END OF YEAR 2011 CONSUMERS’ CHOICE OF

VENUES FOR GROCERY SHOPPING IN 1985

AND 2010

Question 1   
You are advised to spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Using only the information given, write about the findings of a survey conducted on
consumers’ choice of venues for grocery shopping in 1985 and 2010. In your writing,
you are to link the information given in the two visuals. You should write 150 to 200
words. 

 
Consumers' choice of venues for grocery shopping in 1985 and
2010
 
 The stimuli present a bar graph on 'Places Where
Consumers Buy Their Groceries' and a table on 'Characteristics
of Shopping Venues in 2010'. Generally, majority of consumers
prefer to shop in supermarkets that have customer-friendly
characteristics compared to quarter of a century ago where
people favoured wet markets.

The grocery shopping trend has evolved over the last 25

years based on the data in Figure 1. There is a significant
increase of 55% of consumers visiting supermarkets in 2010
(60%) compared to 5% in 1985. This is attributed to the positive
characteristics of supermarkets which are more comfortable,
convenient and offering big discounts and variety. Also showing a
rising trend is a 3% increase in consumers visiting 24-hour stores
because of its convenience.
Meanwhile, night markets seem to show a consistent trend
stabilising at 11% both in 1985 and 2010. The most substantial
decline can be seen in the deteriorating percentage of consumers
visiting wet markets from 45% to 14% (difference of 31%)
followed by 27% difference for grocery stores. The table indicates
that while negotiable price and personalised service are key
characteristics of grocery stores and wet markets, these venues
seem to lose customers to venues that offer more appealing
characteristics.

In conclusion, venues like supermarkets with better

characteristics in terms of discounts, variety and services are
more likely to win over customers.