Consumption is a universal phenomenon. In other to exist, all living beings must consume. In a complex and dynamic environment, the ability to process marketing information is a source of sustainable competitive advantage. In the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in research concerns directed towards understanding both the market knowledge contributions to the company’s marketing performance increase and the process by which such knowledge is generated. This paper highlights the results of a study, that of determining customer behaviour in self-service stores from Craiova.consumer behaviour, marketing research, self-service stores

Ph.D Candidate Cristina Ploscaru

Ph.D Professor. Ion Stancu

English

Research Papers in Economics

  1 
Analysis of consumer behaviour in self-service stores from Craiova 
 
Ph.D Professor. Ion Stancu 
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration 
University of Craiova 
ion.stancu @ gmail.com; 
Ph.D Candidate Cristina Ploscaru 
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration 
University of Craiova 
cristinafpk@yahoo.com. 
 
Abstract:  Consumption  is  a  universal  phenomenon.  In  other  to exist,  all  living  beings  must consume.  In  a 
complex and  dynamic environment,  the  ability  to process  marketing information  is  a  source  of  sustainable 
competitive advantage. In the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in research concerns 
directed  towards  understanding  both  the  market  knowledge  contributions  to  the  company’s  marketing 
performance increase and the process by which such knowledge is generated. This paper highlights the results 
of a study, that of determining customer behaviour in self-service stores from Craiova. 
 
Keywords: consumer behaviour, marketing research, self-service stores 
 
 
Introduction  
 
In recent decades, one of the key problems of manufacturing companies is the knowledge of how the 
consumers will respond to various factors that they will use in order to achieve their ultimate goal – 
the biggest profit.ig 
The study of consumer’s behaviour has become a concern of marketing specialists, because they can 
learn how buyers choose their goods and services required to meet their multiple needs, which are the 
stimuli that influence their choice.  
The increasing complexity of economic life led to understanding the mechanism of human economic 
behaviour, which is becoming larger and more complicated, requiring a separate study for the two 
intrinsic components: the behaviour of the human as producer as goods and services and his behaviour 
as consumer. 
For the contemporary society, where the scientific and technical progress tends, in many fields, to 
replace  the  producer-man  with  the  producer-machine,  the  study  of  the  consumption  behaviour 
becomes very important and significant, especially since rare resources with alternative uses which 
human society has at its disposal require the production only of those goods and services that meet the 
needs  in  the  needed  quantities.  Therefore,  understanding  and  explaining  consumer  and  purchase 
behaviour has become a necessity, and ignoring its means of manifestation, causes serious imbalance. 
Also, under considerable conditions of supply diversification, consumers have wide choice. On the 
other hand, increased purchasing power, simultaneous with raising the level of education and culture 
enables the purchaser to satisfy even more needs, more sophisticated and of a higher quality level, 
aspects that are compulsory for the producer to take into account, in order to meet consumers desires.  
Studying the consumer behaviour enables a broader and more complex characterization of market 
phenomena, the development of more realistic strategies and the deployment of effective marketing 
actions. 
 
The concept of consumer behaviour 
 
As  with  any  new  field,  conceptual  approaches  of  consumer  behaviour  meet  a  wide  variety,  that 
expresses on one hand its complexity, but also the attention that it receives from specialists.  
The behaviour is a set of external reactions by which individuals respond to stimuli. Psychologically, 
behaviour designates what is objectively observable in the global response of the individual, regardless 
of what he declares, of his thoughts and psychological attitudes.  From a sociological point of view,   2 
behaviour  is  the  subject’s  activity  in  a  given  social  situation.  (P.  Mâlcomete  coord.,  Marketing 
dictionary, Publishing House Junimea, Iaşi 1979 p.72 ). 
Marketing deals with the concept of consumer behaviour in both narrow and broad way, but most 
experts place its definition between the two extremes. 
Thus,  in  a  narrow  way,  consumer  behaviour  reflects  „human  behaviour  when  buying  and/or 
consuming  goods and services” (C. Florescu (coord.) p.156) and in a broad way – it encompasses the 
entire conduct  of the final user of  material and  intangible  goods,  including, for  example,  voter’s, 
doctor’s patients or church parishioners behaviour. (Werner Kroeber Riel - Konsumentenvertalten - 
Auflage, Verlag  Franz Vahlen  Münhen 1990 p. 1). 
The well-known specialists J. F. Engel, R. D. Blackwell and D.T. Miniard in their work „Consomer  
Behaviour  (ed.  5-a  The  Dryden  Press,  l986)  define  consumer  behaviour  as  „those  actions  of 
individuals directly involved in the production and use of goods and services, including the decision-
making process that precedes and determines these acts”. 
American Marketing Association defines consumer behaviour as „an interaction on the impression and 
perception, behaviour and natural common events through which human beings direct the changes in 
their lives”. 
Obviously, we could present other attempts of delimitation of this concept, but we consider, that by 
systematizing them we can score some key aspects of consumer behaviour: 
  Consumer behaviour is a complex system of events, attitudes, motivations, decisions; 
  Development of human individuality, both naturally and through education is reflected in his 
behaviour  by  preferences,  dislikes,  beliefs,  attitudes  and  values,  their  position  in  society, 
attended entourage, etc. This way, by combining individual circumstances and psychology the 
purchasing decisions of each individual will be influenced; 
  Consumer behaviour is dynamic, both due to the evolution in time of consumers generation 
facing the changes they made, and to the emergence of new factors that directly influence their 
behaviour. The changing in time, determine the producers to always monitor their clients in 
order to have the safety of a real and correct perception; 
  Consumers behaviour determine interactions and that is why it is important to know what 
consumers think (perception), feel (impression) and do (behaviour), which are the things and 
places that influence (Jim Blythe – Consumer behaviour, Ed.Teora 1998 p.11); 
  Consumer behaviour determine changes between people and that it’s why in the relationship 
between consumer, that sizes the demand, and producer, that sizes the offer on the market, the 
mutual understanding is essential in the buying process as in the production of goods and 
services (Ioan Mihuţ, Marius Pop, Consumer and offer management, Ed. Dacia Cluj - Napoca 
1996 p.14); 
  Consumer  behaviour  involves  successive  or  simultaneous  actions  for  the  selection  of  and 
alternative or another, embodied in decisions (P. Mâlcomete (coord.) – Marketing lexicon. 
p.67); 
  The  skyline  of  the  consumer  behaviour  widens,  especially  due  to  the  development  and 
diversification within the non-profit service sector. As a result, in the present acceptance of the 
social marketing, consumer behaviour requires such a comprehensive approach that expresses 
the position of people, as such, towards all goods. 
  Tangible and intangible appeared in the final consumption (P. Mâlcomete, Marketing, Ed. 
Academică  Gh. Zane, Iaşi l993 p.5l); 
  Consumer  behaviour  is  the  individual’s  reaction  to  various  endogenous  and  exogenous 
variables. 
 
It was observed that all these details, outlined best the comprehensive concept of consumer behaviour.    
 
Research methodology on consumer behaviour in self-service stores from Craiova 
 
From  the  specification  of  information  to  their  analysis  and  interpretation,  the  entire  process  of 
marketing  research  seeks  to  answer  the  problems  faced  by  managers  in  the  choice  of  the  most 
appropriate  action  plan.  Marketing  research  does  not  only  aim  to  obtain  some  data  based  on  a   3 
sophisticated methods, it aims the identification of decisional alternatives and their evaluation against 
the objectives of the company, the potential for increasing the profits and satisfaction of customer 
needs on short, medium and long term.  
The purpose of our research is to determine the consumer behaviour in self-service store. 
Target segment: the natural person segment will be targeted, customers that leave the stores will be 
interviewed by a questionnaire, respectively, according to the following ways of action. 
Concerning the determination of communication aspects and satisfaction degree achieved within the 
store, the ways of action: 
  Starting a marketing research based on questionnaire at the four stores (BILA, PRIMAVARA, 
SELGROS and METRO) from Craiova; 
  The research sample of 140 persons will be  distributed as follows: one 35 questionnaires for 
each store; 
  Consumers will be interviewed when leaving the store; 
  The research was conducted during 1-15 October 2009. 
 
Analysis and findings  
 
The conducted marketing research revealed several aspects of consumers’ behaviour in self-service 
stores. In this regard we can appreciate the following: 
Of the total respondents, about 65%, choose where to buy their purchases out of necessity, due to the 
diversity of products in these stores (Fig. No.1). This is highlighted also in the identification of factors 
that may influence the consumer behaviour. 2 of 3 people choose the stores according to prices while 
only 1 of 3 persons chooses them because of promotions. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. no.1 Frequency 
 
The most commonly purchased products are food, followed by household products and cosmetics. 
People who come shopping with a list are those falling between 30-45 years, these being in a much 
larger proportion than those between 20-30 years. Most of them respect it. People who do not have a 
shopping list rely  on  memory (and  may forget to buy some products) or consider the store as an 
auxiliary memory, walking across various stands to remember what to buy, thereby risking to buy 
more than foresaw.  
It was found that the time spent shopping in supermarkets  is smaller than that spent shopping  in 
hypermarkets, with a difference of some 30 to 45 minutes (fig. no. 2) 
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
supermarket hipermarket
more than once
a week
once a week
more than once
a month
once a month
occasionally  4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. no. 2 Time spent shopping  
 
It was also found that 1/3 of those polled are devoted both to product and brand but they are not 
devoted to the store where they do their shopping. This can determine the consumer to change his 
buying habits and to go to other stores. Following the analysis made, it was found that 2.3 from 3 
persons choose to visit the entire store when going shopping. And those who choose to go directly to 
the stand they are interest in are those who devote less time shopping. (Fig. no. 3) 
 
 
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Intrebarea 10
buy from the same supermarket,
the same produc, another brand
buy from the same supermarket,
another product, the same brand
buy from another supermarket,
the same product, the same
brand
the same supermarker, the same
product, the same brand
 
 
Fig. no. 3 Client fidelity  
 
The thing that welcomes customers to self-service stores is the way that they display the products. 
Staff conduct is less appreciated by customers.  
Another  important  aspect  highlighted  by  the  research  would  be  the  payment  method,  the  most 
commonly used method being cash payments. Those who use bank cards as payment methods are 
mainly young people aged 20 to 30 years.  
In  figure  no.  4  we  can  see  that  the  value  of  purchases  differ  from  shop  to  shop  as  follows:  in 
supermarkets the value falls between 50-100 RON and even under 50RON, and in hypermarkets the 
value falls between 50-200 RON and even over 200RON.  
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
supermarket hipermarket
under 30 min
30 - 60 min
60 - 120 min
over 120 min  5 
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Supermarket Hipermarket
under 50 RON
50 - 100 RON
100 - 200
RON
over 200 RON
 
 
Fig. no.4 Shopping value  
 
Figure  5  reveals  that  in  supermarkets  most  consumers  reside  in  Craiova  (3  out  of  4),  while  in 
hypermarkets 1 of 3 consumers are from another locality. 
 
 
 
Fig. no. 5 Consumers’ home 
 
In supermarkets it’s noted that the income of many consumers fall below 500RON and 500-1000RON, 
a smaller proportion is held by those with incomes over 1000RON. In hypermarkets the situation is 
otherwise  and  most  consumers  have  incomes  between  1000-2000RON  and  even  over  2000RON, 
while consumers with an income below 500RON are of a smaller proportion (fig. no. 6). 
   6 
 
 
Fig. No. 6 Clients income  
 
People  who  shop  more  frequently  are  those  aged  between  20-30  years,  followed  by  those  aged 
between 30-45 years. People over 45 scarcely go shopping. And those aged under 20 years represent a 
very small percentage (fig. no. 7). 
 
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Intrebarea 17
until 20 years
20 - 30 years
30 - 45 years
over 45 years
 
                                                 
Fig. no. 7 Clients age 
 
After analysing the factors that influence the purchase decision and the information relieved after the 
marketing research, we can draw the following conclusions: 
  Consumer behaviour is the result on interaction of several factors including need, motivation, 
perception, environment and behaviour itself;   7 
  Each  consumer  is  unique  and  acts  differently.  This  is  highlighted  in  the  survey,  when 
following  the  collection  of  questionnaires  was  found  that  none  of  them  contain  identical 
answers; 
  Consumers are grouped according to similar criteria needs, this groups are called segments; 
  Respondents were segmented by age, income, living environment.  
 
 
Bibliography  
 
[1] Iacob Cătoiu (coord) – Cercetări de marketing, Editura Uranus, 2002; 
[2] Jim Blythe – Consumer behavior, Ed.Teora 1998; 
[3] J. F. Engel, R. D. Blackwell şi D.T. Miniard - Consomer  Behaviour, ed. 5-a The Dryden Press, l986; 
[4] Werner Kroeber Riel - Konsumentenvertalten - Auflage, Verlag  Franz Vahlen  Münhen; 
[5] P. Mâlcomete – Dicţionar de marketing, Ed. Junimea, Iaşi; 
[6] P. Mâlcomete- Marketing, Ed. Academică  Gh. Zane, Iaşi 1993; 
[7] Ioan Mihuţ, Marius Pop, Consumatorul şi managementul ofertei, Ed. Dacia Cluj - Napoca 1996; 
[8] Sica Stanciu, Bazele generale ale marketingului, Bucureşti, 2001; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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