4. People spend more money in high order shops and spend less money in low order shops
People spend more money in high order shops and spend less money in low order shops. This is a very interesting topic. Groceries are needed for everyday life and people buy it very often, but why do people still spend more money in high order shops? This is because groceries cannot earn that much profits as high order good. For example, a department store sold a pair of basketball shoes and earned 300 dollars; a grocery shop has to sell 300 apples in order to earn that much money.
Is there any
5. People usually walk to low order shops; drive to high order shops
There is a pattern between the place of people live and the mode of transportation they take to shop. It is very obvious that people would not go to groceries shops by taxi, bus or train, unless the shops are out of their walking range. Some times people would take a taxi when they buy too many things, which they cannot carry by themselves. Usually, people choose the nearest groceries shops around their house so they normally walk there. For high order shops, it is usually far away from their living area, in this situation, they have to take other transportation tools such as taxi, bus, etc.
Methodology:
The shop I am doing for low order shop is ParknShop, in Times Square; the shop I am doing for high order shop is royal sporting house, in Time Square also (See appendix #3 for the location of the shops). In collecting the data, I randomly selected 40 tourists. 20 customers form high order shops and 20 from low order shops. This is because the more people I interviewed, the more accurate my results will be. Before collecting the data, it is very important to get permission from the shop owner. In the 50 randomly selected people, each of them has to answer 8 questions. These questions including: gender, age, where they live, what transportation tools they use, attraction, expenditure, frequency of visiting and what kind of goods they buy. (See appendix #1 for the questionnaire). We should wait outside the shop for customers to come out because is we do it inside the shop we might disturb other costumers. When collecting the data, it is very important to make the data as fair and accurate as possible. Although the 50 tourists were randomly selected, we should not collect the data only on one gender, because this will not make the data fair. To ensure that all customers are represented, I had to make sure that a proportion of the questionnaires are answered by men, a proportion by women, a proportion by younger people, and proportion by older, and so on. In this case, I had to collect 10 males and 10 females for each type of shops. So, the data will be very reliable and fair. Further more, when interviewing the customers, we have to introduce ourselves first and explain a little bit about the interview we are doing and tell them how are we going to use the data. This is because people normally do not like answering questions asked by a stranger, because they might think that we want to promote or sell something. It would be better to show the tourists the student cards and wear the school uniform.
Detail of the shops:
ParknShop:
ParknShop Superstores are not like ordinary supermarkets. They provide a much more extensive range of products. From traditional Chinese fresh food like live fish, meats or market-style fruit and vegetables, to the most extensive range of international products available in Hong Kong. Together these ranges provide a genuine one-stop solution to meet the entire daily shopping needs of the customers.
Royal Sporting House:
Royal sporting house is the biggest sports equipment store in Hong Kong. They provide a much more extensive range of products. From clothing like shoes, socks, clothes, to the most extensive range of other products, which you can hardly find in other sports equipments shops. The price of all the goods they sell is very acceptable and recently cheaper than other stores.
Data description and analysis:
The hypothesis – People usually walk to low order shops; drive to high order shops is not accepted. Most of the people walk to ParknShop, only some take taxi, van or bus because the shop is out of their walking range and they bought too many things, which they cannot carry by themselves. Usually, people choose the nearest groceries shops around their house so they normally walk there.
However, people usually take train/tube to go to royal sporting house, which is different to my hypothesis. This is because of the site itself. Causeway bay does not have a good road system, which always caused traffic congestions. Therefore, people will usually just take train/tube because it is most reliable and stable mode of transportations, there will be no traffic congestions. Also, the parking fee is really expensive in Causeway Bay, so they usually take bus, van or taxi, which they do not have to park their cars.
They hypothesis – People go to low order shops such as groceries shop will go there more often than people who go to high order shops is accepted. From the graph, we can obviously see that most of the people go to ParknShop everyday or every week, only 4 people go there once a month and 1 people go there once a year. This is because groceries are needed for everyday life and they are cheap. Therefore, people would buy the groceries more often. And also because of the location reason, people live close to ParknShop, so they can go there anytime they want.
People go to Royal Sporting House is not as frequent as people go to ParknShop. This is because Royal is a high order shop that it sells high price goods, which people do not always buy high order goods since they cannot afford to buy them very often.
The hypothesis - The main reason that motivates people to go to the high order shops is the price of the goods; low order shop is the location of the shop is accepted. From the graph, we can clear see that the main reason that motivates people to go to Royal Sporting House (high orders) is the price of the goods. Other factors such as the quality of the of the goods or location will not be as important as the price; For ParknShop (low orders), the price on the same item among different shops is just a little bit different, usually only few dollars, people usually would not care about it. In this case, the nearest shop will be chosen. So location is the main reason that motivates people to go to the low order shops.
The hypothesis – People spends more money in high order shops and spends less money in low order shops is accepted. From the graph, we can clearly see that people spent more money in Royal Sporting House and spent less money in ParknShop. Even though people do not buy many things in Royal Sporting House, they still spent a lot of money. This is because things in Royal Sporting House is much more expensive comparing to things in ParknShop. For example, if you buy a pair of shoes in Royal Sporting House, you can buy a lot more things in ParknShop with same amounts of money.
Conclusion:
Is my hypothesis accepted?
The hypothesis - Is there a pattern on the spheres of influence between high order shops and low order shop? Is accepted. Royal Sporting house, a high order shop has larger sphere of influence than ParknShop, low order shop. This is because Royal Sporting House sells something other places do not have and their prices are not that expensive, which attracts people form further places to come. ParknShop has smaller sphere of influence because only people who live nearby go to buy groceries.
The hypothesis - What is the main reason that motivates people to go to the shop? Is accepted. From the raw data I collected, we can clear see that the main reason that motivates people to go to Royal Sporting House (high orders) is the price of the goods. Other factors such as the quality of the goods or location will not be as important as the price; For ParknShop (low orders), the price on the same item among different shops is just a little bit different, usually only few dollars, people usually would not care about it. In this case, the nearest shop will be chosen. So location is the main reason that motivates people to go the low order shops.
The hypothesis - Does the type of shops affect the frequency of visiting? Is accepted. Yes, the type of shops affects the frequency of visiting. People who go to ParknShop will go there more often than people who go to Royal Sporting House. This is because groceries are needed for everyday life and they are cheap. Therefore, people would buy them more often. And also because of the location reason, people live close to ParknShop, so they can go there anytime they want.
The hypothesis - Does people spend different amount of money in different type of shops? Is accepted. People spent more money in Royal Sporting House and spent less money in ParknShop. This is because things in Royal sporting house is much more expensive then things in ParknShop. Even though people do not buy many things in Royal Sport House, they still spent a lot of money.
The hypothesis - Is there a pattern between the place of people live and the mode of transportation they take to shop? Is not accepted because people usually take train/tube to go to royal sporting house, which is different to my hypothesis. This is because of the site itself. Causeway bay does not have a good road system, which always caused traffic congestions. Therefore, people will usually just take train/tube because it is most reliable and stable mode of transportations, there will be no traffic congestions. Also, the parking fee is really expensive in Causeway Bay, so they usually take bus, van or taxi, which they do not have to park their cars.
Overall, I achieved my aims.
Evaluation:
There were some mistakes that I made when choosing the shops for investigation. I should not choose the ParknShop in Times Square since it is not a normal grocery shop. There are not many houses near Times Square because that area is a central business district instead of a living area. I should choose a better shop as my low order shop. Therefore, there was some bias that might affect my result. There were some limitations when doing the survey. This is because I had to go to school, so I could not go to do the survey during the school time. This might affect the accuracy of the result because different groups of people go to a shop at different time. This is the only big problem I faced and could not do anything about it. I really learned a lot more about sphere of influence after I have done this coursework and I started to like GEOGRAPHY!
Appendix #1 - Questionnaire:
Excuse me sir/madam; I am doing a survey for the school geography coursework. I want to investigate a comparison of two retail spheres of influence and can I stop you for a while to answer this questionnaire please?
Questionnaire
Location: ______________________ Date: ___________________
- Gender: □ Male □Female
- Age: _________
- Roughly where do you live (Street name)? __________
- How do you travel here? □ Bus □ Train/Tube □ Walk □Taxi □Others__________
- How often do you come here? □ Everyday □ Every week □ Every month □ Every year □ Others __________
- What motive you to come here? □ Quality □ Price is acceptable □ Location □ More choice □ Others __________
- What sort of things do you normally buy here? □ Groceries □ Clothes/Shoes □ Everything □ Others __________
- Approximately, how much did u spend? □ 100 or below □100-500 □ 500-1000 □ 1000 or more □ Others __________
Appendix #2 – Raw Data:
Bibliography:
Book: The New Wider World by David Waugh
Book: 2000 Hong Kong City Guide
Magazine: WHERE HONG JUNE 2001
Software: Geometer`s Sketchpad
