Consumer Shopping Preferences as observed by a Nomad

Recently on a trip to USA I was trying to understand the shopping patterns and preferences of consumers across retailers. My study was limited to the apparel shopping at following retailers,

•     Walmart

•     Target

•     Kohls

•     Safeway

•     JC Penny

As part of this activity I went around the retail outlets of these retailers in different cities and was keenly observing the shoppers behavior and arrangement of merchandise in individual shelves. I also spoke to a cross section of people from different age groups, ethnicity and cultural background about their apparel shopping preferences. The following were some questions that I posed at my interviewee,

• If I were to shop for apparel which store would you recommend?
• Do you make your decisions based on the type of clothing, example business formals, casuals, and sportswear?
• How often do you shop for apparels?

One of the items that I personally followed was a Wrangler Relaxed Fit jeans trouser in the men’s apparel category. This was available in all sizes starting from 28” waist size to 46 “waist size. The colors were black and different shades of blue. This was priced at 16 $ in a Target outlet. The same was priced at 15.2 $ in a Walmart outlet.  This was not surprising because Walmart is well known for Every Day Low Pricing (EDLP).I could not find this particular category in a JC Penny outlet. Levis and Lee seemed to have occupied more shelf space in JC Penny and Kohls

During my stay which was spread between the east coast and west coast I found that the prices of were almost the same in all the outlets of these retailers. 

One of the most common opinions expressed by my interviewee was that they seldom preferred to shop for apparels in a Walmart store.  They also avoided apparel shopping at a Costco store. The general opinion was that they perceived that the quality of items found elsewhere was better than what they found at these stores. I was a bit surprised at this trend because of 2 reasons. Firstly Walmart is supposed to be the largest apparel retailer in the US and secondly world’s largest retailer.

The following was the order of preference that they had for apparel shopping,

•     Kohls

•     JC Penny

•     Target & Kmart

•     Sears

For special occasions they would prefer shopping at GAP, Ralph Lauren or Macys.

People had apprehensions about quality of items sold at wholesale clubs. A friend of mine who is a Kellogg alumnus actually told me that he had noticed quality difference in the same item when he bought it in 2 different stores.

A few of my interviewee actually felt that shopping for apparel at a wholesale retailer was a reflection of their economic status and wanted to avoid it. However the same people still had membership with Costco and most of them shopped at Costco and Walmart. They generally did a lot of research on the web and used catalogues before buying from the retailer who gave the best deal. 

My interviewees found it economical to shop for toilet paper rolls, soft drinks, soaps, towels, chocolates, garden equipments, and sometimes electronic goods in either Walmart or Costco or BJ’s.  Safeway and Target were the most preferred for food items.

A quick search on the web points to a number of articles which supports the quality perception of the people I spoke to.  For example Kathryn Finney, founder of The Budget Fashionista, says it’s no secret that most name designers make cheaper lines just for warehouse clubs or outlet stores. The tip-off, says Finney, will be in the packaging and/or label on the garment. Labels on the sub-brands are just glued on, and are usually stiff and crunchy, while labels on high-end goods are softer or silky, and stitched all around.

I do not want to debate on the quality aspect because this could just be an opinion or in fact it could be real and I am no expert to judge on finer aspects of quality.

The following were some of the other shopping preferences that I heard,

• The 30 chappattis for 5 $ at Costco was an instant hit and almost every Indian home had it
• Though BestBuy and Frys continued to be the preferred location for electronics items shoppers preferred to first check at Walmart and Costco before buying it
• An Apple Store was usually preferred over all other retailers for Apple products because of the shopping experience
• The Indian brand of Timex watches had more head turners than its competitors from other countries
• A number of buying decisions at Walmart / Costco were usually impromptu. For example a good deal on an American Tourister luggage or Targus laptop bags tempted shoppers and they purchased it

Whatever said and done, I personally had a wonderful shopping experience at each one of the retailers who were unique in their own way. I will be writing about my shopping experiences in my next blog.