You are advised to spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Using only the information given, write about the findings of a survey conducted on consumers’ choice of venues for grocery shopping in 1985 and 2010. In your writing, you are to link the information given in the two visuals. You should write 150 to 200 words.
Consumers' choice of venues for grocery shopping in 1985 and 2010
The stimuli present a bar graph on 'Places Where Consumers Buy Their Groceries' and a table on 'Characteristics of Shopping Venues in 2010'. Generally, majority of consumers prefer to shop in supermarkets that have customer-friendly characteristics compared to quarter of a century ago where people favoured wet markets.
The grocery shopping trend has evolved over the last 25 years based on the data in Figure 1. There is a significant increase of 55% of consumers visiting supermarkets in 2010 (60%) compared to 5% in 1985. This is attributed to the positive characteristics of supermarkets which are more comfortable, convenient and offering big discounts and variety. Also showing a rising trend is a 3% increase in consumers visiting 24-hour stores because of its convenience.
Meanwhile, night markets seem to show a consistent trend stabilising at 11% both in 1985 and 2010. The most substantial decline can be seen in the deteriorating percentage of consumers visiting wet markets from 45% to 14% (difference of 31%) followed by 27% difference for grocery stores. The table indicates that while negotiable price and personalised service are key characteristics of grocery stores and wet markets, these venues seem to lose customers to venues that offer more appealing characteristics.
In conclusion, venues like supermarkets with better characteristics in terms of discounts, variety and services are more likely to win over customers.