Executive Summary

The concept of Supermarkets has not been too old in the context of Bangladesh. Even in the late 1990s we hardly have any super markets in our country like we have today. At that time local Bazaars were the only source where people could buy their necessary household items. Nowadays, we have so many supermarkets in our country especially in Dhaka city which have made life easier, faster and less stressful. The four main supermarkets that exist now in the city are Nandon, Meena Bazar, Agora, and Shopno. These shops have their own blends of offerings to attract different segments of consumers. Our research projects main objective was to find out whether customers preferred supermarkets over local bazaar. If they did, what may be the reason for their preference? Now a days household shopping is done mostly by any adult member of the family, our target sample was basically adults consisting of housewives, working moms/dads and adult students. We emphasized on four main factors that might be responsible for the preference of a supermarkets over local bazaars. Those were, price, hygiene, value added services and variety of products. Apart from these main factors we also inquired about some other factors such as behavior of employees, parking facility, membership facility, and returns and compensations. We did not carry out our research for any particular above mentioned supermarket. But any supermarket can use the result of this research to have a better understanding of consumer preference and also as to what problems they might have, so that they can work on them and increase the number of their customers and also increase their satisfaction and loyalty. Our sample size was 100 as determined by our course instructor, Mr. Sayed Kamrul Islam. We chose our sample units conveniently on the basis of non-probability sampling. We tried to have access to as much of the actual target sample as possible. In some cases questionnaires were provided to people so that they could complete them at their home. We used a blend of different types of questions in our research like Simple Attitude Scale, Category Scale, Likert Scale, and Paired comparisons.

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As a summarized recommendation, we would state that people have a positive perception about supermarkets. This is mainly because supermarkets provide lots of good brands and better hygiene compared to local kaacha bazaars. Supermarkets should look to maintain their good service and value added services over a long run to attract more customers. Super marlets must maintain their quality and provide the best products because price is not the important factor when choosing between supermarkets and local kaacha bazaar.

Background
The concept of supermarkets in Bangladesh has been a revolutionary one since its inception in the late 1990s. Earlier, when there were no such markets available, local Bazaars were the only means of household shopping for people. Shopping there meant a lot of hassle, bargaining and not to mention the untidy and unhealthy environment. After the supermarkets were introduced, things became so much easy for the consumers. They could get varieties of things, all under the same roof, at a price that is not too much more than the usual local Bazaar price. Peoples attitude toward shopping changed drastically and more people started to become interested in these markets. Supermarkets are set to boom in the country as the current market players are planning to open several hundred more outlets in the next few years to cope with the rising demand from the consumers. With a strong 15-20 per cent annual sales growth, about 30 companies with more than 200 outlets have already made foray into the industry since Rahimafrooz, one of the largest business groups in Bangladesh, introduced Agora, a chain supermarket, in the capital a decade ago. The annual turnover of the supermarkets now stands at around Tk 15.0 billion (1500 crore), according to Bangladesh Supermarket Owners Association (BSOA). According to the supermarket employees, hassle-free shopping environment, hygienic commodities, fresh vegetables, meat and fish at the supermarkets are earning appreciation of the customers. The supermarket biggies have attempted the massive expansion drive to attract the shoppers, who still depend on unplanned wet markets to buy their daily essentials.

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The first super shop to be established in Dhaka city was Agora in the year 2000. Agora is a super shop that offers a wide variety of food and household merchandise. It is larger in size and has a wider selection than a traditional grocery store. Agora comprises meat, produce, dairy and baked goods departments along with shelf space reserved for canned and packaged goods as well as for various nonfood items such as household cleaners, pharmacy products, and pet supplies. Agora is reported to provide quality service to the consumers but the price level is complained to be high. The outlets of Agora are found in the posh areas of the city which suggests its differentiation strategy. Nandan Megashop and Meena Bazar are other two super markets of the city that focus on differentiation strategy. They try to provide quality products to the consumers and as a result the price charged is a bit high. Shopno, a relatively new player in the market, focuses on a different strategy. It claims that it offers Everyday Low Price policy to consumers and believes that in this way they will be able to attract significant market share within a short span of time. The locations of Shopnos outlets symbolize this strategy. They are located in the not so posh areas of the city so that they can cover for the low prices offered.

Exploratory Research
For initial study, we went through the exploratory research by doing survey on a group of 100 people. This sample size was determined by our course instructor Mr. Sayed Kamrul Islam. We selected the adults in a family as our respondents as they mostly shop for the household goods. We also studied through the secondary data we collected from the website and booklets provided by the super markets.

Problem Definition
Basically we wanted to find out the underlying factors that cause customers to choose supermarkets over local bazaars. The problems of the super markets, as well as, the local bazaars can well be found out by the results of this research as to why it is not being chosen.

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Research Hypothesis
We had a number of hypotheses which we tried to assess through the survey results. Hypothesis 1: There is association between peoples income level and the frequency of supermarket. Hypothesis 2: There is association between peoples gender and the frequency of supermarket visit. Hypothesis 3: Price is an important factor for the decision of going to super markets. Hypothesis 4: Super markets do provide better quality of products than local bazaars do.

Research Objective
To find out if supermarkets are preferred over local bazaars. To find out if income level has anything to do with the selection of the type of market being chosen to buy household goods. To find out the most important factors for choosing super market over local bazaars. To find out the supplementary factors that aids in the decision making for choosing super market over local bazaars.

Research Methodology
We chose our respondents on the basis of non-probability sampling. Mostly the convenience method was used. Since our research was based on the preference of the type of market being chosen to buy household goods, all adults in a family were our target sample. We went to different super markets, as well as local bazaars for our respondents. Some of them were helpful while others were not. We couldnt manage to fill all the questionnaires there. So we gave some questionnaires to our friends so that they could be filled in by their family members. The sample size was 100 and it was determined by our

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course instructor. After the data had been collected, we input them in SPSS software and carried out some analyses based on pre-determined hypotheses.

Operational Definition
We tried to make our sample as diversified as possible. So we selected respondents from different parts of Dhaka city. As our report states, the respondents were chosen from over 10 different areas of the city. Also, since the super markets are situated all over Dhaka city, a diverse sample was necessary for more reliable results.

Research Design
As explained earlier, the design of the research is basically based on exploratory research. Primary research is the main mode of collecting raw data. Collecting raw data from various sources was required to process, tabulate, edit for the purpose of the study. After processing the data, we applied few statistical tools, wherever required we came up with meaningful results. Besides, some graphical presentations such as pie chart, bar chart and so on were used. At last we gave some recommendations.

Measurement Scales
We used 16 questions in the questionnaire to have a pretty good idea about consumers thoughts regarding choosing a super shop. We mainly used closed ended questions with a blend of different types of questions in our research like Simple Attitude Scale, Category Scale, Likert Scale, Paired comparisons etc. The choices of answers a,b,c,d,e were assigned with numerical values, as in 1 for a, 2 for b, 3 for c and so on.

Design of Recording Forms

We designed our questionnaire which has 16 multiple choice questions. At first we included simple question just to have idea about the respondents. Among those we had some time, frequency and risk specific questions. While designing our questionnaire we focused on criteria like- simple, straightforward, concise and easily understandable. We tried to make
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the respondents as convenient as possible. This helped us to minimize the error while gathering data.

Sampling Method
Actually our sampling method depended on the expectation of the direction of the faculty. We were expected to have 100 samples. In a sense we took respondents conveniently and relationally. Although there are different stoical methods of doing sampling but to keep the research with the scope of academic purpose we had to use this method. We did not have any refusal.

Sample Size
We had a sample size of hundred people with different age, race marital status, occupation and so on. Our target was to take one respondent, who are relevant to the topic and who is suppose to respond on the topic or the questioner. So, before asking anyone to fill out the questioner we had and kind of good observation about the subject or the respondent. It really helped us to have an efficient survey and savings of time. Instead of sorting the questioner we had sorted the respondent as a result none of the filled out questioner we found irrelevant. Still we know and believe that this sort of research requires a huge sample size, but because of various limitations we could not consider a sample greater than 100 respondents.

Editing and Clearing Survey Data

We edited and cleared data on the basis of completeness, legibility and consistency to make the data ready for coding and transfer to storage. First we checked the consistency of the responses in different questions. Secondly, tired to figure out the attitude of the person, whether he or she is doing it in a hurry or not. Sometimes they did not understand some of the questions in such cases we explained them the questions. One of the methods which we used for editing was pre-testing editing. Although it is not the most efficient method, it helped us to have an overall fitness of data.
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Data Summarization
We have used some analysis techniques in order to fulfill the objectives of the report. The techniques which we have used are described below: Table- Tables are used to arrange data orderly. Different types of tabulation method can be used to input data and work in SPSS which are described below. Frequency Is one of the most common means of summarizing a set of data. This process begins with recording the number of time particular value of a variable occurs. Percentages- When data is tabulated by computer, percentages, cumulative percentage and frequency distributions are useful. When a frequency distribution portrays only a single characteristic as a percentage of the total, the proportion of occurrence is defined. It can be expressed as a percentage, a fraction, or a decimal value. Cross-Tabulation We organized our data in cross tabulation process where we have organized data by groups, categories, or classes to facilitate comparisons; a joint frequency distribution of observation on two or more sets of variables.

Data Sample Analysis

We used quantitative way to analyze data. At first we collected primary data from the questionnaires we used for survey. After that we coded the alternatives of the questionnaire along with the variables with SPSS. We entered all our responses by using SPSS to make a database. This database became the source of further analysis. With the help of the data sheets we analyze data using various methods like frequency, percentage count and cross tabulation. Each question was being coded to a computer readable form for using in the SPSS. Then the data were entered from the questionnaires. This was time consuming and needed much skill.

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After entering all the responses from each question, the data entering part was done. Then we proceeded forward for the final job, which was analysis. Manually we entered data. By using SPSS, we put the formula, and then the software automatically gave us the result. We could get a number of tables, charts by this process. Then we proceeded for the data conversion and interpretation part. All the SPSS result sheets had to be converted into managerially understandable form. We converted them to word documents, made tables, graphs and wrote the analysis.

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Survey Research Results

1. Ho: There is no association between peoples income level and the frequency of supermarket visit. H1: There is association between peoples income level and the frequency of supermarket visit. Oneway Descriptives How often do you visit the super market for your household needs? 95% Confidence Interval for Mean N <8000 8000-15000 15000-30000 30000-50000 >50000 Total 14 25 25 9 7 80 Mean 2.86 2.60 2.84 2.56 1.71 2.64 Std. Deviation Std. Error Lower Bound Upper Bound Minimum Maximum 1.460 1.118 1.106 1.014 .756 1.161 .390 .224 .221 .338 .286 .130 2.01 2.14 2.38 1.78 1.02 2.38 3.70 3.06 3.30 3.33 2.41 2.90 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 5 4 3 5

ANOVA How often do you visit the super market for your household needs? Sum of Squares Between Groups Within Groups Total 7.762 98.725 106.488 df 4 75 79 Mean Square 1.941 1.316 F 1.474 Sig. .219

The significance level is 0.219. Since it is greater than 0.05 (95% confidence level), null is not rejected. So there is no association between peoples income level and the frequency of supermarket visit.

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2. Ho: There is no association between peoples gender and the frequency of supermarket visit. H2: There is association between peoples gender and the frequency of supermarket visit. Oneway Descriptives How often do you visit the super market for your household needs? 95% Confidence Interval for Mean N Male Female Total 37 43 80 Mean 2.78 2.51 2.64 Std. Deviation Std. Error Lower Bound Upper Bound Minimum Maximum 1.182 1.142 1.161 .194 .174 .130 2.39 2.16 2.38 3.18 2.86 2.90 1 1 1 5 5 5

ANOVA How often do you visit the super market for your household needs? Sum of Squares Between Groups Within Groups Total 1.473 105.014 106.488 df 1 78 79 Mean Square 1.473 1.346 F 1.094 Sig. .299

The significance level is 0.299. Since it is greater than 0.05 (95% confidence level), null is not rejected. So there is no association between peoples gender and the frequency of supermarket visit.

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3. Ho: Price is not an important factor for the decision of going to super markets. H3: Price is an important factor for the decision of going to super markets

T-Test

One-Sample Statistics N Importance of price 80 Mean 2.51 Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 1.031 .115

One-Sample Test Test Value = 3 Mean Difference -.487 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower -.72 Upper -.26

t Importance of price -4.229

df 79

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

For this test, we took 3 as the test value. We test whether the calculated mean is less than the test value or greater than the test value. The calculated mean is 2.51 which is less than 3. The significance level is 0 which is less than 0.05(95% confidence level). So we can deduce that price is not an important factor for the decision of going to super markets.

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4. Ho: Super markets do not provide better quality of products than local bazaars do. H3: Super markets do provide better quality of products than local bazaars do.

T-Test

One-Sample Statistics N Super markets provide better quality of products than local bazaars? 80 Mean 4.14 Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean .775 .087

One-Sample Test Test Value = 3 Mean Difference 1.138 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower .96 Upper 1.31

t Super markets provide better quality of products than local bazaars? 13.123

df 79

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

For this test, we took 3 as the test value. We test whether the calculated mean is less than the test value or greater than the test value. The calculated mean is 4.14 which is greater than 3. The significance level is 0 which is less than 0.05(95% confidence level). So we can deduce that super markets do provide better quality of products than local bazaars do.

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5. Regression equation Importance given to super market as a part of the society= a (Branded products) + b(Price) + c(Parking facilities) + d(Hygiene)+ e(Air condition) +C

Regression Variables Entered/Removed Model 1 Variables Entered Importance of Air conditioners, Importance of hygiene, Importance of Branded products, Importance of price, Importance of parking facilitiesa Variables Removed . Method Enter

a. All requested variables entered.

Model Summary Model 1 R .115a R Square .013 Adjusted R Square -.053 Std. Error of the Estimate 1.119

a. Predictors: (Constant), Importance of Air conditioners, Importance of hygiene, Importance of Branded products, Importance of price, Importance of parking facilities

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ANOVAb Model 1 Regression Residual Total Sum of Squares 1.251 92.736 93.987 df 5 74 79 Mean Square .250 1.253 F .200 Sig. .042a

a. Predictors: (Constant), Importance of Air conditioners, Importance of hygiene, Importance of Branded products, Importance of price, Importance of parking facilities b. Dependent Variable: Super markets have become an important part of the society

Coefficientsa Standardized Coefficients Beta -.043 -.105 .011 .014 .035 t 3.852 -.371 -.894 .095 .124 .295 Sig. .000 .012 .374 .025 .002 .769

Unstandardized Coefficients Model 1 (Constant) Importance of Branded products Importance of price Importance of parking facilities Importance of hygiene Importance of Air conditioners B 3.777 .152 -.111 .083 .074 .032 Std. Error .980 .140 .124 .135 .113 .108

a. Dependent Variable: Super markets have become an important part of the society

For analysis, we carry out both the global and local tests. For the global test Ho: 1= 2= 3= 4= 5=0 Ha: 1= 2= 3= 4=5 0 In the ANOVA table sig is 0.042 which is less than 0.05. So null is rejected and alternate is accepted. So we can go to the partial tests. For partial tests:

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Importance of Branded products: Ho: 1=0 Ha: 1 0 For this significance level is 0.012 which is less than 0.05. So null is rejected. So importance of Branded products is relevant with regards to the dependent variable. Importance of price: Ho: 2=0 Ha: 2 0 For this significance level is 0.374 which is greater than 0.05. So null is not rejected. So importance of price is not relevant with regards to the dependent variable. Importance of parking facilities: Ho: 3=0 Ha: 3 0 For this significance level is 0.025 which is less than 0.05. So null is rejected. So importance of parking facilities is relevant with regards to the dependent variable. . Importance of hygiene: Ho: 4=0 Ha: 4 0 For this significance level is 0.002 which is less than 0.05 (95% confidence level). So null is rejected. So, importance of hygiene is relevant with regards to the dependent variable. . Importance of Air-conditioners: Ho: 5=0 Ha: 5 0 For this significance level is 0.769 which is greater than 0.05. So null is not rejected. So importance of air-conditioners is not relevant with regards to the dependent variable. Now, we re-run the regression equation with the irrelevant factors removed. So the final regression equation is:

Importance given to super market as a part of the society= 0.152 (Branded products) + 0.083(Parking facilities) + 0.074(Hygiene) + 3.77
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Research Findings
Some the findings that we have found out are the product of the several tests that we had run and also from the surveys that we had conducted. Some of the important points that we considered to mention are. There is no association between peoples income level and the frequency of supermarket visit, that is not necessarily an associations between heavy shoppers and gender, it can vary. That price is not an important factor for the decision of going to super markets. That super markets do provide better quality of products than local bazaars do.

Recommendations
We would like to make a few recommendations. that super shops should keep on progressing in this way, they should offer better quality of products , ensure hyeigine and availability of products. They should try to build loyalty with customers and owners should try to increase the number of outlets as per area.

Conclusion
At this moment, there are four chains of super markets in Bangladesh: Agora, Nandan, Meena Bazar, and Shopno All the chains combines, there are more than 200 outlets in Bangladesh, thus owners (BSOA) should try to increase this number and thus they can provide the people with the better services and quality products.

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