Who’s picking up the puffed rice

Who’s picking up the puffed rice?

Assignment 1

MKT 305: Consumer Behavior

Identify the store and the day and time you made your observation.

Publix Grocery Store/ Wednesday/ February 5th, 2020/ 1:30pm

Location: 4305 State Bridge Rd, Alpharetta Ga, 30022.

The store I based my observation on was Publix, located at 4305 State Bridge Rd, Alpharetta, Ga. I visited this location on February 7th, 2020. Since moving to Alpharetta a few weeks ago, I have chosen to shop at this location. Its cleanliness, customer appreciation, and the overall organization of its products. Publix was first founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins and is a private corporation that is owned by present and former employees and members of the Jenkins family. Over the years, Publix has become known for its good reputation for making the shopping experience easy, faster, and pleasant.

Analyze the behaviors you observe to determine how consumers progresses through the consumer behavior process while in different aisles.

Bake Good aisle: A middle-aged woman and grandmother shopping for baked cupcakes, I noted her asking if gluten-free choices were available and the bakery clerk being attentive to the young girl asking her what option in a flavor she preferred.

Fresh produce aisle: I observed a younger gym health-conscious consumer. Four vegetable/fruit weight machines allowed customers to get an idea of what the weight size would be at purchase. I notice more youthful men and women analyzing the fresh produce. Nothing seemed to be rotten or spoiled and extremely organized. One man asked the clerk for help and if a few items were marked as priced.

The consumers of Publix vary in age and racial ethnicities. Walking down the aisles, you see people shopping for all types of food and home items, whether it is milk or sazon a Latin seasoning from the international aisle. Some people used carts, while others used baskets for simple small grocery items. Walking into the store, you are greeted I the first 60 seconds by a cashier to customer support associate. Publix doesn’t offer a customer reward program, so I noted people using coupons as I passed the self-checkout lanes. I visit the store in a late afternoon, so I noticed a lot of mothers with their children and senior citizens shopping while the store was more accessible without the mid-day after-work rush.

The aisles I decided to observe was the bakery and fresh fruit /vegetable aisles. When walking down the baked goods area, I noticed mainly women shopping in this area. I distantly paid attention to a middle-aged woman with what seemed to be her granddaughter. She looked over the cupcakes and asked the baker if there were any gluten-free deserts. This customer was extremely detailed in what she wanted and seemed to be a health-conscious customer. The young girl was well behaved and had a small kiddy cart that Publix provides to children. I observed the woman putting the child’s cupcake into her little cart, giving her the experience that she is a part of the overall shopping experience. The fruit and vegetable aisles are in the same department in the grocery store. There is a gym not too far from the Publix, so it wasn’t a surprise to see a younger healthy customer presence in the fruit and veggie Aisles, what was a surprise is that it was mainly men. The produce selection was fresh and seemed to be well maintained. One male customer I noticed weighed his fresh fruit items to gear the price and weight of what he was going to consume. I thought this to be interesting and also a benefit offered by the grocery store. The clerks were attentive to the customer needs and seemed to be constantly organizing the produce as people shopped. While grabbing a few produce items myself nothing appeared to be rotten or spoiled.

Assess how consumers determine value for their various purchases. This can be addressed with at least two (2) specific consumer examples or by combining all the consumers you observed.

Choosing a product for any customer can be an experience all by itself. The customers I observed had a clear understanding of what they wanted to purchase. I observed on consumer in the meat depart with a list in-hand, marking off each item they picked up and put it into their cart. Most people determine the value of their various purchases by the benefits they get out of them. When it comes to shopping at a grocery store, you will notice the consumers you observe looking for items needed for a specific recipe they have in mind or for various things that pertain to the needs of their full household. Another particular example was the customer asking the baker for a gluten-free cupcake. This consumer was looking for a health-conscious choice in sweets for her grandchild. Gluten-free products are often priced higher due to the way its made, and because this was a premade item offered by the bakery department, its priced higher.

Pick two specific consumers that seemed to be very different from each other. Contrast how these two (2) consumers progressed through the consumer perception process.

The two consumers I chose to observe were different in many ways, the obvious being there age demographic. I decided to pick a yonder man and a middle-aged woman with a child because I felt that they would give off to totally different experiences. Each expressed different behaviors; the woman seemed surer of what she wanted, and the younger man appeared to shop as he went. The female shopper appeared to be more confident in asking for help with an item and asking the question of what the product had to offer as the male shopper was timid and didn’t seem to have a distinct question when asked about certain produce items.

Analyze how different manufacturers motivated consumers to pick their specific brands. Articulate thoroughly the behaviors displayed and tactics use by the store or manufacturer to motivate the process.

Samples: I noticed samples offered in store of multiple bands and the customer reacting to the new items being introduced to the consumers shopping

Sales/Coupons: Publix doesn’t offer a customer rewards programs but many items have attached coupons and can be used at register allowing for instant discounts.

The way manufacturers motivated consumers to pick their brands in Publix was by offering fresh, cooked free samples. The store was offering a free sample of fresh cooked Kroger brand crab cakes and white wine to adults shopping in the store. The free sample allowed the consumer to experience a new product the store offered, and I noticed it caught the attention of the female that I observed earlier in my visit. There were other samples offered such a Pringle chips and Fresca soda as well.

There are many sale items with coupons to products around the store. Publix doesn’t offer a customer reward program so most of there items are already marked down. The items that don’t have an instant mark down often have coupons attached and you receive coupons when you cash out for next purchase of item.