An empirical research of the factors determining customer behaviour in food retail stores

For years the Institute of Marketing at Szent István University has been conducting research in customer and consumer behaviour. This research project focuses on which food shops retail customers choose when it comes to traditional food4. This paper briefl y summarizes qualitative fi ndings and offersa preliminary analysis of the project’s quantitative stage. Using six focus groups, the qualitative phase tried to identify factors that impact on how food retail shops were chosen. The goal was to pinpoint individual steps in the decision-making process. Shops selected for study were: hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount stores, small shops, markets, specialised stores and cash & carry stores. Following this, using data from the qualitative results, anational representative survey was conducted. The survey used a standardised questionnaire with 1,019 subjects. The survey concentrated on hypermarket customers, as well as identifying this customer group’s segments, and analysing their decision-making traits.