Elderly consumers are often overlooked in the retail marketplace; however, evidence suggests that the elderly population has a considerable amount of discretionary time and purchase power. Unlike past generations, this consumer group is relatively healthy, active, and demands a wide array of products and services. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between store attributes and approach-avoidance behavior of elderly apparel consumers. In addition, this research examined the relationships between age, the importance of store attributes, and shopping orientations of elderly apparel consumers. Data were collected using a convenience sample of persons 65 and older from the southeastern part of the United States. The final sample consisted of 208 subjects. Four hypotheses were formulated. Data were analyzed using frequencies, chi-square, factor analysis, regression, and MANOVA. Results revealed that elderly consumers in this study preferred to shop department stores and mass merchandisers for clothing. These consumers reported that they would spend more time and money in retail stores that offered credit, discounts for those 65 and over, and liberal return policies. Further, the consumers reported they would not return to and would avoid looking around in retail stores without rest areas, with difficult to find items, inferior products, and poor business practices. Regression analyses showed significant relationships between shopping orientations and three of the five attribute factors. MANOVA revealed significant differences between two age groups and the importance placed on quality products, store reputation, and well-known labels/brands. Chi-square analyses showed no significant relationship between age and shopping orientations. / Master of Science

The issue of customer loyalty is a main concern for grocery retailers. Retailers need to know how loyal customers are to their grocery stores; if some customers are more loyal than others; and, why that would be so. Is customer loyalty due only to how well a store manages to satisfy its customers, or are consumers inherently loyal to a greater or lesser degree? At the root of this issue is the basic question of what "store loyalty" implies. Although the concept "loyalty" is widely used within marketing, there is no consistent interpretation of the term. Rather, "loyalty" is used for describing related, but different, phenomena, and thus a choice has to be made of which of these phenomena to cover in a specific study. In grocery shopping, households have been shown to use several stores; hence a question of great consequence for retailers is to understand how and why households divide their purchases across stores. To contribute to the understanding of this phenomenon, this thesis focuses on the degree of behavioral loyalty and its causes. The thesis is based on an empirical study of household grocery shopping that uses a purchase diary, a questionnaire, and in-depth interviews as data collection methods. One of the main findings of the research is that the degree of behavioral loyalty is affected by shoppers' evaluations of stores, that is, a factor a store manager can influence, but also by shopper characteristics such as the degree of price orientation and interest in personal contact with store personnel. An extension of the findings from the quantitative part of the study is provided by the in-depth interviews that explore how households manage the entire task of grocery shopping. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 1999

The decision to patronize a particular store usually starts with a set of characteristics or attributes that consumers consider important. Consumers then use these attributes to make decisions regarding what store or stores can cater to their particular needs. Past retail and marketing studies have identified several consumer-oriented store attributes such as price, quality, variety, discounts, store reputation and their relationship to store patronage, but these studies overlooked how the physical environment affects retail store patronage. In addition, very few studies have addressed the issue of shopping scenarios and how they affect store patronage. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of selected environmental dimensions on store patronage using specific apparel shopping scenarios. Data were collected using a random sample of women age 18 and over throughout the United States. The final sample consisted of 151 women. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested using factor analysis, cluster analysis, MANOVA, and Chi-square. The hypotheses tested for differences in (a) importance of environmental dimensions relative to three shopping scenarios, (b) importance of environmental dimensions relative to shopping orientations, (c) perceptions of first store choice relative to shopping orientations, and (d) attitude toward first store choice. Results revealed no difference in importance ratings of two environmental dimension factors, Sensory/Layout (Factor 1) and Music/Aesthetics (Factor 2), for three shopping scenarios (i.e., a dress for a formal social gathering, family gathering, work or community activity). Significant differences were found in the importance ratings of the Sensory/Layout and Music Aesthetics dimension factors across shopping orientation clusters. The clusters were named Decisive Apparel Shoppers (Cluster 1), Confident Apparel Shoppers (Cluster 2), Bargain Apparel Shoppers (Cluster 3), and Appearance Conscious Apparel Shoppers. The Bargain Apparel Shoppers had higher mean scores on the environmental factors than the other shopper groups. With regard to first store choice, the department store was chosen most often as first store choice. Furthermore, differences were found in perception of the environment for first store choice across the shopping orientation clusters. No differences were found for the Ventilation/Sensory factor; however, differences were found for the Signs perception factor. Respondents expressed relatively unfavorable attitudes toward their first store choice. However, of those that expressed an unfavorable attitude, several respondents indicated they were likely to visit their first store choice again. / Ph. D.