Determinants of Purchase Intention at Hypermarkets

Abstract

Retailing industry in Malaysia has been transformed from traditional retailing market to supermarket and hypermarket sector. Although a small scale retailing market is still continue to exist, the emergence of hypermarket received considerable attention among consumers in Malaysia as an alternative for better choices and quality.The hypermarket was introduced to Malaysians with the arrival of Carrefour in 1994. The aim of the study is to examine the relationships of price, product quality and interior atmospherics with customer purchase intention in Malaysia. Data were collected using questionnaires from patrons of well known hypermarkets such as Kota Bharu Mall, Aeon, Billion, Tesco, Mydin, Giant and Pantai Timur Hypermarket. A total of 417 valid questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation. The findings revealed that all three independents variable were significantly and positively correlated with the dependent variable. Of the independent variables, product quality had the strongest correlation with purchase intention, followed by interior atmospherics and price. The results suggest that a slight change in the independent variables will influence customer purchase intention at hypermarkets.