Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
in the case of a proposed outlet, is important
information for the retailer or marketer. Evaluation
of a store's sales performance, decisions on whether
to expand the store network and developments in
direct marketing to consumers in their homes all
rely upon an intimate knowledge of typical home
locations. The applied science of
geodemographics
has
become important in recent years as attempts are
made to relate consumers typically associated with
various types of retail outlet to the demographic
and socio-economic characteristics of small
residential areas (Longley and Clarke 1995; see also
this volume, Chapter 42).
Plate 33.1
A large modern food store: Morrison's,
Morecambe.
Retail attributes and consumer choice:
how do people choose where to shop?
The second major relationship is the interaction
between consumer choice of store and store
attributes. These include store location but also the
range of goods available, prices, standards of
service, internal layout, provision of car parking,
and quality of external environment. Consumer
choice is typically based upon at least some of
these attributes and is mediated through
characteristics of the consumer her/himself and of
the transport system and the methods of travel
available to the consumer (see Box 33.1).
catchment areas overlap to a greater extent, because
convenience is a less important concept and
competing centres differ more. In particular,
shoppers will often neglect local shopping
opportunities and travel further afield to a centre
that offers a wide choice of styles, prices and so on.
This has been the case for many years. However,
recent trends in the UK have been for the largest
town and city centres to prosper, partly at the
expense of smaller town centres (Teale 1997).
The analysis of catchment areas remains an
essential part of marketing geography. Knowing
where an outlet's customers live, or are likely to live
Box 33.1
Relationships between store size, type of consumer and shopping travel
It is suggested in this chapter that larger stores tend to
have larger catchment areas, within which the catchment
areas for smaller stores may nest (Figure 33.1B). One
way of examining this topic empirically is to study the
travel behaviour of different groups of shoppers in an
urban environment.
In a study of shopping travel in Swansea, Bromley
and Thomas (1993b) compared the choice of main food
store between different groups of the sample population
surveyed. They found that:
•
Sixty-nine per cent of car-owning households used a
superstore for their main food shopping, whereas only
31 per cent of families without cars did so.
•
In four different areas surveyed, the car-less
households consistently used the city centre and
district and local centres more than did the car-owning
households.
•
The more elderly respondents, whether car-owning or
not, relied more heavily on their local district centre or
neighbourhood shops than did younger respondents.
A shopping diary survey carried out in Cardiff in 1982
obtained similar results. Households that had full use of
a car for shopping spent on average just under 50 per
cent of their food budget within 2 km of the home,
whereas those without the use of a car spent about 75
per cent of their total food budget within this distance
(Guy 1984: p. 58). These households tended to use small
supermarkets located within walking distance or a short
bus ride from their homes, whereas the full car users
tended to visit larger supermarkets or superstores
located further from home.
These and other surveys show that households
that cannot easily reach or choose not to use
superstores tend to make short trips to smaller local
grocery stores. There is also evidence that superstore
users often use the nearest superstore to the home.
However, these stores are more widely dispersed
than small stores and hence will have larger
catchment areas.
