The rejuvenation of traditional marketplaces lured more shoppers last year, while hypermarkets saw declines in both customer visits and spending, according to a survey released by ACNielsen Taiwan yesterday.
"The hypermarket sector encountered a 5 percent decline in the visit frequency and nearly 10 percent decrease in customer spending, while traditional marketplaces saw a rise in both last year," Jennifer Wang (
The 2003 ACNielsen Shopper Trends survey, an annual poll the company first held in 2002, was conducted from Aug. 20 to Sept. 24 last year.
The company surveyed a total of 1,007 people aged from 15 to 65 years old in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, to examine people's shopping habits.
THe frequency of a consumer's visits to traditional marketplaces rose to 12 times per month last year, two more than in 2002, the survey showed.
Meanwhile, 14 percent of consumers spent most of their money at traditional marketplaces last year, up 3 percent from the previous year, it added.
About 60 percent of consumers said they would go shopping at hypermarkets from time to time, the survey said.
About 80 percent of the pollees expressed loyalty to modern retailers in 2002.
Moreover, about 28 percent of consumers said they would shop at both modern and traditional marketplaces last year, compared to only 5 percent in 2002.
"The outbreak of SARS last year lessened people's desire to shop at places like hypermarkets, where there are large crowds," Wang said.
"In addition, the government's effort to promote a renovated image of traditional marketplaces also helped boost customer traffic there," she added.
As for supermarkets, the AC Nielson study showed that nearly 60 percent of consumers visited supermarkets last year, a 4 percent increase compared to the previous year.
But the survey also showed that up to 79 percent of people still purchase fresh foodstuffs, such as seafood and vegetables, from traditional marketplaces.
"Modern retailers cannot easily replace traditional marketplaces in the sale of fresh foodstuffs within the next three to five years," said Howard Tsai (蔡裕人), chief operating officer of Wellcome Supermarkets (頂好), a leading retailer with 155 outlets nationwide.
"But we can expand our selection of cooked foods and services of such products as ready-to-eat New Year's feasts to compete with vendors at traditional marketplaces," Tsai said. Sales of fresh products accounted for around 23 percent of Wellcome's annual sales, he added.
In response to the survey, Carrefour Taiwan, the nation's largest hypermarket chain with over 30 outlets, said they did not sense any decrease in the numebr of shoppers last year.
The decline showed by the report may be a result of the closure of Makro Taiwan and Kaomart last year.
"To strengthen customer loyalty, we conduct our own customer surveys every year to find out what customers want and thereby made adjustments based upon the result, which helps us to strengthen customer loyalty and keeps us competitive in the market," said Allan Tien (
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