Fashion shoes industry is completely driven by constant idea and new
inspirations. Shoes fashions are fluctuate due to many designs and demands. (Sajid.M.Tamboli,
2008). Ladies especially are more involved in fashion buying than that of older
consumers. According to O’Cass (2000), females are more involved in fashion
clothing than males. When it comes to buying behavior, female are happy through
sprawling clothing, shoes, and accessory collections in the retail outlet. The
male has a different buying behavior. According to the new Wharton research, in the study titled, “Men
Buy, Women Shop,” found that male are out to buy a targeted item and flee the
store as quickly as possible. The research also indicates that women react more
strongly than men to personal interaction with sales associates while men are
more likely to respond to more aspects of the experience. To support, Robert
Price, Chief Marketing Officer at CVS Caremark stated that female tend to be
more invested in the buying experience on any dimension. Namita, Subodh, and
Akanksha (2012) have agreed that female attitude towards shopping seems very
positive. They view the buying as a fun, satisfying, hedonic, and joyful
activity.
Female buying behavior can be related to sales promotions. Sales
promotions are direct inducements to the consumer to make a purchase. A sales
promotion gets people to pick the product up at retail and try it by offering
something concrete (
www.answers.mheducation.com).
In sum, most sales promotions are oriented at changing consumers’ especially
female purchase behavior.
How does a sales promotion give impact to female buying behavior? The
article ‘Ladies’ purchase intention during retail shoes sales promotions sets
out to answer the question.
The researchers highlighted that there at least six sales promotions
yearly in Malaysia. Warehouse sales, stock clearance and annual sales and
anniversary promotions are the sales promotions example in Malaysia. Additional
to sales promotion, reported from the article that shoes are promoted as
festive season products in all shopping mall. Dato’ Jimmy Choo is the famous
local designer who has made a name internationally. Recent news, a young local
shoes designer, Vinky Hor won over 12 judges with her ladies’ boots design
(Loshana, 2012).
As mentioned in the title of the article, the purpose of the study was
to examine the ladies’ buying behavior during shoes sales promotions in
Malaysia by using Belk’s Model. The article begins with the literature review
on the Belk’s Model which hypothesis was derived. Then followed by research
methodology and finally the findings were discussed and recommendations
proposed.
The literature review was briefed. Belks’(1975) situational factors such
as physical and social surrounding, task definition, temporal perspectives and
sales promotions and ethnic group were discussed. The researchers highlighted
that the said model was tested across different countries to indicate the
different of buying behavior among shoppers. Hong Kong, US and China have been
stated as an example. Annually sales promotions hold by most countries and
during the events, retail shops normally create the friendly ambiance to
customer such as different décor, music, and discount voucher. Moreover,
organized retail outlets, malls, fit, and look are some of the factors which
impact the buying behavior. Arising from the Belks’ model, the researchers had
added literature review to the said model situational factor. First factor is
social surroundings. From the past literature, the researcher found there is a
correlation between time spent and with social companion. Other than that, the
researchers identified that some buyers are enjoy shopping alone while others
are enjoy shopping with family, friends, and mate. As a result, hypotheses were
stated. The hypotheses were: (H1)
There is a positive relationship between shoppers with friends and purchase
intention during sales promotion. Second factors are Temporal perspective. The
study found that there are two categories in this factor. First is sales period
and second are time spend. The first category comprises into three sales period
which are early shoppers, non-rush shoppers, and last minute shoppers while
time spend comprise of availability of sales assistant. Hence, the hypothesis
was stated: (H2) There is a
significant relationship between shoppers spending time during sales
promotions. Task definitions are the third factor. At sum, hypothesis was
stated that (H3) There is a
significant relationship between buyers meeting shopping tasks and purchase
intention during sales promotion. Next factors are Physical surrounding. The
study found (H4) there is a positive
relationship between physical environment of the retail store and purchase
intention during sales promotion. The good elements such as layout, decors,
product display, lighting, music, and ambiance give high exposure rates to the
buyers’ views. The last factors discussed were sales promotions and ethnic
group. The hypothesis was stated that (H5)
There is a moderating effect of ethnic groups on social surrounding, temporal
perspective, task definition, physical surrounding, and purchase intention
during sales promotion.
For methodology, female buyer has been chosen as research sample. The
female buyers are chosen from different background of races. The researchers
used a questionnaire survey approach. There are two sections in the
questionnaire given. There is Section A which focused on demographic of buyers
while section B used a five-point Likert scale. Belks’ Model was used as the
element to the questionnaire. The researchers also highlighted that 300
questionnaires were distributed to students and administrative staff at
different faculties. To add, judgment sampling was used in the data collected.
The results and findings of the study were reported briefly. Demographic
of female buyers are analyzed by using descriptive statistic analysis. The results
indicate that 69.3% of female buyers belong to students and 27.1% belongs to
university staff while another 3.5% belongs to lecturers. Among the races, Chinese was at the top with
58.6% and followed by other ethnic, Malay with 31.1%, and Indian and other
ethnic group with 10.3%. When female buyers annual income was analyzed, 18.7%
belongs to university staff and lecturer which monthly income are above RM
3000.00 and 40.3% belongs to students which monthly allowance below RM 500.00.
Further, half of the respondents reported that would buy at least 1 pair of
shoes. It also observed the hypotheses by using multiple linear regressions.
Then the discussion and recommendation were take part. Analysis of the
collected data revealed that at least 30.7% of the variance in sales promotions
purchase is explained by Belks’ situational factors of social surrounding,
temporal perspective, task definition, and physical surrounding. In this
research, the prime focus is on female buyers to analyze and evaluate their
purchase behavior during retail shoe sales promotions. For the first factors,
temporal perspective, the results show the buyers tend to be early shopper
rather than last minute shoppers. This is due to the shoe design selection.
Study also revealed that the distance from buyers home to the mall influence
buyer’s choice of mall. The study also revealed that female buyers enjoy
shopping at the mall with the good environment with music and large retail shoe
store. This relates to the second factor of Belks’ situational factor which is
Physical surrounding. It was also found
that money is the significant factor in the task definition factors.
From the study, there are some limitations during the study was
conducted. The study revealed that the results are not generalisable to other demographic
factor in female groups such as age above 31, education level, and others.
Second, the different results will get if the respondent are intercepted
immediately after shopping. However, from the limitation of the study, the
researchers provide some tips for the future researcher.
In summary, the researcher has described purpose of the study,
literature review, research methodology, data analysis, including the
discussion and recommendation and conclusion. There are several weaknesses in
the study. The number of respondents did not mention and no problem statement
was discussed. Hence, to make the study more conclusive, more research in the
subject from the different angles to be carried out.
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