Consumer Behavior Issues Assignment Sample

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Subject Name : Consumer Behavior

Consumer Behavior Issues Faced by Woolworth in 2020

Consumers' behavior is the attitude that the consumers display in the processes like searching, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products. The services in retail marketing are considered to be given according to the needs of customers. The decisions are made by the consumers themselves to spend their money on valuable resources. The valuable resources are time, money, and efforts of consumers as well as sellers. Many variables are there to decide the market place and the way an individual approach to the opportunities. It involves the fulfillment of needs, wants, and demands as required by the customers. The purchase process in the market is influenced by marketers to ensure that brands and products are chosen to create a comparison between merchandisers, retailers, and others (Mishra, 2016).

The consumer is involved in identifying the needs, gathering the information, and taking the appropriate decision. Factors like psychological, environmental, and economical influence on taking the decision. This is a very complex procedure that starts from problem recognition to post-purchase behavior. This process has a great impact on both the retail and consumer party.

Woolworths is the supermarket store that provides a wide range of services such as hair care, pet, personal care, household, cooking, and foods. They are facing consumer behavior challenges in the year 2020 because of coronavirus as given in the study that coronavirus has impacted the retail market due to COVID-19. It has impacted the safety and health of customers as well as workers of China and restricted employees not to travel out of the country. In this study, the National Retail Federation said that the retail sales for this year were between 3.5% to 4.1% and has boomed up to $3.9 trillion (Chen & Pfleuger, 2018).

The studies also depicted that the retailers of Woolworths have been struggling to bring the goods from other countries. The consumers are facing these types of issues and not getting an adequate number of supplies from the superstore. In the second study, it is revealed that on Woolworth like superstore the consumers did aggressive shopping that countervailed the effects. They did this because of the disruption in the supply chain and decrease in casual shopping like other retailers. The sources also include groceries and disease-fighting essentials.

The CEO of the company also said that he did monitor' hour by hour' and noted that due to great rush periodic delays would be there that needs to be adjusted by the company. The changes would have to be done in making amendments to promotional as well as presentation plans. The CEO talked in the report about the consumer's perspective related to maintaining a stock of food and beverage, staple items, disinfectants, and household items. He said that this kind of behavior is revealed by the consumers now only (Rani, 2018).

To save the lives of customers as well as employees, the company addressed a memo to employees stating that the best practices should be followed in the store to minimize the risks of infection. This created a positive image in front of customers as well as staff. Hr said that if the customers are worried then the business must get ready for expecting a new challenge. This is a very tough time for shoppers, stylists, and others who will stay in contact with retailers. This is the uncertainty that has been hurting the sales, customer's trust in the physical retail stores. In the study, it was revealed that the malls and shopping centers are mostly shunned at this point almost at the national and international levels.

Due to the risk of infection, grocery and other shopping have come at risk and exploited the segment. The studies also suggested that there is a hit in the airline's sector also because due to disease pandemics all the sporting events and concerts have lost their sales, accessories, apparel, the arrangement of charity events, and vacation related spending on mementos and has presented downward trend towards travel. The all-over problem is caused due to an interrupted chain of supply, consumption, and sales (WaIsmagilova, Slade, Rana & Dwivedi, 2020).

Another study depicted that the boost of e-commerce has risen the shopping trend to stay away from physical retailing. This was the research done in 2020 and presented that 30% of sales have risen this week from normal levels. The reason is due to the concern of coronavirus and people working from home to avoid crowds. Woolworths ran with low speed by predicting the model to know the demand during crisis and inventory level back in stores. The investments are not done by the stores as the trend towards optimized click, collection, and delivery will double their previous investments as a result of the crowd for the next coming days. The tools like supply chain management, machine learning, analytics, and forecasting technologies have moved up (Fodness, 2018).

The research presented that people are approaching the stores in a period of isolation and uncertainty. It has changed the behavior of customers to their shopping behaviors and most of them are following online shopping rather than bulk-buying. The behavior of people is changing depending upon when, how, and what. The new trend has emerged that only the necessary shopping will be done at a limited level. Brands have adopted this method to meet the demands flexibly. The researcher provided the source to make the best decisions by knowing uncertainties during the times. In this report, the author has gathered facts and numbers to know the changing behavior patterns and products that people are buying. This will help the industries to determine the choices that the business should make to run (Hanaysha, 2018).

Here, in these kinds of situations, the psychological factors have a major impact to know the responses on different types of crises. The reports are heard from different sources and given a distinct idea about the preparation by stores. Secondly, the crowd mentality. This is the behavior of people due to the non-availability of products and the validity of the decision to stock up. The behavior of people is such that no one wants to be left behind without any resources.

At this point, Woolworths has diversified into petrol retailing, grocery retails, clothing, footwear, books selling, and consumer electronics. Retailing is considered an important sector to raise the economy and be a major employer. The retailers are said to purchase the products from manufacturers for re-selling the products to final customers. Retailers are said as they sell their brands, know the stores, and deliver their products at a reasonable quality that appeals to customers. Hence, Woolworths provides a range of products in different markets aiming at cost-consciousness. To manage quality, Woolworths is selling the products to its customers with special dietary needs. This has changed the culture of shopping by people.

The strategies should be significantly made to influence consumer perception so that the products could be sold in high quantity with better taste. The elements should be included such that the affordability and accessibility are made to the customers. The consumers belong to various groups and income levels, this needs to be consciously analyzed with the environment and health benefits to make informed decisions. The promotion of activities should be done by developing the policies and getting support from governments. This will enhance in following marketing strategies, affordable products, certifications, and effective regulations (Goh, Heng & Lin, 2018).

Woolworths is the largest seller in the Australian supermarket chain, they have worked to follow the values such as patriotism in recent campaigns. It is a diverse group that provides its services to a purpose-led organization. They work with collaboration, teamwork, and cooperation of communities, people, and team members. The purpose of them will be soled no doubt whatever the situation is thereby following core values such as deep care, doing the right thing, and learn by listening. They can always improve their way of working by providing end-to-end services.

This will help in the encouragement of freedom within a framework and keep things simple especially for store teams to meet the demands of customers. The transformations in the daily systems will support the customers in a better way by differentiating propositions of food customers, the evolvement of drink business, and unlocking the portfolio of values. This will help the consumers to stay connected and conveniently allow them to avail of the services. Although, all these measures will help in building brand image, culture, and team spirit.

References

Chen, J. V., & Pfleuger Jr, P. (2018). RFID in retail: a framework for examining consumers' ethical perceptions. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 6(1), 53-66.

Fodness, D. (2018). Can avatars enhance consumer trust and emotion in online retail sales?. International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 3(4), 341-362.

Goh, K. Y., Heng, C. S., & Lin, Z. (2018). Social media brand community and consumer behavior: Quantifying the relative impact of user-and marketer-generated content. Information Systems Research, 24(1), 88-107.

Hanaysha, J. R. (2018). An examination of the factors affecting consumer's purchase decisions in the Malaysian retail market. PSU Research Review.

Mishra, S. (2016). Exploring the impact of corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior in India. International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 6(4), 401-417.

Rani, L. (2018). Consumer reactions to retail out-of-stock: replication into new contexts. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 1(3), 319-334.

WaIsmagilova, E., Slade, E., Rana, N. P., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2020). The effect of characteristics of source credibility on consumer behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53.

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