Consumer Decision-Making Essay

LITERATURE REVIEW

Relationship between retailing outlets and consumers
After the transition of market economy to capitalism, the transaction between buyers and sellers are no longer in the state of simplicity, marking a brand new paradigm in the history of goods and services trading. Although such a difference is caused by the transformation of production line, but this does not necessarily affect the sellers only. The behaviour of consumers is undergoing quite a massive change as well, affecting their demand and criteria to achieve satisfaction.

According to Levitt (1986) and Wong and Sohal (2002), relationship quality can be defined as a range of immeasurable values which augments goods and services and therefore, the transaction between

[…] these traits are ever-present, predictable, central driving force in decision-making. In essence, we are speaking of a relatively enduring consumer personality, analogous to the more general concept of human personality in psychology” (Sproles, 1985)

Interestingly, Sproles (1985) did not see a direct measure of consumer decision making style but he also found that it can be done by a slight alter in methodology, which is determining consumers’ general orientations towards shopping and buying. With the aid from Kendall (1986), they developed a refined scale of eight mentalities of consumers during decision making, namely the Consumer Style Inventory (CSI). The eight mentalities included (1) perfectionistic and high quality conscious, (2) brand conscious and price equal quality, (3) novelty and fashion conscious, (4) recreational and hedonistic, (5) price conscious and value for money, (6) impulsive and careless, (7) confused by over choice and (8) habitual and brand loyal. Although there are scholars such as Durvasula et al. (1993) and Lysonki et al. (1996) that confirmed the cross culture capability and reliability of the inventory, scholars found out that the inventory itself is more suitable to be used in developed countries than the

Bhd. in 2010, the increasing number of retail complexes over the years had been worrisome as the existing sector is already showing quite an unhealthy sign, signifying that the retail activities in Kuching aren't as active as in expectations, not to mention that it included both modern and traditional retailing sectors. The large influx of retail space had been questioned whether its occupancy can be maintained due to inflationary pressure in the market while attracting consumers with buying powers.

The Spring Kuching is one of the starting base for many international retailers in Sarawak, aiming for not only being simply a marketplace but also as a community centre for their consumers. Several retailers are found in the famous shopping mall such as Sephora, Skechers, Padini Concept Store, Parkson Departmental Store et cetera. These are the major brands that targeted consumers with upper middle income. However, whether the retailer itself is successful in forming a continuous yet strong bond with the consumers or not, is yet to be examined in this