiser as they have more than 2000 products to offer they promote items on larger scale and customer becomes happy with the time being discount. In our study Hyperstar customer heavily focus on promotional items because its the only store in the city which offers promotion throughout the year on grocery items. Household demographics: Are female married or unmarried? Aged or not? Income and occupation etc. We also considered it an important part of our research and we asked consumers Sex, Age, occupation, Marital status.

This research is made possible by a new panel dataset collected by Information Resources Inc and estimated consumer decisions through a hierarchical multivariate tobit model that Where consumer like to shop & How much to spend or buy This study is concluded upon that retailer marketing mix has more variation in shopping behavior than the consumers travel time and in expenditure more variation is assorted products rather than price and promotion .In drug store consumer is more concerned about the travel times because it is related to convenience just get the product as fast as you could. In Pakistan there is no such pharmacy which provides packaged food or the grocery there only the Mass merchandiser got the drug store in it. Shoppers who shop more at Mass merchandiser also go to other formats also so they do not alternate trips to the grocery store. Similarly people at Hyperstar were window shoppers who just came for price comparison there to say that people only buy or they can get best grocery there would be wrong consumer changes places and they try the small grocers too.

Article # 6

Shopping Experience Enjoyment: Impact on Customers Re-patronage Intentions, and Gender Influence Authors: Cathy, Andrew, Grazyna, Gary and John Summary: Shopping experience today is gaining popularity in the view of researchers this study is also related to consumer shopping experience and level of enjoyment influencing on the intention to repurchase or Repatronage. There is always a question arises in the mind of the consumer Q. Where to shop? Q. Why to shop? Consumer wanted to enjoy and have the lasting experience where ever he/she shops. It could be the regional area where he/she lives or any other place which is on geographical boundaries. For e.g. people of Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha and many other places comes for shopping at Hyperstar possibilities are their they dont like shopping in there regional areas or they are not convenient with those stores. The three things which are highlighted in this article and at the core are:

Enjoyment of shopping experience: Stores needs to create an image for the consumers so they look better than its competitors and consumer gets a lasting experience while they shop. Image is a basic thing which perceives the mind of the consumer while genders are shopping. Hyperstar image is positive in mind so the consumer comes again and again apart from all this once the image is created your consumer starts enjoying shopping. Researcher believes that once the image or perception of the regional store is located in the mind of the customer he/she gets emotionally attached with the store and spends more time for shopping and will have a lasting experience. Store managers can work on the strategies to improve the image of the store. In Pakistan Hyperstar or metro is the only superstore which works on the image of the store. Customers intention to repurchase/Re-Patronage: Researcher correlates enjoyment and excitement of consumer completely with the repurchase .If the consumer is happy and excited while shopping in the store he/she will definitely come to repurchase in the same store. Today why people come to Hyperstar again and again for shopping? The reason because they enjoy shopping in the environment of Hyperstar which is one of the leading superstore of Pakistan in retail context. If customer enjoys shopping the level of excitement gets double. Pakistan youth only enjoys the environment of the store like Hyperstar rather than concentrating more on shopping. Enjoyment of shopping in Gender differences: Researcher investigates after creating the image and repurchases element with shopping experience that which gender is more satisfied with the enjoyment of shopping and repurchase. After studying this deep long

research again the matter stood on the gender which is getting complex for the researchers also to investigate who are more satisfied and dissatisfied with the super store. The basic reason to conduct this research was to construct the shopping experience and its relationship towards the consumer intention of repurchase in United Kingdom shopping districts. Questionnaire and face to face interviews were conducted with the consumer. Study targeted total 536 usable consumers across five countries of United Kingdom. Four dimensions of shopping enjoyment are expressed above and 16 measures are developed. The result of this study indicated that there is a positive relationship between the enjoyments of shopping experience influencing on repurchase intentions. Hypothesis expressed that enjoyment of shopping experience is reflected by four dimensions which were:

Accessibility: How easy a customer can reach to the store .For e.g. According to consumer who comes for shopping at Hyperstar said it is easy accessible located in the heart of Lahore. Atmosphere: Physical attributes of the store which click in the mind of the consumer. In Lahore Atmospheric stores are Mall of Lahore, Pot pori, Al-fateh and Hyperstar. Environment: Enjoyment has a direct relationship with environment of the store. Some of the factors which cover the environment are security, cleanliness, good and opening hours which are convenient. Our research covers all these variables which are necessary for making environment of store. Service: Researcher stresses upon that people who are working on a store there attitude should be positive and the most important thing their behavior should be normal. While we were conducting research we heard that hyperstar staff is not friendly most of the time In Pakistan mostly the service personnel are not friendly might be because they are not well trained.

This study implicated much more for mangers how they can create an enjoyable shopping experience for a consumer that influence on their repurchase decision. Gender playing important role and again the gender difference came in the end result that men have a stronger intention of repurchase with enjoyment as compared to females. Pakistani mens are always in rush and they spend less time for shopping so if they enjoy a environment of a specific super store say for instance Hyperstar then most probably they will come to repurchase thats what our research also indicated us.

Article # 7

On Shelf Availability: An Examination of the Extent, the Causes, and the Efforts to Address Retail Out-of-Stocks Authors: Daniel Corsten and Thomas Gruen Summary: Retail out of stock is previous concept but it is getting a good awareness which can lead to profit. Fast moving consumer goods are the victim of this disease so called Retail out of stock OOS. In this study several reasons are proposed why there is out of stock. Pakistani consumers are quiet far away from this concept retail out of stock because they do not update their shelf on daily basis special the local merchandiser or retailer Over the past few years the big mega store like Metro, Makro and Hyperstar have started working on this out of stock concept especially in fast moving consumers goods. In our study the one variable which we choose is product availability in which customers response was quiet good that they get things what they want and on shelf with assortment and variety. Study stresses that retailers are not paying attention to out of stock which lead to decrease in profit of the store. Retailers can increase their revenue by 5% if they concentrate on this OOS concept because market still got potential in it. Customer might get disloyal if he/she doesnt find products twice on shelf retailer and suppliers both need to work on this. Average out of stock rate through whole world is 8.3 percent according to a research by coca cola. Europe 8.6 and USA 7.9 percent out of stock average where Pakistan retail expected potential rate is $42 billion. Promotional items out of stock is more as compared to normal products we faced the same case in Hyperstar to because the promotional items mostly get out of stock if we talk about electronics they were short if they come in promotion. Once your consumer knows about the promotion they will just fall on things like Honey bee if we talk about Hyperstar especially. There is no such method used in this study involving any special methodology but the interesting questions and their answers are answered in it which is like:

Consumer reaction at shelf out of stock What OOS cost a retailer Root causes of shelf out of stock Extent out of stock Remedies for OOS

Almost six items are proposed for OOS in this article and several conclusions also. Firstly and OOS is a costly problem and it will sustain in future also. Secondly the duration of OOS is threatening for the retailer to be disloyal all over the world OOS rate is increasing. It will be difficult to say that OOS is an only problem of retailer but in fact its also the problem of third party like supplier. In Hyperstar consumer face very less problem regarding out of stock and they

get things which they want only few of them faced problem in which things were in promotion. Hyperstar doesnt own any warehouses things just come and sell very few grocery items are stocked.

Article # 7 Gender, store satisfaction and antecedents: a case study of a grocery store. Authors: Helgesen and Nesset Summary: Researcher over the past few decades are focusing on the customer satisfaction level that

How to satisfy a customer o When to satisfy a customer o Where to satisfy a customer

These few sentences are always roaming around a retailer what is the best possible way to satisfy a customer .Again we are working on a super store and the article is related to the store and various definition of customer satisfaction is given in different years. This desired article will revolve around the consumer market, gender that how it differs while shopping either male is more respondent or female is more respondent and gender difference is one of the major topics of this report but in this article store satisfaction related to gender is on priority. Lastly the study is conducted in Norway grocery store to check gender impact on store satisfaction. Antecedent a term used in this article which means or we can say the attributes/drivers before satisfaction. The research is conducted in a Norwegian grocery store which is the part of the largest chains of grocery stores. Sample size of 106 customer is taken in which 52 are males and 54 are females from the age of 18-65 years old. The analysis was based on the 19 variables including antecedents and t test also applied. Store satisfaction contains some elements or it reflects to them such as positive word of mouth creates satisfaction, loyalty etc. Gender difference is also influence on income, age and occupation which we have also asked in our questionnaire and it is named as personal information of a customer to figure out the gender differences. Concluding it that value proposition is the important factor for any manager and in the benefit of the store. Cost is directly related to customer value so store cost should be cut and customer should be provided a value which will increase the customer satisfaction level. Females satisfaction level is more as compared to male but Antecedents, drivers or attributes are independent of a gender.

Customer satisfaction level in Hyperstar is much higher its the only proper made superstore in the metropolitan city of Lahore and people get almost all desired things that they are looking for More than 2000 grocery products are placed inside the store and as far as gender difference is concerned females are more satisfied which was seen while asking administer questions. Attributes of Hyperstar like promotion, Gift card, hygienic food all the environment reflects the satisfaction level of customer. As far as genders roles are concerned house wife or working class shops more and they want value for what they buy.

Article # 9 Sharing of Home Responsibilities between Professionally Employed Women and Their Husbands Authors: Monica Biernat, Camille B. Wortman Summary: This research sharing home responsibility is conducted in United States where working couples are on top priority. Some of the highlights on which this article revolves around are:

What are the difficulties women faced while working Family get suffered Children care especially with above 6 years Welfare of the family Mental health gets suffered of family and mother both Equal status carriers

Sharing home responsibility when male is at home looking after home and vice versa. Women labor force increased after 1998 in United States and they are facing much more difficulties then before .Pakistani context will be different because we have less than 50% of females in working class. The basic theme behind the study is that its getting difficult to meet the job and family pressures get understood. When both partners are in working class how can they manage their child care if one of the partners is working for say female works then childs attention can get diverted so how to take care of this thing researcher says none of the study is done on child care. College studies has sophisticated effect on the females so they wanted that their husband should be more educated rather than having a status only so education and income plays a vital role in the carrier of a women .In this research author indicates now it is needed to find that the men work on job gives less time to children and this case is opposite in female case. The research is quiet complicated and lengthy in which role conflict, stress and women managing children with above 6 years are targeted.

Sample size of 139 couples was taken in which both agreed to participate subsample include 68 university professor and 71 businesswomen. This research took almost a year to be completed because wife was asked 4 structured interviews and two self-report surveys were done with husband for a whole year. Almost 8 questions were asked from husband and wife about the child care involvement with the help of profile analysis. Conclusion ends on this that study proves that women are more complicated in terms of spouse and children as compared to men in sharing equal responsibilities. The drawback of this study might be that this study does not cover the couples who both are earning in general population. Traditional values also effects the sharing responsibility of home in which females are more involved both male and female our trying to get familiar with the social changes that are becoming their daily need. So children are definitely involved when we study couples or sharing their responsibilities. Store involvement in this article was not a priority, child involvement while the couples work was more in it. Pakistan no doubt is a free state but again working womens are very less so the concept of sharing home responsibility between husband and wife finishes because maximum number of womens are house wife and they take care of the home chores. In case if both couples are working then again female involvement is more in house she comes home and takes care of children and the house too. Pakistani women attitude towards the home is positive men rely more on women to get their home chores get done. A woman goes for shopping more while we were doing our survey in Hyperstar we notice maximum no of womens buying grocery for their home.

Article # 10 The female fashion consumer behavior (From the perspective of the shop Fever in Gothenburg) Authors: Julia Holmberg Rebecca Ohnfeldt Summary: Fashion is one of the fast moving processes which changes almost daily similarly this research is about that how a small independent retailer named as Fever should affect the female consumers. In March 1998 Fever started its operations as an independent retailer in Gothenburg, Sweden with one shop and one web shop. The clothes made sold by fever were found at the middle of fashion pyramid means the clothes which were sold they were in so fast process that sold clothes get in the middle of fashion when new are coming in. In Hyperstar clothes are not that much prominent as they should there are two to three sections of clothes in which females and males clothes both are different. Consumers at Hyperstar are not that much happy with clothes there because they are expensive in terms of quality.

The target market of Fever is the men and women who are 20 to 40 years old. Large clothing chains like H&M, Lindex and Kappahl are market leaders at that time when research is conducted so due to this the fever store was in a problematic situation. Now days we can easily buy a high fashion at a lower price from fever and this is how customer shows a response towards Fever retail. This retail is facing the difficulty in reaching the female target group the male customers are loyal to the retail. The main purpose of the study is to investigate that why female customers are not able to understand the Fevers clothes shopping but in Hyperstar you can get convenience trendy clothes not specialized clothes like fancy or bridal wear etc so our study with this relation is different. The theories and models that constitute the theoretical framework include market segmentation, the Marketing Mix, consumer behavior and the female consumer behavior. The market segmentation they have segmented the market on the bases of geographic (according to region), demographic, psychographic and behavioral. In marketing mix they will focus on the 4ps that are product, price, place and promotion. The scientific research approach which they have used is hypothetical deduction in which they will first derive the hypothesis and then tested empirically and in this the hypothesis is how the female consumer behavior affects the shop Fever. The method which they have used is the combination of two quantitative surveys of female consumer behavior and an interview to obtain more knowledge about the female behavior. In the beginning the research is exploratory because the knowledge and understanding of the problem area is needed for the rest of the thesis. And this is also descriptive because this study is based on primary data that seeks information about specific situations. They techniques which they have used for the data collection involved both interviews and surveys which is quiet similar to our research. They use two types of interview one they conducted in city and outside Fever and other are the less structured interview. The conclusion shows that the female consumer behavior effect the Fever is both positive and negative.Positive aspects are in such a way that women considered that shopping is a joyful activity. Several women had heard about Fever from the friends this means Fever has a good reputation which means word of mouth counts for retailer. Fevers unique clothes help them to make their strong identity which could be a brand image but in Hyperstar it will not be the same situation for e.g. if a person bought puma shoes from Hyperstar then friends or family after watching might say bought from an outlet specifically for puma. Negativeaspects are that womens were preferred strong chain for shopping which sell fast fashion at low price. And the major problem was to get women to purchase the clothes at their shop. This research is little bit different from Hyperstar no doubt the fashion changes in it but consumer are buying on their convenience and some crazy people come twice a month to check promotion on clothes.