One_Price_Stores

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY Foreign language Faculty ----------------((--------------- BUSINESS RESEARCH Topic: One-price stores towards the customers’ attitude: whether or not is a potential kind of store in the future' TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION 3 II. LITERATURE REVIEW 6 III. METHODOLOGY 10 IV. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 12 1. Customers’ attitude towards one-price stores 12 2. Potential of one-price stores 22 V. CONCLUSIONS 27 VI. REFERENCES 30 VII. APPENDICES 32 1. Questionnaire 32 2. List of respondents 35 I. Introduction: The history of buying and selling has experienced its long period of time since human being had a desire to satisfy what they needed but was unable to produce. Back to ancient time, to the first form of buying and selling in primary society, exchanging foods or agricultural implements was the simplest method of trading as currency had not been existed. The barter was completed solely when people managed to conclude their negotiation and gained something they satisfied, or at least considered it had the equivalent value. Since currency appeared, it has marked a significant milestone in buying and selling history. The procedure of selling and buying things started to be formularized by more than two items: good – good as money has played as the third item in the trade formula: good – money – good with a additional and crucial part of price negotiation or bargaining among them. Price and bargaining, since then, has always been considered being closely attached to each other. The traditional shopping habit of people usually includes bargain in order to reach to an agreement of fixed prices eventually. Because two sides both strike for their benefit, the process of bargain tends to take much time to come to an end. Therefore, it is sometimes believed that bargaining is time-wasteful and completely unnecessary, especially by people who are not professional negotiators. Nowadays, modern life pushes people to live with rapid pace. They are busy with tons of work and have to complete piles of must-do tasks in the remaining time. People travel faster, eat quirkier but sleep less. As a result, they spend shorter time for buying and negotiation which takes most of the shopping time is gradually become unnecessary. People now desire for a speedy procedure of buying excluding the longest part of it - bargaining. Hence, a new form of shop in which customers are able to buy things faster, one-price store, has a perfect reason to be born. A one-price store or single-price store is a retail store that sells inexpensive items, usually with a single price point for all items in the store. Typical merchandise includes cleaning supplies, toys, and confectionery. A one-price store also refers to a “convenience store” or a “discount store”, especially in Canada, Philippines, and in northern New England in the United States. Originated from the five and ten cents, or nickel and dime or dime store, Woolworths is considered as the first one-price store which began in 1878 in New York. In the next one hundred years, one-price store has quickly developed and expanded widespread in quantity as well as the products it sold. Some big names of one-price retailers in global market must be counted are: Woolworths, Dollar Tree (United States), 100-yen shops, Daiso (Japan), 10-dollar-shops (Hong Kong), etc. In Vietnam, one-price stores have been appeared recently and are taking on a certain upscale appeal to customers. The first official store was opened on Hanoi’s Ba Trieu Street in 2006 with a single price point of VND 50,000. Since then, single-price stores are found in many locations, including night markets, regular market stalls, and department stores and on regular shopping streets. It is easily to notice that on a street such as Pham Ngoc Thach laid a great number of one-price stores with all size of signboards displayed: one price only. The products in those shops vary in all kinds from clothes, accessories to foods and households appliances. The price point, due to the inflation and season in a year, is also fixed to increase or decrease in the certain period. At the present, one-price store is becoming a popular place of shopping for all customers and likely to continue developing in the coming times. Recognizing the attraction and potential of one-price stores, the authors desire to study this type of shops carefully in this research paper. As one-price store is a wide range to study, it was narrowed to a smaller topic area. In this project, solely one-price store which sells fashion products such as clothes, shoes, accessories, etc in Hanoi (Vietnam) was mentioned. For further details, this project will focus on one-price fashion shops in several popular commercial streets in Hanoi such as: Chua Boc, Pham Ngoc Thach, Ba Trieu, Pho Hue, Ton Duc Thang Street, etc. With a view to accessing close to single-price store phenomenon, the authors have posed two research questions as a challenging target to aim at and come up with the compatible answers in this paper work. 1. What is the attitude of customers towards one-price stores' 2. What is the potential of one-price store in the coming time' The procedure to draw the conclusions of these two questions requires a serious study which has been carried out in this research. In the subsequent chapters, some previous studies which were relevant to this research topic will be presented in the literature review, then next, the most important part of findings and analysis will concentrate on revealing and discussing two given research questions. While the first responding of the first question will answer the secret of one-price stores’ attraction to the customers, which is critical for both shoppers and businessmen, the second answer will provide the very first predication for this kind of shop that whether it continues being “hot” or quickly gets “cold” in the future. Although the idea of opening a one-price store now does not surprise the world, in Vietnam, it appeared to be a hot tendency in the last five years. Moreover, the number of studies or research working on this topic is rare and not deeply-dug into. Therefore, the research was made for the expectation of getting a general outlook of this brand-new business. The authors hope that all readers, after going through this research, could acquire the basic knowledge about this extremely interesting type of stores and become confident and wise consumers. This study is also expected to provide useful information to businessmen who desire to establish their own one-price stores. II. Literature Review: In global market, one-price business has a modest history of over a hundred years as the originator of the single-price store began trading in the late 1880s. Since then, it has developed and expanded in a large quantity all over the world. North America, Europe, Asia and Australia are regions in which one-price stores are adopted with open arms and rapidly become familiar to customers. In Vietnam, the first one-price store was opened in Hanoi in 2006. It was a new born type of store among many traditional shops. Although Vietnamese one-price stores have experienced its short time of development, it is now becoming a new referential shopping place of all residents, especially the young. Before answering the questions posed in the project, the researchers desire to study the background of one-price stores in the global as well as the domestic market in order to capture the general picture of one-price stores. This literature review has focused on some point of views which clarified the recent position of one-price stores in current retail market. Global market In the August 1999 Chain Store Age State of the Industry Supplement Sears, Roebuck Company's CEO Martinez stated: "Discount stores continue to be in the catbird seat in the retail industry. As long as they continue to provide customers with value and quality merchandise, they will be hard to beat." From this point of view, the position of one-price stores and store chains in the world’s market is quite clearly observed. Despite of late appearance than others form, one-price store has proved its strength in the new economic condition. Since the late of 1990s, single-price shops has gradually remained it competitiveness and become a strong rival of many mass-market retailers. Beyond competitors, some special retailers such as Dollar stores in United States are even considered as such a major threat that discounters will eventually have to buy one of these chains or start one if they want to survive, according to Harvard University Professor, Stilgoe (2005) who has studied the development of single-price stores including Dollar stores for many years. That has demonstrated the power of single-price shops which helps them stay survived in the severer trading environment. Furthermore, it is in the context of global financial monetary crisis that one-price stores have plentiful ideal competitive edges to develop and are now gaining the triumph in the world market battle. Vietnamese market Though one-price store is not a brand new type of business in the world and it has just appeared in Vietnam in five recent years, single-price shops has immediately got costumers’ attention. It is not difficult to notice that in a small commercial street there are a great number of shops with the sparkle neon signboards of one price only selling various kinds of products with distinct single prices. Referring to this potential businesses, Ha, general secretary of the Viet Nam Marketing Association, in an article (2009) of an online newspaper, Look at Vietnam, said: “The single-price shops have “struck a chord” with customers”. He also emphasized on how one-price stores are compelling to Vietnamese shoppers. Unlike other form of traditional retailers, one-price shop has awakened customers’ curiosity with its fresh sale marketing tactics. It was mentioned that the sufficient quality and reasonable prices are two strong unique selling points which perfectly meet the demands of all citizens. The phenomenon of the single-price shop is also up-to-date with style of living as people are busier and wish to save their time and money. Another opinion of authority officer, Vu (2009), chairman of the Hanoi Supermarkets Association spoke to on-line newspaper - Tin Tuc (News), he highly appreciated initial success that the one-price store achieved. Coping with challenges in time of global economic crisis, single-price shops were expanding since they satisfied expectation of shoppers whose demands are of increasingly higher level. In addition, together with traditional stores such as shopping malls and supermarkets, one-price stores were making an endeavor to appeal customers and create increased sales income. Indeed, the exploration of this new model of store was actually undeniable and remarkable. To who possesses an one-price store such as Dau (2008), the first to open a single-price store in Hanoi which offering clothes and accessories like glasses, shoes, purses, etc for women, starting a chains one-price shop was a big decision as no one has ever attempted to do this before. Since the stores were very successful, she shared: I have an intention of expanding this kind of store in different areas in Hanoi. If I am successful and my sales continues increasing, in coming time, one-price stores will be upgraded to be a small supermarket to sell more products to customers. Nguyen (2009), owner of Tracy, a famous one-price branch that sells every product for a fixed price of VND, said that Tracy’s consumers are varied from students to office workers, which means the one-price stores diversify the customers, and they are able to satisfy various consumers. It is one of the overwhelming advantages of the single-price stores. Customer views on this new trend also act as the most important and integral role in this study. “Before, I bought clothes only from famous fashion shops, but, because of the economic downturn, I have had to cut back on spending and have shifted to one-price shops,” said Minh (2009), who works for a foreign company and is a regular customer of one-price shops. To buyers, this type of shop was considered a great way to save money, cut down spending in time of depression; especially people could still afford everything they want at suitable cost. “If you choose carefully, you can find good stuff at reasonable prices,” she added. With a plenty of alternatives one-price stores offered, one-price stores might be a helpful recommendation to become intelligent consumers. However, besides numerous of golden potential that one-price stores got, they are considering to be likely encounter some certain obstacles due to the lack of experience to a new form of store. Referring to this point, Nguyen (2009), a representative of traditional retail giant Hapro, which has already franchised the Daiso, a Japanese supermarket selling a wide variety of house wares at a single price, warned that one-price shops may ultimately fall to long established Vietnamese consumer habits. She also added one-price shops were a retail concept that still needed further study. In shorts, as all these above studies and opinions referred, one-price shop with all its potential and bias is now located in a certain place in Vietnamese customers’ mind. In the context of the aftermath economic crisis, this position whether is likely to be consolidated or soon replaced by others now depends on its own capability to adapt to the severer market. III. Methodology: The research was basically conducted on two main data resources. For the purpose of approaching information on fact, the primary data is gathered from surveillance and interview; however, students and young adults are defined the concentrated- objects in this study. Most of secondary data is exploited from available materials, for instance, Internet, magazines and former researches. The combination of these resources will contribute enormously to success of the researches. However, in this part, the author will spend much more effort to describe the real process of primary data collecting. On 20th October, as start of primary data conduct, three interviews were carried out toward both owners and customers directly at a famous one-price chain store in Hanoi - Tracy. Next, after defining decisive customers, the process continued with second step designing a set of questions that would be employed for survey. In detail, this set comprised six questions for the purpose prospecting market’s awareness as well as the approach to one-price store, next two questions for customers’ responsiveness and two last questions for customers’ needs analyzing objective. After that, from 24th to 30th October, the above questions were delivered to 100 people at some universities, shopping malls, offices and others located in Hanoi. Those people spread over a large interval of age from 15 to 40 and came from very different social positions, jobs and education level as well. With this sample, the research is promising to produce a quite reliable reference to the population of Hanoi. Finally, time from 31st to 3rd was spent for processing survey’s results. Although primary data as stated above bring much knowledge about the topic, there are some problems should be noticed here such as the small sized sample may make some bias for research or the information respondents and interviewees provided may be inaccurate…Besides, when approaching this source of data, the authors are also impeded from both externalities and internalities. Differ from primary data, secondary data even was searched before the topic was chose. Source for this kind of information comes from previous research reports, newspapers, online presses such as Look at Vietnam, Tin tuc (News) and some international website. However, because of the newness of book café, the number of reports and magazines discussed around this topic are very limited in term of quantity and quality as well. Anyway, all of these findings would be considered in process of answering two research questions in addition to results from survey, interview mentioned above. In summary, the author applied many tools and sources of data, in which survey contributed most in order to ensure the truest and most comprehensive view in the realities of one-price store in Hanoi. IV. Findings and analysis: 1. Customers’ attitude towards One-price stores Within few years, one-price shops have become popular in Hanoi. In a recent survey regarding the one-price stores in Hanoi, it reveals that single-price shop could become a new and potential trend of business. Following the first successful present of the Tracy fashion one-price shop, there has been an increasing number or single-price shops offering not only fashion clothing but also house wares and office equipments. Nonetheless, this young and beneficial market in Vietnam is also attracted foreign investors. The one-price shop trend survey was created and based on the customers’ information sources and their attitudes toward this new commerce Question1: [pic] Though single-price shops have launched out into Hanoi market for few years, it has become well-known among Hanoi citizens. The survey remarks a large percentage 68% of people who have certain information about the one-price shops. The 30% of people taken the survey assumed that they have heard about single-price shops, while only 2% stated that they do not know this type of shop. Those figures reveal the popularity of single-prices shop in Hanoi. This also means the acceptance of consumers to this brand-new kind of stores. Question 2: [pic] The popularity of one-price shops can be explained by various kinds of commercials and others means. The survey listed five ways in general which are TV, Newspaper, Internet, Friends and Discovery. People can choose more than one option in order to get the exact answers. The survey shows that 70% of people knowing the shop by themselves discover on the street. These figures can be due to the impressive present of the single-price shop with the stress of attracting price and also the location of them on busy commercial streets. Internet social network is also used to advertise single-price shops to customers which occupy more than 20%. There is also nearly half of people said that they were introduced by their friends. This reflects the fine quality of the single-price shops that they are recommended among people. The comparatively small percentage is claimed to TV and newspapers 10% and 15% respectively. It is because of the high cost when advertising through commercials. Question 3: [pic] The frequency of customers’ visits is also reflected in the survey. Among the group of people took the survey, there are 9% of them stated that they never enter a one-price shop even they know about it. This is a small number compare to the rest of people visiting the shop more than 1-2 times a month. However, there is 15% who usually go shopping at those stores while there is more than 30% said that they rarely check out the shops. The rest 42% chose “sometimes” to describe their frequency to this kind of shop. It can show that the items that one-price shop selling may be adequately attracted to customers and the update routine of those shops may be slightly slower than other shops. However, in general, the response from customers is positive with 91% of people interested in shopping in one-price stores. Question 4: [pic] Taking the initial step toward Vietnamese market, the majority of one-price stores mainly purchase three forms of products: Clothes, shoes and accessories which are also the narrowed topic area the author desire to centre on. This question is designed to identify more clearly which form among them is performing more in effect at a new market. According to the survey result, 64% respondents prefer buying clothes, 22% choose shoes and the rest (14%) respondents look for accessories at one-price store. These statistics indicate the difference between number of clothes-buyers and the others at one-price shop; it is even more than three times. And the great deal of suppliers might be defined one of the main reason so far. In Hanoi, serial of one-price clothes store become progressing popular, for instance, Tracy, Megg, Sensini, Mello, etc. Most of shop owners, who themselves desire to possess an single-price store, assume that clothes take the top position of selections though shoes and accessories are considered proper options to apply the new shopping method. Apparently, individual demand on clothes is regularly recognized higher than shoes and accessories as well. With an aim to clarify this point of view, the authors had hold a quick interview with Tran, an accountant in Hanoi and a regular customer of one-price shops, and she has humorously explained that a pair of shoes, a necklace could go with several different styles of clothes, when clothes are not. In short, in coming time, it is expected to expand the ranges of products applied one-price model in order to take advantages of this kind of shopping trend. Question 5: [pic] In the development of the society, consumers have made higher and higher demands to satisfy new lifestyle; as a result, it led to several appearances of new shopping forms. Worldwide in general and in Vietnam particularly, retail store has been considered as the most traditional and longstanding selling model throughout the trading history. Subsequently, the concept of super market which made a breakthrough in some developed nations was imported into Vietnam in the middle of 1990s and made the debut and created new shopping trend. And once again in 21st, the newly appearances of online store and one-price store had offered customers diversified choices of purchasing model. Hence, standing among such variety of selections, consumers might prefer which one' And this question is intended to answer it partially. The survey result reported that retail shop and supermarket made up the largest percentage due to the chronic shopping habit of customer, with the total up to 71% respondents. 20% people favor one-price store while only 9% choose online store as the place they prefer to go shopping. Obviously, it must take a certain long time to obtain the position that equals to the two traditional shopping models. Nevertheless, according to the survey result, a potential bright future is a thing that one-price store might expect to. In detail, averagely one fifth people choose single-price store, thus, with the population of 6.5 million Hanoi people, it is estimated over 1 million customers say YES to this form when they go shopping. This also referred that there are still opportunities for new single-price shops to continue building up their reputation to keep up with other types of store in the next few years Question 6: One-price store itself has diversified in the form. As the authors have researched so far, there are three main types of one-price stores existing in Hanoi: merchandise one-price stores, usually in the form of one-price store chains, non-merchandise and online one-price stores. Therefore, this question was designed to access deep in the preferential shopping habit of customers to different types of single-price shops as well as to partly predict the most potential one-price store form in the future. [pic] The result of this survey question is quite obvious as 62% of consumers have positive response to merchandise one-price stores. Meanwhile, non-merchandises are accounted for a third of total customers’ choice and online one-price stores are just 4%. With an aim of providing more details, in this survey’s further information section, 100 customers have been enquired to reveal names of some single-price stores that they often go shopping. The most mentioned are: Tracy, Sensini, Megg, Mello, Sandy shoes, Xiao Haha, Daiso, which all are well-known merchandise one-price store chains in Hanoi. In addition, the researchers have interviewed two customers, further questioning them about some possible reasons for the reference for this type of stores. Some features such as eye-catching shop decoration, stable price, great designs, exclusive products and good products quality have been referred to. It is also easily to notice that these chains have numerous of locations on famous commercial streets of Hanoi including Pham Ngoc Thach, Pho Hue, Ba Trieu, Ton Duc Thang, etc. The two others, non-merchandise and online one single price retailers are receiving fewer customers’ favorites. It is due to the facts that these stores are usually organized in smaller scale with no unique selling points. However, their advantage lies in the single price which is more inexpensive, therefore, still attract certain number of customers. From this result, merchandise one-price stores are likely to gain the dominant position in this new market if they continue remaining their outstanding selling points in the future. Question 7: How did customers evaluate some one-price store’s characteristics' (By ranking from 1 for the highest to 7 for the lowest) [pic] The outcome of Question 7 presented in this part is aimed to provide an overview about how customers evaluate one-price store base on some listed characteristics. In reality, a perfect one-price shop should have not only reasonable price, numerous places, fashionable designs but also satisfying quality, convenient ways of shopping and so on. Nevertheless, the degree of requirements varies a little bit among the seven characteristics. It is clearly approved due to the ranking of customers in the survey. By marking in scale of 7, “7” is the highest and “1” is the lowest point, customers evaluated the rank of some characteristics from the least to the most importance that they supposed. The sum of point by total respondents for each factor will be applied for making conclusion purpose. Unnecessary bargain – is the first factor that customers appreciate single-price shopping model. Indeed, it was the unique characteristic that made this form different from others in shopping attitude. Bargaining seems to be a cultural feature, a common habit when Vietnamese buyers do their shopping. However, in modern life bargaining make customers feel unpleasant and inconvenient because it really wastes much of their time. On the other hand, if refusing to bargain, customers have to spend more money reciprocally than another who do bargaining. In one-price stores where every products were at the fixed same price, customers do not have to bargain or worry about price any more, just choose what they want, which style they like still be able to own a product equal to others in price and quality. In this way, one-price store actually satisfied customers by its own convenience. The three next positions in turn belong to a reasonable price, fashionable design and plentiful types of products. In fact, those are factors that any customers concerned before decide to buy anything wherever they buy. Therefore, with such evaluation from survey, one-price shop partly complied with buyers’ strict requirement of the price, design and diversification. The products’ quality just stay at the 6th position, which means when buying at one-price store, customers still were not fully satisfied with the quality; it is required to be improve more and should be high standard commodity sources. In reality, most of products are imported from China where sources are untrustworthy and at a low standard despite of satisfying the looks. If stores bettered not only appearance but also the value in use-quality of the product, they would attract more customers certainly. The final position belongs to number of stores in the city. As commented at Question 5, the quantity of one-price shop is in shortage, the expansion should be made as soon as possible. A brief for findings from this question is that customers considered a lot of things when they came to a single-price store. However, the first characteristic which was high appreciated is unnecessary to bargain. Others factors like price, designs, quantity and quality of products… were considered as well. Question 8: [pic] The customers’ satisfaction of single-price stores is recorded in the survey with satisfactory result. People are asked to mark their satisfaction toward the single-price shops from 1 to 5 in terms of price, bargain, quality, design, location and services. In six respects above, there is no dissatisfy point nor less recorded. The price and quality of the products are claimed to be “quite satisfy” (3 point). From the first opening of single-price shops till now, there are some adjustments of price have been made which are mostly steadily higher. This leads to more careful customers’ consideration whether the product they buy is deserved its price. The quality of the products is also a problem when some of those are low in quality or their value is lower than the price. However, the customer still accept and rated it as quite satisfy. In the opposite, the designs, bargain, location and service are considered to be satisfactory. The single-price shops usually established in crowded streets with impressive decoration and price-shocking advertisement. The designs of products are rated at 3.8, comparatively higher than other respects. This is because of the variety of sources from China which is regularly updated rapidly. Service and bargain are also evaluated in high scores, which are 3.6 and 4 respectively. The remarkable response from customer of single-price shop shows their potential development and achievement in the future. 2. One - price store potential According to the previous part of customers’ attitude, one-price store is now gaining a certain position in the retail market as well as in minds of the customers. However, consumer behavior changes over time: what is a “hot” tendency today can be backward tomorrow. The survival of a new type of store depends thoroughly on the response of the customers. One-price stores are not exceptional. Therefore, the answer of the second research question to predict basically the potential of one-price stores in the coming time is essential for both customers and service suppliers. The two last survey questions designed for this purpose with outcome data would be discussed here. Question 9: [pic] In order to anticipate the potential of one-price store, the researchers have posed Question 9 to indicate the customers’ shopping loyalty which was measured by the possibility whether they would keep shopping in one-price stores in the coming time. The outcome of Question 9 has clearly reflected what the authors, customers as well as service suppliers hope to know of the second research question, and it is obviously an optimistic outcome. There are 35 % customers revealing that they would remain the reference for one-price shops and continue shopping there. Other two fifth nod their heads to the options of 80-per-cent sure (probably) to often return to single-price stores. These two first positive responses totals 77%, which means at least 77 customers over a hundred are willing to come back shopping in the coming time. This figure has well demonstrated a great potential of development and a promising prospect to one-price stores in the future. This result was supported by the previous ones in Question 7 and 8 as the attitude of customers towards one-price stores is mostly satisfaction. It is obvious that their outstanding features such as: unnecessary bargaining, reasonable price, etc are capable of attracting customers and make them return for the next shopping trip. In other words, as long as the customers finding that one-price stores are worth to their money, they will keep their loyalty and one-price stores are likely to develop their potential. Nevertheless, there is still a contrast opinion. Only 4 people over a hundred have said: “no, thanks” for the Question 9. This could be explained by some possible shortcomings of one-price stores which have already been mentioned in the outcome of Question 7 such as unsatisfactory quality, designs, etc. Meanwhile, the remains 19% customers selecting the option of “perhaps” have not made up their decisions. It is appeared that they are not thoroughly convinced by one-price stores. However, the good new is these costumers are undecided between continuing choosing one-price stores and considering other kinds of shop in the future, which means they are still the potential target customers, and one-price stores still have the chance to change their minds. Regarding this matter, a new question of how to gain these customers’ loyalty is set and would be answered as the result of the following survey question. Question 10: Gaining customer’s loyalty is a major task of service suppliers as loyal clients play an important role in determining the potential for success and profits of almost every business. It is also believed that buyer’s satisfaction may lead to customer’s loyalty. Thus, in survey Question 10, the researchers have restated the sub question posed in Question 9 and provided some positive recommendations offered by customers in the outcome to assist one-price-store owners in developing its potential by first meeting the buyers’ expectation, satisfying them and then gaining their loyalty. [pic] Accounting for 66%, the options of that one-price store should enhance the quality of the products is the most chosen. It is believed that quality is the key ingredient in the businesses’ success as P. F. Drucker (n.d.), the American management philosophy has said: “Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for…Customers pay only for what is useful to them and gives them value. Nothing else constitutes quality”. However, reviewing the result in the survey Question 7 and 8, the characteristic of one-price stores product quality was the last satisfying one. This could be explained by the target of remaining the single price point in which service suppliers have to search for less expensive sources of goods to ensure both the single price and profits simultaneously. As a result, the one-price store products are often inexpensive and not of high quality. Despite the thorny problem, it is necessary for one-price shop owners to find out the proper solution to improve the quality of products in order not only to attract customers but also to achieve their faithfulness. The subsequent characteristic of one-price stores which needs to be improved is single price point suggested by 42% customers. It is due to the fact that, in real situation, several one-price shops have been applying multiple-price scheme (2009) and continuously change their price points after a period of time, which was blamed for the inflation and global financial crisis as the major causes. However, customers such as Minh (2009) has revealed in the literature review that it is in this “sensitive” period that they decided to purchase at one-price stores because of their reasonable price. Therefore, if the service suppliers on purpose ignore or fail to meet this expectation, customers are likely to turn their back to one-price stores. In the market, the dominant products of one-price shops which are clothes, shoes, accessories, etc all belonging to women beauty products. Whereas, others goods receiving a mounting concern of buyers such as groceries, household appliances are solely accounted for the minority. Moreover, while pursuing high profit and remaining the single price point at the same time, a number of service suppliers have not paid sufficient attention to the product diverse as well as product design to meet the customers’ demands. Hence, in the future, one-price shops need to improve their design to serve customers’ need as 35% customers have offered this option as the third recommendation. The two last suggestions which are customization and expanding the scale both have been offered by 19% customers. In some golden strategies of businesses, customization is considered as a major one to gain the buyers’ satisfaction. However, it is appeared that to one-price businesses customization is not the most demanding requirement of their customers. This result is compatible with the previous outcome in this research paper as buyers have evaluated services offered by single-price shops by 3.6/5 which is equal to a satisfactory level (Question 8). Moreover, customers who shop at one-price stores solely looking for convenience and inexpensive products, they do not require specific adjustment to their individual specifications. The customers satisfaction to the number of one-price stores locations (3.7/5) reflected in Question 8 also clarifies the second 19-percent figure referring to the expanding the scale option in Question 10. Because of the recent trend of opening one-price stores, customers are mostly satisfied with the scale of these shops. Despite these two optimistic figures, it is dangerous if one-price businesses are neglectful of these two customers’ recommendations as improvement is the one of the most crucial strategies to gain customers loyalty. Besides, when responding to the survey Question 10, customers have suggested several ideas to contribute to single-price shops improvement such as promotion programs, products diversification enhancement. Because Customer is King and the commission of services suppliers is to meet their demands, these suggestions of customers would make this duty much propitious. In short, it is expected that these precious recommendations of customers would partly assist single-price businesses not only in avoiding wasted time to forecast customers demand but also immediately setting the work of improvement to develop their potential in the coming time. V. Summary and Conclusion This research project has been conducted to intensively study one-price store, a new model of shop in Vietnamese market which has recently received positive response from customers. The purpose of this research is to capture a comprehensive picture of one-price stores and then provide basic knowledge and useful information to customers and businessmen who have the interest in single-price business. However, one-price store is a wide study range, thus in this project, the authors has concentrated on the customers’ attitude towards fashion single-price shops in Hanoi and their potential in the future. In order to access this topic, two research questions was posed and the answer for these questions principally based on sources of data such as survey, interview, as well as previous reports, newspaper and magazines were addressed. The following is the summary of the research findings. About the customers’ attitude towards one-price stores: In recent time, One- price stores welcomed thousands customers who knew about these shops by many different ways and added them as one of their shopping habit. Nevertheless, customers of one-price store extend over a large range of age and social position; hence, it is difficult for the owners to satisfy all. The results of this research clearly indicated that customers expect not only reasonable prices, fashionable designs but also the quality of products, diversified of styles, easy bargaining and the shopping convenience as well. In summary, customers have made a positive experience on one-price stores or in other words, one-price stores have partly satisfied what consumers demand and expect. About the one-price stores’ potential: The result of this research has well demonstrated the one-price stores’ great potential due to a strong position in the retail market as well as in minds of customers. It is the overwhelming unique selling point of one-price stores such as unnecessary bargaining, reasonable price, etc that has awakened the curiosity and gradually become a magnet to buyers. Moreover, in recent time of global economic crisis and domestic inflation, one-price stores with their competitive edges are given more chance to develop their potential. In shorts, with all outstanding features and favorable conditions, one-price stores are likely to own a promising future. To consolidate the position of single-price shops in the domestic market, some recommendations for improvement are offered by their customers such as enhancing products’ quality, stabilizing price, diversifying designs, customizing, expanding scale, providing promotion programs and products diversification, etc. In near future, if the service suppliers open to these suggestions, they will be able to fulfill the true potential of one-price stores. Nonetheless, there are still some limitations should be noticed in collecting and processing data. Firstly, number of people took part in the research was quite small. There was only 100 respondents among over 6.6 million people reside in Hanoi. Consequently, the appearances of some biases and subjective views in collected information are unavoidable. It might lead to inaccurate final outcomes. Secondly, the information and customers are both in limitation due to the newness of one-price stores in Vietnam market. As a result, it is difficult for the researcher to identify target objects as well as to conduct surveys. For surmounting those limitations mentioned above, the author hopes that the further research will be conducted with larger scale and in longer period of time to produce more complete and reliable results about customer’s attitude and one-price store’s potential. (6701 words) Reference list Cái giá của hàng một giá. (September 27, 2009). From: Kienthuc Online. Official website. Link: http://kienthuc.com.vn/news/index.php'option=comContent &view=article&id=33054:cai-gia-ca-hang-mt-gia&catid=91:t-vn-tieu-dun g& Itemid=146 Chain Store Age State of the Industry Supplement. (August 1999). In Barmash. I, Market place-One price stores gain in popularity (E.d). (July 15, 1988). Retrieved September 20, 2010. From: The New York Times. Official website. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/15/business/market-place-one-price-stores-gain -in-popularity.html Cô chủ chuỗi cửa hàng một giá 50.000 đồng. (July 30, 2007). From: VnExpress–online newspaper. Official website. Link: http://vnexpress.net/GL/Kinh-doanh/Kinh-nghiem/2007/07/3B9F8A21/ Cửa hàng một giá: kinh tế khó khăn, kinh doanh vẫn phát đạt. (September 14, 2009). From: Hanoi Industry and Trade portal. Official website. Link: http://congthuonghn.gov.vn:8080/web/guest/cacloaivb'p_p_id=cmsviewportletWAR_vsi_portlets_INSTANCE_YpaR&p_p_action=1&p_p_state=normal&ppmode=view&ppcol_id=column-2&ppcolpos=0&ppcol_count=1&cms viewportlet_WAR_vsi_portlets_INSTANCE_YpaR_struts_action=%2Fcmsvewportlet%2Fview&_cmsviewportlet_WAR_vsi_portlets_INSTANCEYpaRarcId=2726& Dollar Tree Stores (DLTR). (n.d). From: Wikinvest. Official website. Link: http:// www.wikinvest.com/stock/DollarTreeStores%28DLTR%29 For all shoppers, One price says it al., (May 1, 2009). From: Look at Vietnam. Official website. Link: http://www.lookatvietnam.com/2009/05/for-shoppers-one-price-says-it-all.html Muôn vẻ cửa hàng “một giá”. (December 14, 2009). From: Hoaphuongdo.vn. Official website. Link: http://hoaphuongdo.vn/news/tin-tuc-su-kien/kinh-te-doanh-nghiep/18055-muon-ve-cau-hang-mot-gia.html One-price’ shops applying multiple-price scheme. (April 21, 2009). From: Vietnam News network. Official website. Link: http://www.vietnammarket.com/ vietnamnews.php'nid=2762 Selinski. B (October 25, 2005). Giant discount stores eye success of booming Dollar Store franchises. From: franchising.com. Official website. Link: http://www.franchising.com/article.php'id=102 Sic 5331 Variety store. (n.d). From: Reference for Business - Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed. Official website. Link: http://www.referenceforbusiness. com/industries/ Retail-Trade/Variety-Stores.html Teen mê hàng một giá. (April 27, 2008). From: VnExpress – online newspaper. Official website. Link: http://vnexpress.net/GL/Doi-song/Mua-sam/2008/04/3BA019D9/ Woolworths’ - The largest variety store. (June 18, 2009). From: Pleasant family shopping. Official website. Link: http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot. com/2009/06/woolworths-largest-variety-store.html VII. APPENDICES Survey questions We are business research group from National Economics University including 3 members. This survey including ten questions is designed to assess the prospect of one- price stores in Hanoi as well as analyst the attitude of customers for this new kind of shop. Please tick on the most suitable answer. The success of this research depends much on your contribution. Full name:………………………………………………… Gender:……….Age:…... Job:…………………………………………………………………………………… Phone number:………………………Email:………………………………………… 1. Question1: How do you know about one-price stores' ← Well ← A little bit ← None 2. Question 2: You know about one-price stores from… ← TV ← Newspapers, magazines ← Internet ← Fiends ← Myself (discovering on my own) 3. Question 3: In regular shopping trips, how often do you choose one-price stores' ← Regularly ← Sometimes ← Rarely ← Never 4. Question 4: Products you buy in one-price stores are…(multiple choices are allowed) ← Clothes ← Shoes ← Accessories 5. Question 5: Where do you often go shopping' (multiple choices are allowed) ← Supermarkets, malls ← Retail stores ← Online stores ← One-price stores 6. Question 6: Which types of one-price stores that you prefer' ← Merchandise one-price stores (Please name some :………………………………………………………………….) ← Non-merchandise one-price stores ← Online one-price stores 7. Question 7: Evaluate these following characteristics of one price stores by ranging from 1-7 ← reasonable price ← fashionable designs ← plentiful types of product ← satisfying products’ quality ← unnecessary bargain ← numerous places ← convenient shopping way 8. Question 8: Evaluate these characteristics by marking from1-5 according to satisfaction level | |Strongly dissatisfy |Dissatisfy (2) |Quite satisfy (3) |Satisfy |Strongly satisfy (5)| | |(1) | | |(4) | | |Price | | | | | | |Designs | | | | | | |Products quality | | | | | | |Bargain | | | | | | |Locations | | | | | | |Services | | | | | | 9. Question 9: In the coming time, will you continue choosing one-price stores' ← Of course ← Probably ← Perhaps ← No, thanks 10. Question 10: What should one-price stores do to attract more customers' ← Expand scale ← Stabilize price ← Enhance products’ quality ← Diversify designs ← Customize ← Others:……………………………………………………………………… List of respondents |No |Name |Gender |Age |Job |Phone number/ Email | |1 |Nguyễn Thị Mại Phương |F |51 |Worker |0439871025 | |2 |Nguyễn Thị Kim Anh |F |21 |Student |0948880833/ love_icream117 | |3 |Nguyễn Lê Vân |F |20 |Student |0979023534/neouos_friends | |4 |Vũ Khôi Nguyên |M |16 |Student |0924044074/zip_low_123 | |5 |Đặng Ngọc Anh |F |20 |Student |07689929034/gem_napis | |6 |Đinh Việt Hải |M |29 |Employee | | |7 |Đào Thi Sĩ |M |25 |Policeman |0919922444/daothisi | |8 |Nguyễn Tiến Hạnh |F |20 |Student |01689928891/hanhnguyenkute | |9 |Nguyễn Thị Yến |F |29 |Accountant |0983218177/nguyenyen17 | |10 |Hoàng Sơn Nam |M |19 |Student | | |11 |Trần Thu Hương |F |18 |Student |0977539902/rainbow_2371992 | |12 |Đinh Thùy Linh |F |18 |Student |Sleepy_zaizai | |13 |Đặng Thị Mai |F |24 |Sale assistant |0972969842 | |14 |Nguyễn Thị Mơ |F |32 |Sale assistant |0982512615 | |15 |Trần Thị Ngọc Hoa |F |40 |Accountant |0915378726/Ngochoa | |16 |Trần Ngọc Long |M |32 |Engineer |0947755511/longanhgt | |17 |Hoàng Thị Bình Yên |F |22 |Student |hoang_binhyen | |18 |Trần Thị Minh Ngọc |F |20 |Student | | |19 |Đinh Ngọc Linh |F |19 |Student |inngocnhi | |20 |Phạm Thị Cúc |F |23 |Student |01669770468/canhphuonghong | |21 |Ngô Xuân Cường |M |28 |Doctor |01222276680 | |22 |Lý Trà My |F |20 |Student |01236298254/myxinhcun | |23 |Nguyễn Thị Thúy Hòa |F |26 |Teacher |0989661898/rainbow2804 | |24 |Nguyễn Đặng Sơn |M |23 |Student |01676752566/choconsieunhan93 | |25 |Trần Thu Trang |F |32 |Employee | | |26 |Mồng Vũ Diệu Quỳnh |F |19 |Student |0943900956/quynh811 | |27 |Lý Thị Mai Hương |F |18 |Student |0985752220/windy138 | |28 |Nguyễn Thị Kim Liên |F |35 |Employee |01226335883 | |29 |Nguyễn Mai Quyên |F |19 |Student |0903476212/amynguyen_8100 | |30 |Nguyễn Thị Ngọc |F |21 |Student |0914661866/ngocngoc259 | |31 |Phạm Quốc Hiển |M |20 |Student | | |32 |Hoàng Hải Yến |F |19 |Student |01663339886/xu_ux_155 | |33 |Trần Thị Minh Thùy |F |30 |Employee |Thuyminh_2890 | |34 |Lê Thị Hà |F |18 |Student |01656989450/love_in_silence | |35 |Nguyễn Thị Trải |F |20 |Student |01279392795 | |36 |Bùi Ngọc Phương |F |32 |Employee |Phuongbui.tbc | |37 |Đoàn Minh Trang |F |20 |Student |01686882446/dmtrang.hb | |38 |Nguyến Tiến Trình |M |48 |Policeman |0913238175 | |39 |Phan Minh Quân |M |18 |Student |01224200639 | |40 |Hoàng anh Thơ |F |27 |Teacher |0916031984/anhtho84 | |41 |Đoàn Thu Trang |F |21 |Student |01673606889/trangdoan.b | |42 |Vũ Thị Hương Hạnh |F |43 |Employee | | |43 |Nguyễn Thị Thơ |F |31 |Employee |0973408090 | |44 |Hoàng Thanh Tú |F |21 |Student |01689544849/htu1410 | |45 |Lưu Khánh Vân |F |21 |Student |01689916235/khanhvanluu | |46 |Võ Thu Hằng |F |22 |Student | | |47 |Hoàng Minh Phương |F |23 |Student |0943356357/phuong88vnmc | |48 |Nguyễn Phương Thúy |F |26 |Employee |0988080348 | |49 |Lê Thị Hà |F |49 |Manage |0913552562/hatbxh | |50 |Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Bích |F |29 |Accountant |0912101915/bichhanvet | |51 |Trần Văn Đoàn |M |21 |Student | | |52 |Nguyễn Phương Thảo |F |15 |Student |0975671290/machij_nam | |53 |Nguyễn Thị Tố Quyên |F |20 |Student |0982802011/real_eyesore | |54 |Nguyễn Thị Thu Dung |F |20 |Student |0915971227 | |55 |Nguyễn Thị Bích Đào |F |47 |Accountant |0972218187 | |56 |Trần Diệu Thúy |F |19 |Student |01684482985/tranthuy1404 | |57 |Xuân |F |25 |Unemployed |0903476212 | |58 |Vũ Anh Thư |F |20 |Student |0169148909/anhthu_k50 | |59 |Trần Phương Dung |F |21 |Student |0973596708 | |60 |Bùi Đức Hưng |M |27 |Manager |0972469988/Buihungimv | |61 |Phạm Phương Thảo |F |24 |Employee |0989259450/bachkim102 | |62 |Nguyễn Vũ Diệu Hương |F |21 |Student |01689928390 | |63 |Ninh Quỳnh Hoa |F |20 |Student |0906010190 | |64 |Trần Hương Liên |F |22 |Student | | |65 |Nguyễn Thái Hưng |M |29 |Employee |0912678982 | |66 |Lưu Phương Liên |F |20 |Student |0904359966/lien.luuphuong | |67 |Lê Thị Thu Trang |F |20 |Student |0983241105 | |68 |Nguyễn Thanh Nga |F |17 |Student |0976243290/pukachithanhnga | |69 |Hoàng Mạnh Linh |M |19 |Student |01687433453 | |70 |Nguyễn Kiều Trang |F |24 |Employee |0976738207 | |71 |Phạm Thu Hiền |F |20 |Student |0936638990/hilu_hienlun | |72 |Nguyễn Hoàng Hà |M |18 |Student |0437535757 | |73 |Nguyễn Thị Phong |F |20 |Student |01668300157 | |74 |Nông Thu Hiền |F |20 |Student |01266008066/nongthuhien | |75 |Trần Khánh Toàn |M |21 |Student |0168902802 | |76 |Trần Thị Minh Thư |F |22 |Student |0977351438/thuttm | |77 |Vũ Thị Huệ |F |26 |Sale assistant | | |78 |Nguyễn Lê Linh Trang |F |15 |Student |0908326785 | |79 |Tạ Thùy Trang |F |16 |Student |Therainice_20795 | |80 |Đỗ Thị Yên |F |20 |Student |01253145995/yendo | |81 |Bùi Thị Thu Huyền |F |20 |Student |0904549598/huyen_tatm | |82 |Cao Trọng Bách |M |18 |Student |01634757218/bachct.tbc | |83 |Đinh Ngọc Tân |M |27 |Employee | | |84 |Đinh Phương Thảo |F |20 |Student |0906568647 | |85 |Nguyễn Hoàng Uyên |F |21 |Student |01682858983/nguyenhoanguyen | |86 |Lê Thị Cẩm Nhung |F |20 |Student |0982797282 | |87 |Nguyến Thanh Hảo |F |21 |Student |0982066234/ultrapink0611 | |88 |Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Nga |F |20 |Student |01689941039/quynhnga.eec | |89 |Nguyễn Thanh Thủy |F |25 |Employee |0987903669/thuypham.thanh | |90 |Nguyễn Thị Huyền |F |33 |Employee |01689926425 | |91 |Lê Đình Quyết |M |21 |Student | | |92 |Lê Thị Thu Hà |F |18 |Student |01692863852/lesung92 | |93 |Vân Anh |F |20 |Student |0123457900/thattinh | |94 |Lương Ngọc Huy |M |24 |Engineer | | |95 |Ngô Thị Hoài Thu |F |18 |Student |01688714432/tokyoyokhama | |96 |Vũ Ngọc Hoa |M |20 |Student | | |97 |Nguyễn Mạnh Linh |M |22 |Student | | |98 |Trần Trung Dũng |M |23 |Student |0948741881/dungtran211 | |99 |Nguyễn Thị Hà |F |46 |Employee |0982322420 | |100 |Đào Thu Hằng |F |21 |Student |0907031990/hang_jj | ----------------------- [pic] Group members: Phạm Phương Thanh Nguyễn Thị Mai Phương Nguyễn Cúc Anh Class : EAP Writing_4 – Intake 50 Instructor : Tran Thi Thu Trang, MA Hanoi - 2010