My second shopping center a low order area called Burnt Oak.
Burnt oak is a low order local shopping area where people near by just go out shopping for daily needs like bread, milk, sweets, etc
It has some services like cab; taxi services and banks, also clothes shops but all of them don’t make a great deal of profit like high order shops.
It has a train station but doesn’t have a local buss station but has many buss stops. The shopping center Is usually overcrowded because I have done extra work to find out why it is so crowded by asking passing pedestrians and the results I came up with is that people travel to other nearby areas from burnt oak like edgware hendon colindale Brent cross Kingsbury etc so burnt oak is like a link to other areas also burnt oak has a fair amount of litter from food shops like chicken, fish and chip shops to cigarettes it lacks a fair amount of bins and has frequently a lot of graffiti especially on sides of shops and nearby estates.
What do high order/low order shops, services, shopping hierarchies and sphere of influence, mean?
1.High order shops
High order shops mean the more high-class shops in appearance and quality.
High order shops are usually bigger than low order shops if not sell quality products they are expensive and people will usually have to travel further for high order shops people also rarely go to high order shops unless they have the money and are bought rarely
2.Low order shops
Low order shops are smaller lower quality shops compared to high order shops.
People are not prepared to travel far for low order goods they do not take time to buy they are cheap and bought frequently maybe even daily e.g. bread milk, newspapers, bread, sweets.
3.Services
I will write a list of things that could be defined as services.
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Employment in duties or work for another, as for a government: has been in the company's service for 15 years.
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A government branch or department and its employees: the diplomatic service.
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The armed forces of a nation: joined the service right after college.
- A branch of the armed forces of a nation.
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The performance of work or duties for a superior or as a servant: found the butler's service to be excellent.
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Work done for others as an occupation or business: has done service for us as a consultant.
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An act or a variety of work done for others, especially for pay: offers a superior service to that of his competitors; provides full catering services.
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A department or branch of a hospital staff that provides specified patient care: the anesthesiology service.
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Installation, maintenance, or repairs provided or guaranteed by a dealer or manufacturer: a dealer with full parts and service.
- A facility providing the public with the use of something, such as water or transportation.
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Assistance; help: was of great service to him during his illness.
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An act of assistance or benefit; a favor: My friend did me a service in fixing the door.
- Active devotion to God, as through good works or prayer.
- A religious rite.
- The serving of food or the manner in which it is served.
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A set of dishes or utensils: a silver tea service.
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Sports The act, manner, or right of serving in many court games; a serve.
- Copulation with a female animal. Used of male animals, especially studs.
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Law The serving of a writ or summons.
- The material, such as cord, used in binding or wrapping rope.
- An answering service.
4.Orders of goods
Different goods and services attract people in different ways. Goods such as newspapers, bread and groceries have little value but are frequently used. People rarely travel long distances to buy them. They are known as LOW ORDER GOODS. They are also known as COMPARISON goods or SPECIALIST goods. People are prepared to travel long distances to buy these goods. Examples include furniture, jewellery, and clothes.
Shopper services provide services rather then a good. Sometimes services are free but usually a person pays for the service they require. Examples include theatres, estate agents, solicitors and restaurants.
5.Shopping hierarchies
Shopping areas vary in their size and the range of goods they offer. They can be organized into a Hierarchy. At the base of the hierarchy are shopping areas, which sell low order or convenience goods, which may be needed every day. At the top of the hierarchy are areas selling high order comparison goods, which are not needed very often.
High order goods Large
Low order goods Small
6.Sphere of influence
Shops and services in an area will attract people from the surrounding area.
People will travel longer distances to purchase high order goods or use specialist services because such journeys are not going to be made very frequently. They will want to have a wide choice of shops or services so that they can make comparisons in order to get the best deal possible. Therefore shopping areas with a wide variety of shop, many of which are high order shops, will have a large sphere of influence.
A center with a smaller variety and number of shops, many of which are low order shops, will have a small sphere of influence because people are less prepared to travel a long way for goods they are likely to want almost everyday.
The furthest distance a person will travel to buy a certain item is called a range of that item.
Grade 4 shopping area Grade 2 shopping area
I did my research at burnt oak during my summer holiday using 4 days and 1 our of each day to do my data collection. I started at 2.30pm and finished roughly around 3.41. At my first shopping center burnt oak the weather there for the first 2 days was mild not hot or cold but average but there was still a fair amount of people shopping.
On my third day it was sunny and on my fourth day it was mild again so it was basically the same as the first 2 days fair results.
My second piece of research was at edgware the broad walk I did this shopping center last because it was further way from my home.
I did this research on the second week after my burnt oak data collection and planned to set out the same time that I did for burnt oak because I found out that I got good feedback from costumers the time was 2.30pm until 3.30pm for edgware I finished earlier than burnt oak because there was more people shopping there so I could ask more people easily in less time.
The weather in edgware was usually mild everyday but 1 of the days that I was meant to go out for data collection it was raining I didn’t go out to do my research because I knew that not many people would have set out to do there shopping while it was raining so my data would have been unfair.
How am I going to investigate each hypothesis?
I am going to do my going to collect all my data by doing surveys
Which is asking people on the streets information about where they shop, age, what are they buying etc to prove my hypotheses right.
The techniques I am going to use are going at a local time like a rush hour in my shopping center so there will be more than enough people to ask for my survey this is 1 of my major techniques and most likely the only 1 I will use.
My prediction for my hypotheses 1 which is High order shops (Edgware the broad walk) has both a greater variety of shops and services and a larger number of shops and services than Low order shops (Burnt Oak) will be right and succeed because high order shopping centers always have high quality shops so more people that are seeking high order goods would want high order shops more than low order also high order shops tend to be bigger than low order ones and have more and more high quality services.
My prediction for my hypotheses 2, which is People will only travel short distances for low order shopping centers and low order goods.
My opinion and prediction is that my second hypotheses will be right because people who obviously live close by to a shopping area will be doing low order shopping because that will be their main place to shop so that will be their closest area to consume things like example milk, newspapers, sweets etc. everyday needs people will not travel further to high order shopping areas to consume low order goods when they can get it nearby there home.
My prediction for my hypotheses 3, which is People are prepared to travel greater distances to shop at high order shopping centers that use public transports or cars.
On my third and final hypotheses I both agree and disagree that this will give me full results.
I agree because people that want to do high order shopping
Will obviously travel further to get their goods and that have convenient parking space and a god transportation system.
But I disagree because people might already live by a high order shopping center e.g. edgware where I live I can walk 2 minutes from my home to arrive at edgware the broad walk so I don’t need to use public transportation or be driven to my destination.
METHODOLOGY
What did I actually do?
I carried out an investigation questionnaire on what influences people to shop at the two shopping centers which I did edgware a high order shopping center and burnt oak a local low order shopping center.
I did this by asking 50 people for each shopping center 25 males and 25 females for each one I asked them questions like what are you buying here, what types of goods e.g. electrical appliances, food, clothes, hardware, games etc, where do you live, age, why have you chosen to shop here today, what is the main item you are buying here today questions from my questionnaire.
When I did it?
I did my survey during the summer holidays; it took me 4 weeks to complete it.
I would normally get up, about 9:00am and set out around 12:00pm to start asking people questions to complete my survey.
I used approximately 1 week and a half to complete 1 survey for edgware then started my second burnt oak I didn’t do my survey everyday but made a self plan which was to do it on Mondays Wednesdays and Saturdays when people shop most to make my survey fair as possible I made sure I was available on these days to complete my tasks.
How many people I asked why?
The amount of people I asked was 50 people in total for each shopping center I asked 25 males and 25 females for each area to make it as fair as possible I asked people of different ages and different genders to get different opinions and results.
Where I did my surveys why?
I carried out my survey’s on the main shopping center alongside burnt oak shopping center which was my low order center because I found out more people shop in that area of burnt oak it was also the same for edgware more people shopped inside broad walk so that where I asked my questions but I also asked pedestrians outside to get different results
What I did to make my questionnaire as unbiased as possible?
Shopping center name high/low:
Name
Why I asked each question?
Each question is helpful for me to prove my hypotheses because each question tells me about the habits of other people shopping in that area what type of goods they buy why they buy them how will it help them this will help me with my hypotheses number 1.
Each question I asked would give me vital information about each shopping center about its shops what people think about the shops the environment about the area and shops thanks to my environmental planned survey.
