Mass-Merchandise Stores Gained 16% More Shoppers, Study Finds

The strength of mass-merchandise stores, such as Target, Kmart and Wal-Mart, was evident in a recently released study on shopping, which said these types of stores attracted 55% of shoppers in 1999, compared to 39% in 1998.

“While the news is about mass merchandisers, it’s really all about Wal-Mart,” Wendy Liebmann president of New York consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail, said in a statement. “Wal-Mart has redefined the shopping experience and consumer expectations to become the benchmark against which American consumers evaluate the functional and emotional shopping experience.”

And, overall, shopping has become easier, the study says, with big-box retailers sprouting up everywhere and the Internet bringing buying opportunities to our fingertips. Internet shopping represents a small but growing percentage of overall purchases. During a three-month period, 10% of shoppers made purchases online, mostly to buy music, books and computer supplies.