Shadow shopping paper - Assignment Example

Shopper shadowing paper Retail location: Wal Mart supermarket. Covert observation: Tuesday 4th June at 5.00pm. A young lady in her early thirties, elegantly dressed in a full length dress and high hilled shoes was the subject. She parked her saloon car just near the entrance of the supermarket and she seemed to be in a hurry. Immediately after taking the shopping basket, she followed the path of household, checked the price tag and collected some goods and put them in the basket. Looking keenly at her mobile phone, she was, supposedly, checking the list as she was doing her shopping.

The lady proceeded to the clothing section, checked on some clothing, and compared the prices, colour and textures. She took much time in this section and by the look of her face, she was uncertain on whether to buy or not. After much comparison, the lady asked for assistance from a gentleman who was offloading cloths from a trolley and went back to the cloths and took a dress that matched with her hand bag. The lady took her shopping basket, paid for the items and left the area. Based on the observation, the lady appeared to be polite and courteous according to the way she presented herself when she was seeking assistance.

The lady was organized in her shopping since she was referring to her phone on the items she need. In her shopping, she was concerned with the prices of the goods since she could take time looking and comparing the prices. All the goods she took were for her own use and they were of high quality and price. This shows that she came from a good background since the price was her determining factor. Overt observation: Tuesday 4th June at 7.00 pm. The subject was my neighbor, a mother in her late forties, and she was doing her monthly shopping.

I accompanied her in the same supermarket “Wal Mart” and as she took a trolley, she proceeded to the household section. From her handbag, she removed a list of items she was to acquire in the supermarket; by comparing the price quoted on the goods and on what she had, she took the items one by one putting them in the trolley. As she was doing her shopping, I asked her the criteria she is using on her purchase; she said that her monthly shopping always has a small difference since she buys almost the same thing.

Also, she further said that she buys goods in large quantities since they are less expensive compared to small packaged goods. After finishing her shopping, she went to the customer care desk and asked on a type of shoes she had heard been advertised. I enquired about back to school shoes she wanted and she said she always take advantage of discounted goods though not in her budget. She paid for goods and left. Based on the observation, the subject appeared to be orderly in her shopping though with some impulse buying behaviours.

She was using a list showing the budgeted amount of money to be used and items to be bought. She was doing her family monthly shopping in the supermarket since it offers a wide variety of goods. The subject was aware of the prevailing strategies of increasing sales by sellers through advertisement. That is, the discount on shoes. Quantity and price mattered much to this customer since she never wanted to run short of goods before month end and go beyond the budget. Advantages of covert surveillance The buyer is free to behave and make judgments of all kinds since he/she is not aware of anybody following.

In the contrast, it is hard to know what is inside the customer’s mind about the products. Hence, the type of judgment made is subjective and tends to be time consuming in the interpretation of the information. There may be a loss of customers in case they realize they are observed as they do their shopping since some customers need privacy (Bradley 128). Overt surveillance The observer is in a position to enquire more from the buyer about the products, price, and quality among others and, therefore, clear judgment is arrived.

The customer is not free to practice his or her true character during the buying process. Conclusion The overt observation technique is preferred by many researchers. This is because the observer is able to follow up the consumer in his shopping process. This makes it possible to pass unbiased judgment since the information is directly from the consumer’s point of view. Also, no interpretation of data is needed since the information gathered is first hand. Work Cited Bradley, Nigel. Marketing Research: Tools and Techniques.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.