Who shops at Fred Meyer? Qualitative Research by: Becky Ellis and Cathy Holtcamp

Procedures and Methods Our research question – Is there a dominant theme for the shoppers at a local Fred Meyer?

Procedures and Methods Design – Emergent research design with time sampling data collection. Observations were made in 1 hour increments at different times and different days.

Procedures and Methods Cathy began to see a theme emerge and began taking notes as to the age of shopper and whether the shopper was alone or not. Data was collected by observation only at various times – Thursday late morning, Saturday early evening, Sunday early afternoon and Monday early evening.

Procedures and Methods Becky observed the shoppers from the vantage point of the in-store Deli.

Procedures and Methods Cathy observed the shoppers from a bench across from the U-Scan check out

Procedures and Methods Data was collected without pre-conceived ideas. No discussion was attempted prior to the data collection. The data was well triangulated using 2 researchers at the same location but at different days and times. Observations were made at 4 different times and days.

Procedures and Methods Trustworthiness:  Prolonged engagement – 4 hours  Persistent observation - several days  Well triangulated  Peer debriefing done after all data was collected  Data was shared, compiled and analyzed during the debriefing  Study was thin, but sufficient data was obtained

Analysis We started with a rich description of the shoppers we observed until half way through we discovered a theme presenting itself. Using emergent design we began to code our observations differently.

Analysis Single verbs were used to describe the shoppers we saw:  Age Under 20, 20-40, and over 60  Gender Male, female  Status Single, couple, or family

Analysis Coding was done by consensus and the rich descriptions were changed to simple categories There was active dialog as to where the shopper fit in the new scheme Shoppers fit into one of 14 different categories No inference was made about the thoughts, feelings, or actions of the shopper

Findings The dominant theme that emerged was that shoppers are solitary figures that do not interact with others while shopping

Findings Exemplar: Solitary female entered the store, bought a few items, knew how to work the machine, paid with cash using the correct amount of bills and change, exited the store without uttering a word.

Findings Additional Themes:  62% of shopping done by females  Thursday found 28% of shoppers fit the family category (one or more children with a parent)  Largest group of shoppers, 44% were females between the ages of % shopped alone and 22.5% shopped as a family

Findings One over-arching concept emerged – Americans have gone from using the shopping experience as a social event to a solitary event.

Implications Marketing tool Health Promotion  – Used to target certain populations for sampling purposes (if the target population is solitary middle aged females you could find them at Fred Meyer on a Saturday afternoon)

Limitations Observations were sporadic Limited to 4 one-hour sessions Data collection was superficial in nature

Conclusion The research question was answered without doubt. The dominant shopper at this local Fred Meyer is female, solitary, middle-aged.