THE EFFECT OF SALESPERSON ATTRIBUTES AND PRICING STRATEGIES ON CONSUMER BUYING DECISION IN MATAHARI DEPARTMENT STORE CITY OF TOMORROW SURABAYA
Abstract
Understanding consumer buying decision and influencing consumer in the stage of the buying process are critical for a successful retailing strategy. In Indonesia, major concerns regarding retailers’ attempt to influence consumers decision came from the salesperson attributes which is underestimated as low class job (Royan, 2009) and pricing strategy which became a major attraction for consumers (Kompas, 2008). These issues were also found in Matahari Department Store City of Tomorrow (MDSC), the new branch of oldest and biggest Indonesian retail store in Surabaya.
The research objective was to determine the effect of salesperson attributes and pricing strategy (consists of everyday low pricing and high low pricing variable) on consumer buying decision in MDSC. The data collected through personally-administered questionnaire on 135 customers of MDSC and analyzed through multiple regression analysis.
Result showed that the three variables - salesperson attributes, everyday low pricing, and high low pricing - are proven to have a significant effect toward consumer buying decision in MDSC both partially and simultaneously. It was identified that 21.4% variance in the consumer buying decision is explained by those variables. The most significant variable on affecting consumer buying decision in MDSC was salesperson attributes (with a coefficient of 0.312). Followed by everyday low pricing (with a coefficient of 0.213) and the least was high low pricing (with a coefficient of 0.166). MDSC should focus to improve its salesperson attributes as the most significant variable through human resource department, while keep maintaining its pricing strategy or even improved it.