CONCEPT OF HYPERMARKET AS A CONSUMERS' CHOICE

Abstract

Hypermarkets have been seen with increasing acceptance in Singapore, with the opening of the first French hypermarket Carrefour at Suntec City in October 1997 and then Giant at IMM and Turf City from Malaysia. Throughout these years, households in Singapore have already accustomed to this one-stop grocery shopping. However, this has resulted in increasing competition for supermarkets, provision shops and departmental stores. There are currently at least 150 supermarkets and 3 hypermarkets, offering not only groceries but also entire lifestyle experience. Therefore, it is inevitable that as hypermarkets expand, some others will have fallen by the wayside. This research examines the factors, namely, location, accessibility, consumer preferences, marketing strategies and consumer loyalty affecting the attractiveness of hypermarkets measured in terms of consumers' choice. The study found that price, effective marketing strategies, products and location are key success factors for the hypermarket industry.