The range of transportation used to travel to the low order shop is less than the range of transportation used to travel to the high order shop. As I mentioned earlier, when there is a supermarket nearby your residential area every street, you wouldn’t need to take the taxi or the bus to there because it unnecessary as you can walk to the supermarket. And therefore, less transportation will be needed to travel to the low order shop. On the contrary, the high order shop is not seen everywhere and it is not located every street in every district, it is also not a shop people will go to daily. Hence, shoppers tend to drive in their private car or take a taxi or take the bus and this explains why the range of transportation used to travel to the high order shop is larger.
The amount of money spent on the high order store is more than the money spent on the low order store. This applies to almost every situation because the low order store is our daily goods store; therefore, we visit the low order store more often than the high order store. When we visit the store almost every other day, we’ll spend less because the goods are cheap and it is for daily use but the most important thing is that everyone can afford the goods in the low order store. The products sold in the high order store are not essential to everyone, therefore it is a luxury to some people. Since people don’t visit the high order store often, they tend to spend a decent big sum of money every time they visit as the products there are quite expensive.
Methodology
Firstly, I made up 5 questions to create a questionnaire referring to my hypotheses (refer to appendix at the back). Then I went to a nearby grocery store from my home, which is Wellcome and it was my choice of Low Order Shop and interviewed people to answer my questions listed on the questionnaire. As for my choice of High Order Shop, I went the Central and into The Landmark’s Christian Dior to start my field investigation. At around 6pm-8pm, I collected 60 data, 30 for each Low Order and High Order (refer to appendix at the back). After organizing my data, I used ArcGIS 9.1 and input all the data into the map and I will later further explain and analyze on those maps.
Data description and analysis
From the data collected, the map shows the sphere of influence of the high order shop is larger than the sphere of influence of the low order shop. As said in the introduction, their locations are affected by the threshold population. The sphere of influence is larger because the range of goods sold in the high-end shop usually is high in value and limited. While on the contrary, the low-end store sells goods that are usually low in value and requires a smaller threshold population, therefore, the sphere of influence is smaller, as they are located in almost every neighborhood. Thus, this reinforces my hypothesis: The Sphere of influence is larger for the high order store than the Sphere of Influence for the low order store.
As shown in the map, the furthest data point for the high order shop is Clear Water Bay., residents in such places will have to travel all the way to the city in order to access the high order shop. As for the low order shop, the customer I have interviewed who lives furthest away from the store is in Happy Valley, which is quite close to the store. Comparing the two locations, it shows that more people are required to use the transportation. Referring to the graph below, there is a significant difference on the number of people who prefer to travel to the shop on foot for low order shop than the high order shop people. The number travelling on foot to the low order store is almost three times more than the people travelling on foot to the high order store. This is because the majority of the shoppers travel to the low order shop is of a shorter distance. This is because the low order shop is often situated near the shoppers’ working place or home, while as only a few people rely on public transport or private cars to travel to the low order shop. Controversially, the high order store have a larger range of transportation accessing the store as most of the shopper rely on taxis or private cars because the people usually come to the store mostly with a purpose (referring to the graph, the numbers shows a great difference), these shoppers do not buy products on a daily basis unlike the shoppers in the low order store. Hence, this proves my second hypothesis: The range of transportation used to travel to the low order shop is less than the range of transportation used to travel to the high order shop.
According to the pie charts below, the amount of money spent on the high order shop is a lot higher than the amount of money spent on the low order shop. The money spent in the high order shop can reach up to ten thousand dollars while the amount of money spent on the low order shop was less than a thousand dollars.
The reason this happens is because the low order shop expects customers to buy their daily goods and other necessities frequently. Therefore the value is low and the supply is high. On the other hand, for the high order shop, it is a luxury to everyone and since it is not essential, the quantity of goods decreases and boosts up the value of these goods. This explains why the amount of money spent in the low-end shop is less than the amount of money spent in the high-end shop. Therefore, it proves my last hypothesis: The amount of money spent on the high order store is more than the money spent on the low order store.
Conclusion
To conclude, the hypotheses have been proven by the field investigation done on the two retail shops. (Christian Dior and Wellcome)
The Sphere of Influence is larger for the high order store than the Sphere of Influence for the low order store is accepted as proven in the data analysis, the locations of the these shops can be affected by different reasons. Hence, the range of places that people come from the store is widened. While the low order shop is spread out equally in various places, therefore the range would be less and making the Sphere of Influence smaller.
The range of transportation used to travel to the low order shop is less than the range of transportation used to travel to the high order shop is also accepted because the data analysis shown a graph indicating the people travelling to the high order shop rely on many different transports while the low order shop mostly rely on walking.
Last but not the least, the amount of money spent on the high order store is more than the money spent on the low order store is correct. Because it is also proved in the data analysis and with the help of the pie charts, the total amount of money spent on the high order store is clearly a lot higher than the low order store.
Research Limitations
For the field study investigation, there were limitations because I went to Central during Rush hour and therefore took a very long time to collect the data I needed. Next time if I were to do this investigation again, I would plan my time earlier, when there are less people on the streets, less crowded, meaning the people are less busy as well, and I can conduct the questionnaire more efficient and effective and retain more accurate results.
Bibliography
"threshold." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 23 Feb. 2009 <>.