Research Paper

Management

Volume : 3 | Issue : 11 | Nov 2013 | ISSN - 2249-555X

A Study of Consumer Shopping Behaviour in

Organized Retail at Ranchi
Keywords

availability ,consumer ,demography ,retail ,shopping

Mridanish Jha
Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Cambridge Institute of Technology, Tatisilwai Ranchi-835103
ABSTRACT The retail sector has witnessed a paradigm shift in Ranchi with the presence of retail stores like Reliance
mart, big bazaar, Vishal mega mart, Pantaloons et.al. Organized retailing is changing the entire perception
of shopping in terms of buying behavior. Increased household incomes, education, convenience of getting all useful items
under one roof and payment through card are some of the factors responsible for inclination of consumers towards organized retail. The objective of this study is to analyze consumer shopping behavior in retail stores at Ranchi city. The data for
this study was collected through self administered questionnaire and face to face intercepts of shoppers at reliance mart
and big bazaar. The objective of this study is to analyze the consumer shopping behavior dimensions and to measure the
significance of demographic variables on shopping behavior.

INTRODUCTION
Consumer behavior refers to the mental and emotional
process and the observable behavior of consumers during
searching, purchasing and post consumption of a product or service. Consumer behavior involves study of how
people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they
buy. It blends the elements from psychology, sociology,
socio psychology, anthropology and economics. Consumer behavior has two facets, first one being the concluding
purchase activity perceptible to any viewer and the comprehensive or short decision process that may engage the
interaction of a number of complex variables not discernible to anybody. On the socio-cultural side, the growing
number of nuclear families, general improvement in education levels has led to an increase in number of customers buying through modern retail stores, where most of
the shopping for daily necessities can be done under one
roof. Retailing is the combination of activities involved in
selling or renting consumer goods and services directly to
ultimate consumers for their personal or household use.
In retail, marketers are keen to know the consumers shopping behavior, which involves an understanding of decision variables like when, where, and what to shop. These
decisions variables are the factors to be considered by the
retailer.
It is important to know what and from where the shoppers shop and the reasons that prompt their shopping
behavior. Increase in income levels and occupation
have resulted in a change in the consumers buying behavior. The spotlight has shifted to convenience and
comfort. The dimension and composition of the shopping has changed over time. Retailers are required to
have better understanding of consumer benefits their
perceptions and attitudes and how they influence the
development of successful retail marketing strategies.
Retailers must understand their consumers better so
that they can both respond to and anticipate their
needs proactively.
LITERAATURE REVIEW
Despite the fact that many studies have been undertaken to analyze the consumer behavior, only a few studies
were conducted to understand consumer buying behavior in organized retail. In India, some empirical studies
provide important information about consumer behavior
and its responses to the development of organized retail.
Consumers have become more realistic, educated and
demanding, learning how to manage money and time

more efficiently. Sen (2000) confirms this in the study

undertaken in Indian context. He substantiate that in
the case of hypermarkets, the main motives for preferences, in decreasing order are low prices, the possibility
of buying everything in the same place and the general
appearance of the store. Several studies accentuate the
probable coexistence of different store formats (Chandrasekhar, 2001) and others point out the relationship between the type of store and the type of products. These
studies show that, while specialized and traditional stores
are preferred for fresh products, hypermarkets are preferred for shopping in general, and also for frozen food,
groceries and beverages. Moneesha (2001), tries to build
up a structure for studying consumer behavior by considering the progress of the field of consumer research and
the diverse paradigms of thought that have influenced
the discipline. Rajendra(2003), point to the fact that the
structure of a countrys retail sector has an enormous influence on marketing strategy and marketing activities
of firms. The theoretical assumption behind Sproles and
Kendalls (1986) ideas about CDM styles is that consumers have eight different decision-making dimensions that
determine the shopping decisions they make.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To study the consumer shopping behavior dimensions.
2. To determine the significance of demographic variables on
shopping behavior dimensions.
Demographic factors are unique to a person. It involves
identification of who is responsible for the decision
making or buying and who is the ultimate consumer. All
stores have focused themselves on respective segments
based on factors such as age, income family size, gender, occupation, etc. To achieve the objectives answer
to the question do demographic variables and consumer shopping behavior dimensions differ significantly was
sought.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
present study is focused on the shopping behavior dimensions of consumers who visit organized retail. A convenience sampling method was used to obtain the data
from reliance mart and big bazaar at Ranchi over a period
in April-May 2013.The total sample size was 120. While
conducting the survey respondents from different demographic profile was collected. i.e., gender, age group, education, occupation, income level, etc. (Table 1).

INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH X 271

Research Paper

Volume : 3 | Issue : 11 | Nov 2013 | ISSN - 2249-555X

FREVARIABLE
CATEGORY
QUENCY
MALE
60
GENDER
FEMALE
60
BELOW 25
16
AGE
25-35
54
[in years]
35-45
23
ABOVE 35
27
UPTO 12TH
10
EDUCATION GRADUATION
65
POST GRADUATE 45
BUSINESS
29
SERVICE
47
OCCUPATION
HOUSEWIFE
34
STUDENT
10
LESS THAN 15000 22
MONTHLY
15000-25000
34
HOUSEHOLD
25000-35000
INCOME[in
43
Rupees]
MORE THAN
21
35000

PERCENTAGE
50.0
50.0
13.3
45.0
19.1
22.5
8.3
54.1
37.5
24.1
39.1
28.3
8.3

consciousness and fashion consciousness).The characteristics

of the eight consumer decision style are as follows.
1. Quality conscious: decision style of consumers who systematically search for the quality products.
2. Brand loyal: decision style of consumers who shop at the
same retail stores and tend to buy the same brands each
time.
3. Novelty conscious: decision style of consumers who like
new and innovative products and who gain excitement
from seeking out new things.
4. Shopping for entertainment: decision style of consumers
who take pleasure in shopping and who shop just for the
fun of it.
5. Price conscious: decision style of consumers who are
concerned for getting products at lower prices.
6. Value consciousness: They look for value for money
and consider that the retail store brands are reasonably
priced.
7. Confused/opinion seeker: decision style of consumers
who feel they have too many brands to choose from and
who seek information or approval from their friends, relatives, colleagues etc.
8. Impulsiveness: decision style of consumers who tend to
buy spontaneously and who are unconcerned about how
much money they spend.

18.3
28.3
35.83
17.5

Table 1: Demographic profile of respondents

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
To investigate consumer shopping behavior dimensions eight
consumer decision-making styles was adapted from Sproles
and Kendalls (1986) consumer decision style. A consumer
decision making style is defined as a mental orientation characterizing a consumers approach to making choices. It has
cognitive and affective characteristics (for example, quality

FACTOR

GENDER

AGE

One-way ANOVA indicate the significant difference between

the consumers of different demographic profile and their
shopping behavior dimensions (table 2).
EDUCATION

OCCUPATION

Sign.

Sign.

1.975

.163

.667

.765

Sign.

Sign

Quality consciousness

2.73

.142

3.64

.046

Brand Loyal

.865

.503

.451

.961

4.321

.054

.598

78.577

.000

3.096

.098

.216

.989

Novelty consciousness
Shopping for entertainment
Price consciousness
Value Conscious
Confused/opinion
seeker
Impulsiveness

MONTHLY HOUSEHOLD
INCOME
F
Sign.
1.876

.154

.534

5.372

.006

5.879

.003

.5.354

.006

.167

.891

1.713

.176

1.821

.462

2.152

.432

5.076

.008

52.456
8.981

.000
.004

.672
1.707

.652
.187

.786
5.432

.623
.023

6.089
3.452

.003
.081

.535
2.763

.871
.196

.072

.921

1.845

.134

.842

.508

3.421

.098

.321

.927

36.801

.007

.893

.554

.732

.615

6.759

.004

.561

.873

Table 2: One way ANOVA

1. Factor one behavioral dimension signifies the quality consciousness of the consumer for products as they consider
that retail stores provide superior quality products and
also compare the quality of the brands while purchasing
(Table 2).Respondents belonging to different age groups
differ significantly (p = 0.046) on quality consciousness
dimension but p-values do not signify this phenomenon
on any other demographics.
2. Factor two, brand loyalty behavioral dimension explains
that customers are willing to visit their preferred store
rather than nearby store, and buy items from such stores.
They visit store for their preferred brands (table 2), Brand
loyalty dimension varies significantly on education (p =
0.054) and income (p = 0.006)) of the respondents but
not on remaining demographic variables.
3. Factor three deals with the novelty consciousness of the
customers (Table 2). Male and female respondents vary
significantly (p = 0.000) for novelty conscious behavior
but not on the basis of the other demographic variables.
4. Factor four Shopping for entertainment is the behavioral
dimension of shoppers who look for entertainment and
enjoyment while shopping with their friends or family
(table 2). Income (p = 0.008) of respondents is the only

272 X INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH

demographic variable that has a significant association

with this dimension.
5. Factor five deals with price consciousness behavioral dimension. They are influenced by the brands prices and
try them during discounts. Table 2 explains that price
conscious behavior differs significantly across gender (p
= 0.000), occupation (p = 0.003) of the respondents.
6. Factor six describes the value consciousness of the customers. They look for value for mone. As per Table 2 gender (p = 0.004) and education level (p = 0.023) have influence on respondents in considering the value conscious
behavioral dimension for shopping.
7. Factor seven opinion seeker dimension explains the
behavior of respondents who look for the advice from
friends and relatives for making brand selection (Table
2). One-way ANOVA indicates no significant difference
among the customers of different demographic characteristics and opinion seeking behavior.
8. Factor eight deals with impulsiveness as the behavioral
dimension where consumers tend to purchase impulsively as they do not plan in advance .This behavior differs
significantly across gender (p = 0.007) and occupation (p
= 0.004) of the respondents.

Research Paper
CONCLUSION
The study on the customers perception on the factors influencing Consumer behavior explores the demographic factors affecting consumer behavior in retail in Ranchi city. The
study concludes that these factors have their influence on
customers buying patterns. Hence it could be
concluded that marketers should understand not only the

Volume : 3 | Issue : 11 | Nov 2013 | ISSN - 2249-555X

buying patterns of customers but also should design strategies to understand the factors influencing the buy behavior
in the respective industries to enjoy more profits and also to
establish the organization for a long run. The main conclusion
is that empirical research does support the existence of CDM
styles among retail shoppers. The influence of CDM styles on
shopping behavior is visible.

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