Trial Development of a Task Support System for Improving Supermarket Branches with the Use of Perceptual Maps

Abstract

This study proposes an approach to support the decision-making of an owner of a medium-sized supermarket chain working to improve his own shops (the “task of improving shops”) by discriminating shops. From a Research on the construction of a trial prototype has yielded the following results. (1) Perceptual maps representing the relative positions of the owner’s shops and competitor shops can help the owner understand these relative positions and identify points to be improved. (2) A graph comparing customer satisfaction at the owner’s shop with that at competitor shops can help the owner identify weak points of his shop and direct his attention to the strong points of the competitor shops. Moreover, a graph depicting an age-wise comparison of customer satisfaction can help the owner identify age groups that have been neglected at his shop. (3) The information provided by the prototype system is useful for the owner in his decision-making to improve his shops. On this basis, we conclude that our approach to support shop improvement is effective.