An application of statistical methods in market research; The retail sector in the old city center of Šibenik

Abstract

Kulturni turizam na kojem se bazira ponuda u Šibeniku donosi sve više turista u staru gradsku jezgru, ali u isto vrijeme stara gradska jezgra i propada jer u njoj živi znatno manje stanovništva. Turistima je prilagođena i ponuda pa je u staroj gradskoj jezgri sve više apartmana, suvenirnica i restorana koji preko zime zatvaraju svoja vrata i grad ostaje prazan. Stoga se u gradu Šibeniku provode različiti projekti s ciljem revitalizacije stare gradske jezgre. U ovome radu prikazani su rezultati istraživanja o maloprodaji u staroj jezgri. Provedena je anketa među lokalnim stanovništvom o maloprodaji u staroj jezgri u razdoblju svibanj – lipanj 2017. Istraživanje obuhvaća analizu socio-demografskih karakteristika ispitanika, obilježja obavljanja kupovine, zadovoljstva ponudom trgovina u staroj gradskoj jezgri i razloga izbjegavanja kupnje. Formirane su dvije posebne skupine od interesa: prema primanjima ispitanika: ispitanici s iznadprosječnim i oni s ispodprosječnim primanjima čije su karakteristike uspoređene. Uz potporu statističkih metoda ispitano je postojanje razlika u razlozima izbjegavanja kupnje te, općenito, razlozima odabira prodavaonica u te dvije skupine ispitanika.The cultural tourism, on which the tourism offer of the city of Šibenik is based, brings more and more tourists in the old city center. This affects urban decay since the city center population is declining. The offer is adopted towards the tourists, so the number of apartments, souvenir shops and restaurants in the old city center is increasing. On the other hand, these facilities are closed during the winter leaving the city empty. Therefore, the city of Šibenik implements various projects whose aim is to revitalize the old city center. This paper presents the results of a survey on retail sector in the old city center. A survey on the retail sector has been conducted among the local residents in the period May – June, 2017. The survey encompasses the analysis of socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, respondents’ buying behavior, ther satisfaction with the city center offer along with the main reasons for avoiding shops in the old city center of Šibenik. Moreover, two special interest groups according to the respondents' income were formed whose characteristics are compared: a group with above average income and the group with bellow average income. The application of statistical methods enabled the analysis of differences in the reasons for choosing and avoiding shops in the city center in these two groups