Dissertation Report
Dissertation Report
Dissertation Report
ON
“CUSTOMERS PERCEPTION AND
SATISFACTION TOWARDS
ORGANIZED RETAIL OUTLETS”
BATCH 2010-12
DECLARATION
SUBHANGI SHARMA
MBA – IV SEM.
IMS , DEHRADUN
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
TITLE NO.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
LIST OF TABLE AND ILLUSTRATION
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
STORE LAYOUT
INTERPRETATION & ANALYSES
FINDINGS
SUGGESTIONS
LIMITATIONS
CONCLUSION
QUESTIONNAIRE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I have completed this study under the able guidance and supervision of DR.
HEMANT SHARMA I will be failed in my duty if I do not acknowledge the
esteemed scholarly guidance, assistance and knowledge. I have received from
them towards fruitful and timely completion of this work.
My acknowledgement may not redeem the debt I owe to my parents for their
direct/indirect support during the entire course of this project.
SUBHANGI SHARMA
MBA – IVTH SEM.
(MARKETING)
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ABSTRACT
This paper provides detailed information about the growth of
organized retail sector in Dehradun. It discusses about the emergence
of innovative practices that support the growth of the sector in a
highly competitive environment. Though this sector is one of the
fastest growing in the country but in Dehradun it is still in its nascent
stage, however it is fast spreading and making its presence felt in
different parts of the city. There is a vast untapped potential for
organized retailing in Dehradun which is the key attraction not only to
the domestic and global retailing chains operating here but also for the
customers who belong to different cross sections of the society and
visit them. An effort has been made, in the paper to know about the
customers’ perception and satisfaction towards these organized retail
stores in Dehradun so as to access their satisfaction level and decode
whether the sector will be able to do a meaningful business in
Dehradun.
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INTRODUCTION
Objective
Methodology
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It involves analysis and tabulation of data which is collected from
customers is done by various means such as line graphs, pie charts and
bar graphs.
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ABOUT RETAIL INDUSTRY IN INDIA
Retail is India's largest industry. It accounts for over 10 per cent of the India's
GDP and around 8 per cent of the employment. Retail sector is one of India's
fastest growing sectors with a 5 per cent compounded annual growth rate.
India's huge middle class base and its untapped retail industry are key
attractions for global retail giants planning to enter newer markets. Driven by
changing lifestyles, strong income growth and favourable demographic patterns,
Indian retail is expected to grow 25 per cent annually. It is expected that retail in
India could be worth US$ 175-200 billion by 2016.
The organized retail industry in India had not evolved till the early 1990s. Until
then, the industry was dominated by the un-organized sector. It was a seller’s
market, with a limited number of brands, and little choice available to
customers. Lack of trained manpower, tax laws and government regulations all
discouraged the growth of organized retailing in India during that period. Lack
of consumer awareness and restrictions over entry of foreign players into the
sector also contributed to the delay in the growth of organized retailing.
A number of factors are driving India's retail market. These include: increase in
the young working population, hefty pay-packets, nuclear families in urban
areas, increasing working women population, increase in disposable income and
customer aspiration, increase in expenditure for luxury items, and low share of
organized retailing. India's retail boom is manifested in sprawling shopping
centres, multiplex- malls and huge complexes that offer shopping, entertainment
and food all under one roof. But there is a flip side to the boom in the retail
sector. It is feared that the entry of global business giants into organized retail
would make redundant the neighbourhood Karana stores resulting in dislocation
in traditional economic structure. Also, the growth path for organized retail in
India is not hurdle free. The taxation system still favours small retail business.
With the intrinsic complexities of retailing such as rapid price changes, constant
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threat of product obsolescence and low margins there is always a threat that the
venture may turn out to be a loss making one.
A perfect business model for retail is still in evolutionary stage. Procurement is
very vital cog in the retail wheel. The retailer has to fight issues like fragmented
sourcing, unpredictable availability, unsorted food provisions and daily
fluctuating prices as against consumer expectations of round-the-year steady
prices, sorted and cleaned food and fresh stock at all times.
Trained human resource for retail is another big challenge. The talent base is
limited and with the entry of big giants there is a cat fight among them to retain
this talent. This has resulted in big salary hikes at the level of upper and middle
management and thereby eroding the profit margin of the business. All the
companies have laid out ambitious expansion plans for themselves and they
may be hampered due lack of requisite skilled manpower.
But retail offers tremendous for the growth of Indian economy. If all the above
challenges are tackled prudently there is a great potential that retail may offer
employment opportunities to millions living in small town and cities and in the
process distributing the benefits of economic boom and resulting in equitable
growth.
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PRESENT INDIAN RETAIL SCENARIO
The retail industry is divided into organized and unorganized sectors. Over 12
million outlets operate in the country and only 4% of them being larger than 500
sq ft (46m²) in size.
Organized retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers,
that is, those who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. These include the
corporate-backed hypermarkets and retail chains, and also the privately owned
large retail businesses.
Unorganized retailing, on the other hand, refers to the traditional formats of
low-cost retailing, for example, the local kirana shops, owner manned general
stores, paan/beedi shops, convenience stores, hand cart and pavement vendors,
etc.
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Increase in per capita income which in turn increases the household
consumption
Demographical changes and improvements in the standard of living
Change in patterns of consumption and availability of low-cost consumer
credit
Improvements in infrastructure and enhanced availability of retail space
Entry to various sources of financing.
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EVOLUTION AND TRENDS IN ORGANIZED RETAILING
FORMATS AND RETAIL OUTLETS
Historical Indian retail market consisted of weekly markets, village fairs and
mela’s and the 19th century gave birth to the retail outlets which took the form
of convenience stores, Mom and Pop stores/ kirana stores. This helped the
consumers on to stick to a particular store for their day to day requirements and
also avail the credit purchasing facility. And in the 1980’s people have seen the
new formats like supermarket, departmental stores and discount stores entering
into the Indian retail space. In less than a decade hypermarkets have gained all
the applause of the retail market and stood above all the other formats by
bringing in the concept of “one stop shopping.” This stood as an opening door
for the new generation of the retail industry. And very soon the malls became
the trend setters in the new millennium.
This has coined the term of ‘shoppertainment’ (shopping and entertainment)
which can be attributed to the changing life styles of the people.
Hypermarket: It is the largest format in Indian retail so far is a one stop shop
for the modern Indian shopper.
Merchandise: food grocery to clothing to spots goods to books to stationery.
Space occupied: 50000 Square feet and above.
SKUs: 20000-30000.
Example: PETER ENGLAND retail’s Big Bazaar, RPG’s Spencer’s (Giant),
Vishal mega mart.
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SKUs: Around 10000.
Example: Nilgiris, Apna Bazaar, Trinethra/more.
Discount store: Standard merchandise sold at lower prices with lower margins
and higher volumes.
Merchandise: A variety of perishable/ non perishable goods.
Example: Viswapriya Group’s Subiksha, Piramal’s TruMart.
MBO’s: Multi Brand outlets, also known as Category Killers. These usually do
well in busy market places and Metros.
Merchandise: Offers several brads across a single product category.
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Kirana stores: The smallest retail formats which are the highest in number (15
million approx.) in India.
Merchandise: Mostly food and groceries.
Space occupied: 50 sq ft and even smaller ones exist.
Malls: The largest form of organized retailing today located mainly in metro
cities, in proximity to urban outskirts.
Merchandise: They lend an ideal shopping experience with an amalgamation of
product, service and entertainment, all under a common roof.
Space occupied: Ranges from 60,000 sq ft to 7, 00,000 sq ft.
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In the above graph it shows that the in India the fastest growing retail segment
is food and grocery because in India people spend more on eating. Then
dressing because India is now turning to modern age and the people of modern
age like to dress well and look well.
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In the above graph it shows that the there are many formats of retailing in India
but the specialty store and supermarket is fastest growing formats in India.
Basic theory:
1) Target Audience
2) Proposition/Key Element
3) Implementation
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MAJOR INDIAN RETAILERS
The low-intensity entry of the diversified Mahindra Group into retail is unique
because it plans to focus on lifestyle products. The Mahindra group is the fourth
large Indian business group to enter the business of retail after Reliance
Industries Ltd, the Aditya Birla Group, and Bharti Enterprises Ltd. The other
three groups are focusing either on perishables and groceries, or a range of
products, or both.
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Trinethra- Formats: Fabmall supermarket chain and Fabcity hypermarket
chain
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ORGANISED RETAIL OUTLETS IN DEHRADUN
The glory of Vishal Group’s success is the ascent it has come to accomplish in
the field of manufacturing and retailing of readymade garments. The credit for
this radiance goes to its dynamic of directors Mr. Ram Chandra Agarwal & Mrs
Uma Agarwal who have transformed their foresightedness into an unending
saga of growth. Identifying the immense market in fashion garment for the
masses the Group has actually established benchmarks that many others are
inspired to follow. Not resting on its laurels, the Group is busy identifying new
avenues of growth and its companies are busy implementing the expansion
plans to cash in on emerging potentials in the changing business environment of
modern India’s enterprise.
The jewel in Vishal Group’s crown is its flagship company Vishal Retail Ltd. a
company engaged in Hyper market stores with an average area of 25,000 to
30,000 sq. ft. through an impressive chain of 172 fully integrated stores in
spread over the area of more than 24,00,000 sq. ft. in around 110 cities across
India in 24 states. The turnover of the company for 09-10 was 1105 Crore.
Maintaining the highest standards in quality and design, these stores have come
to offer the finest fashion garments at down-to-earth price structure. A fact that
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is better visible in the constant flow of shoppers all through the year. Under the
title of Vishal Mega Mart these stores have emerged as the regular haunts for
the bargain-hunters and fashion enthusiasts alike.
The saga of Vishal Group dates back to 2001 when its directors foresaw the
emerging potentials in the retail industry which is indeed the largest sector in
the global economy. Imbibing its innovative concepts and techniques the Group
identified the vast scope of growth in retailing for the common man. Its stores
have gained an enviable prominence as being the ideal store for the common
man where an extensive variety and quality is offered at a very, very reasonable
price structure. The Group’s expertise in the field of retail marketing over the
years and its focus on regions, cities and exact customer preferences have
earned the Group an undisputed leadership status to Vishal Group.
Bharti Retail
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products at affordable prices. easy day stores are one stop shops that cater to
every family's day-to-day needs. Merchandise at easyday Market stores include
apparels, home furnishings, appliances, mobile phones, meat shop, general
merchandise, fruits and vegetables among others.
Created on the neighbourhood shop format, the much-awaited retail operations
‘EasyDay‘was introduced by Bharti Retail Limited at Dehradun in Uttrakhnad.
Bharti Retail Limited happens to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti
Enterprises and its Easy Day retail operations will act as a one-stop shop
catering to a family’s day-to-day needs.
As such, the Easy Day Stores will provide Indian consumers a wide range of
products of excellent quality apart from proffering a nice ambience and service.
Among the range of items you can look forward to buying from the EasyDay
stores include personal care products, stationery, household articles, hosiery
items, daily-need groceries like staples, processed foods, bakery and dairy
products, meat and poultry and fresh produce.
It was announced by the company that EasyDay will gives jobs to the locals in
the Ludhiana area where it has been set up. Further on those who will be
selected for the job will be trained by Bharti Academy of Retail, which has been
established by Bharti Retail Limited. This academy has already trained about
1,800 local people from different sections of the society.
KUMAR STORES
4, Neshvilla Road
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001
Phone No: +91-135-2653145 +91-9837034784
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Email: Samraat@Vsnl.Com
Business Description
It Deals In All Kinds Of Cosmetics, Gift Novelties, White Metal, Toys,
Decorative Pieces, Home Appliances, Stationery And All Other Items Of Daily
Need.
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All Types Of Utility Items Of Domestic Purposes Can Be Purchased From
Here.
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AMARTEX
From The Director's Desk Amartex was born in 1988 as a small cloth-
manufacturing unit, established by the Grover family of Chandigarh. Set up
with a modest capital, it is today a fully integrated manufacturing Company,
boasting of an impressive turnover of Rs. 250 Crores and targeting 1000 Crores
in coming two years.
Mr. Arun Grover, the Managing Director, was quick to spot the discrepancies in
the prevalent manufacturing to retail process. By the time the product reached
the stories, the consumer paid a lot more than justified.
Amartex revolutionized whole textile industry in north India with a swift and
thorough process of backward integration which led to the setting up of every
link in the chain. Today, the company has completed all in-house facilities,
from manufacturing to retailing and is fastest growing.
Amartex is a fully integrated manufacturing Company with a balanced mix of
manufacturing and marketing. The Company is well equipped with modern
manufacturing and marketing infrastructure, such as, weaving to processing,
designing and garments manufacturing and is the fastest growing company in
the region. All products rolling out of our premises find their way to every nook
and corner in this region through 34 Company owned retail outlets. The
Company provides consumers with a wide variety of apparel products and
services to suit their individual needs. We have carved out a niche and name in
the industry and cater. Amartex was brought into existence in 1988 by a team of
competent promoters viz-a-viz The Grover Family. The core promoters have
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more than two decades of experience in manufacturing and marketing of textile
products. The management of the Company comprises of an appropriate mix of
qualified and competent Directors and Managerial Staff.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
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or other sources including word of mouth. So a customer would be satisfied
when Performance is equal to Expectation while would not be satisfied when
Performance does not match with Expectations. Now this expectation is what
has been derived from perception.
Perception is not good or bad, right or wrong, it is just the way someone judges
an experience based on their value system of what they believe should happen.
Since people are unique, each of their perceptions are unique .On the other hand
each situation is a "point of contact" with an employee that will tell the
customer a "truth" about the company's idea of customer service. Each situation
will create expectations’ of what the next experience will probably be like.
Companies spend considerable amount on advertisement and in this world of
competitive advantage advertisement has to be repetitive in nature. So
companies need to understand the Unique Customer Perception to facilitate
advertising and Sales Promotional (ASP) efforts towards a better bargain. The
cost incurred on advertisement is huge i.e. if we refer to the 5 M's of
advertising, Money is a budgetary constrain for an ideal advertising campaign.
Thus UCP has to be rightly analyzed for better results by the company to match
performance and expectation.
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– An analysis of Indian Retail sector
PJ GERMAIN
The customer's perception: Customer perception is an important component
of our relationship with our customers. Given that 90% plus of our orders at
some point involve the phone, how we handle the telephone is essential to
creating a perception for our customer that aligns with the company mission of
service. Smiling stretches your vocal cords, and gives a more upbeat
presentation to the customer. Slowing down ensures that the customers
perception is of an organized systematic company that can handle their project.
Getting it done right and on time consistently.
Article source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com
BY SOUMEN CHATTERJEE
Unique customer perception (UCP): According to soumen, Unique Customer
Perception is what is required by companies instead of Unique Selling
Proposition. It is ultimately that customer look for satisfaction based on the
picture of perception derived from various sources. If these perceptions of
customer can be analyzed then promotion would be easier for customer centric
marketing. This has lead to the concept - “Customer Perception is the Rule and
not Customer Satisfaction”.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Soumen_Chatterjee
BY JEN B
Brand recognition will change customer perception: According to JenB, for
a bigger stronger business you have to get some serious brand recognition
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happening. People need to know your name before any thing else. You want
people to thing of you a certain way too.
This is the ticket to getting the image that you want. If you get a lot of blank
looks from people that are not current customers then you probably have no
recognition at all. That means it is time for an advertising switch. Even if people
don’t buy the product they will recognized the name. Remembering a business
is one step closer to trusting a business. Brand recognition is accomplished only
by people seeing your logo and business name over and over again. This will
create the repetition that your customers and future customers need to pick your
product out of a crowd time and time again.
Article Source: http://www.a1articles.com/article_1035917_15.html
HUAWEI
Satisfy customers perception is the biggest challenge: In meeting customers'
requirements and measuring customers' satisfaction indexes, customer
perception should be definitely a key consideration. Qualified services in the
operation execution layer, technical management layer and business
development layer are necessary. It is more important to understand customer
expectations and make efforts to exceed their expectations. In customer
satisfaction management, the biggest challenge is customer perception
management, or customer perception satisfaction. The major characteristics of
service is intangible, hence the core value of services is not like a physical
product but the spiritual experience and perception of customers. The final aim
and ideal effect of service provisioning is to have customers perceive and enjoy
the service. Such perception is both at psychological and behaviour levels, and
it is the contents of high quality life in the modern society. Customers are
seeking for material deliverables as well as perceptive enjoyment when
purchasing a service product.
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Since perceptive enjoyment is a vital service objective, one of the key service
management objectives shall be meeting customers' perceptive enjoyment.
Article source: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd
MORGAN STANLEY
Quick Comment – Impact on our views: We met Rakesh Biyani, Director
Future Group, who heads the retail business. Our investment thesis regarding
improving business outlook and availability of capital to fund growth plans
continues to hold good. Management has consciously shifted focus to growth
quality rather than just growth. We reiterate our Overweight rating and believe
that any volatility in the stock price should be viewed as an entry opportunity.
Here are the key takeaways from the meeting: Aggressive growth and margin
targets: PRIL has set an aggressive 16-17% same store growth (SSG) target for
F2010. This compares with F2009 SSG of 7.0%. The company plans to achieve
this target by adopting active merchandise management. First, the company is
likely to ensure that its fastest-selling products don’t go out of stock. It has
increased its order per SKU range from 900-1,400 to 600-6,000 to ensure
reduced stock outs for fast-selling products. Second, it has put in place a system
to continuously monitor underperforming categories/segments/SKUs so that
they can be immediately replaced. Third, it has improved product quality and
pricing across its merchandise (particularly private label) to ensure market share
gains. Fourth, it has now set store-wise, product-wise and SKU-wise,
daily/weekly sales targets so that the monitoring and feedback system improves
significantly.
TRENT LEYSHAN
Creating the right ‘Value Perception’ for your Customers
According to Trent Leyshan Value Perception (VP) is the opinion your potential
and current customers have of your product or service. This perception
determines the value it adds to them in line with the problems it needs to solve
or aspirations they want it to fulfil. Irrespective of your customer’s opinion
being right of wrong in your mind, their opinion matters none the less, in fact,
critically so. Some may suggest; “But the customer my have it wrong” In this
instance we respond: whose fault is that: the customer, sales person, sales
manager, marketing dept or Company Directors? One this is for sure, it
certainly isn’t the customers fault. Value cascades down the value deliver
system into the customer. A breakdown on any level can be detrimental to a
company’s success. The customer’s positive perception, along with an effective
sales process will help the customer make the appropriate buying decision.
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MERCHANDISE ASSORTMENT PLANNING
The retailer must make decisions regarding the merchandise offered depending
on the sales targets and financial objectives of the store.
Retailer should be very careful while deciding on the amount of stock to be
maintained in each category; if large stocks are maintained in a particular
category, there may not be sufficient resources left for providing a deeper
assortment of goods. By taking into consideration this phenomenon all Peter
England specialty stores are maintained on the basis of the per square foot
SKUs. It means that as shown into the figures of assortment, every SKU are
replenished in the fix quantity.
STORE LAYOUT
There are some key factors that a retailer should take into account, while
developing a layout prototype. The following are the optimizing factors:
Increasing sales
Maximizing returns per square foot
Coordinating the merchandise with the store format.
Allowing flexibility in store design.
Recognizing the needs and safety of the customers
The store lay out should enable and incite the customers to move around the
store to purchase more products than they have actually planned for.
The store layout should tempt customer to walk along the inexpensive
merchandise display section for impulse buying and then move on to expensive
merchandise.
There are three types of store layout
1. Grid layout
2. Race track layout
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3. Free-form layout
STORE EXTERIORS
Marquee: typically carries store name along with the trade marks. Here you
can see Peter England marquee is not much blowy and outside signboard is put
which matching with its positioning tag line “Honestly Impressive”.
Entrance and display window: From the photograph we can clearly make out
that there is only one entrance in the store which shows the display of
merchandise which store offers, so that it can attract the pedestrians easily.
Door type and walk away: the door is of push-pull type which eases traffic
congestion at the entrance and allows the customer to see interiors. There is
ample of space available for the customer to freely move inside the store but
because of the smaller parking space available, which is outside the store, it
becomes very congested sometimes.
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STORE INTERIORS
The principal objective of any retailer is to maximize its sales and customer
satisfaction, and to minimize the operational costs. Therefore, the interior of the
store should be designed in such a way that it serves.
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INTERPRETATION
&
ANALYSES
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RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY
Age: The data given in Table 1 shows that half of the customers belonged to the
age group of 16-25 years. This shows that younger people visit mega marts
more frequently as compared to their older counterparts. This proportion
becomes 32.00% in the age group of 26-35 years. This shows that the older
people enjoyed their old set pattern of marketing.
Sex: Majority, i.e., 57.20% of the customers were female, while only 42.80% of
them were male. This may be due to the now female domination in the decision
making process in the family.
Education: The analysis shows that the customers with educational level up to
graduation, accounted for 40.80%, while the customers with higher educational
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level, came to be 30.80% only. The highest proportions of customers (44.40%)
were enjoying medium level of education. This indicates that among the highly
educated customers, mega marts could not become popular, and they might
have preferred to go to malls keeping with their educational status.
Family Income: The data shows that the proportion of customers visiting mega
marts was inversely related with the family income. It came down from 62.20%
of customers with low family income up to Rs. 25,000 per month to 6.40% of
them having family income of more than Rs. 50,000 per month. This shows that
mega marts could not attract the very rich class. They may instead prefer malls
for shopping. Thus, people with high education and income do not visit the
mega marts frequently.
Age (Years) :
16 – 25 114 45.60
26 – 35 80 32.00
36 – 45 30 12.00
46 – 55 12 4.80
56 – 65 14 5.60
Above 65 0 0.00
Place of residence
rural 72 28.80
urban 178 71.20
Gender :
Male 107 42.80
Female 143 57.20
Education :
Matriculate 6 2.40
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Intermediate 35 14.00
Graduate 102 40.80
Post Graduate 77 30.80
Above Post Graduate 30 12.00
Decision Maker :
Self 187 74.80
Others 63 25.20
Decision Maker: Majority, i.e., 74.80% of the customers were decision makers
themselves, while only 25.20% of them belonged to those families where the
decision maker was some other family member. Thus, self decision making
dominates the purchasing scenario at the mega marts.
Therefore, it can be said that majority of the customers of mega marts were
young female from urban areas, with medium level of education, and low level
of family income.
The data given in Table 2 shows that the highest proportion, i.e., 42.40% of the
customers assigned 1st rank to Vishal Mega Mart, while on the other hand, as
high as 37.60% of them assigned the lowest rank, i.e., 5th rank to kaveri
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departmental stores. The overall ranking came to be 1st in favour of Vishal
Mega Mart, followed by easyday, Amartex and Kumar stores, while kaveri
departmental stores could only secure the least preference of the customers.
Vishal Mega Mart's first position may be due to its easy approach location and
parking facilities, compared to other mega marts. The Critical Difference (C.D.)
value indicated that though there were some differences in the overall ranking
of different mega marts, but statistically Vishal Mega Mart, V-Mart and
easyday were at par. These three mega marts acquired the 1 st preference, while
easy day and Kumar stores could secure the 2nd preference of the customers.
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Ranking of Mega Marts in Order of Preference for Shopping
Rank Assigned Mean Overall
Malls 1 2 3 4 5
Rank Rank
Vishal 106 57 51 22 14 2.30 I
mega mart (42.40 (22.80 (20.40) (8.80) (5.60)
) )
Easy day 64 89 56 23 18 2.83 I
(25.60 (35.60 (22.40) (9.20) (7.20)
) )
Amartex 46 69 74 38 23 3.56 II
(18.40 (27.60 (29.60) (15.20) (9.20)
) )
Kumar’s 23 35 45 69 78 2.57 I
stores (9.20) (14.00 (18.00) (27.60) (31.20)
)
Kaveri 11 13 36 96 94 3.83 II
department (4.40) (5.20) (14.40) (38.40) (37.60)
al stores
F-ratio 7.89 -
C.D. .7892 -
Note: Overall rank is based on the value of C.D.
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Reasons for Preferring a Mega Mart
A perusal of Table 3 shows that the vast majority, i.e., 79.20% of the customers agreed upon
the convenience of the mega mart responsible for their preference. This agreement on
convenience was followed by reasons like less time consuming (77.60%), safety (71.20%)
and location (70.00%), while the lowest proportion, i.e., 62.40% of the customers agreed
upon the uniqueness of the mega mart responsible for their preference for a mega mart.
Overall preference for a particular mega mart came to be the highest of the
order of 0.79 (79%) in favour of convenience of the mega mart, while the
lowest preference was found to be in case of uniqueness of the mega mart. The
C.D. value indicates that the customers preferred a particular mega mart
keeping in view the convenience and location at the 1 st place, followed by
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safety, uniqueness and less time-consuming status at the 2 nd place. Thus, the
mega marts should be convenient in terms of space, product range, billing
system, multiple choice, etc., and should be located within an easy approach.
The customer’s opinion regarding safety and parking facilities at the mega
marts is contained in Table 4. As much as 51.20% of the customers were
satisfied over the safety at mega marts, while 30.80% of the customers
expressed dissatisfaction over the same. About 19% of them could not comment
on the safety status at the mega marts. Overall safety could secure only 0.20
(20%) score by the customers. This shows that safety at the mega marts is poor.
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Extent of Customers’ Satisfaction on Safety and Parking Facilities at
Mega Marts
A. Safety Number of Customers %
Satisfied 128 51.20
Neutral 45 18.00
Dissatisfied 77 30.80
Mean Score 0.20 -
B. Parking Facilities
Satisfied 96 38.40
Neutral 67 26.80
Dissatisfied 87 34.80
Mean Score 0.04 -
As far as parking facilities at the mega marts are concerned, only 38.40% of the
customers were satisfied, while 34.80% of them expressed their dissatisfaction
over the parking facilities. The mean level of satisfaction over parking facilities
at mega marts came to be 0.04(4%), indicating an overall dissatisfaction of
customers over parking facilities at the mega marts.
The customers were asked about their extent of agreement over different utility
aspects of mega marts in terms of `agree', `neutral', and `disagree', and the same
are presented in Table 5. It shows that the highest proportion, i.e., 98.00% of the
customers agreed upon mega marts as a place to shop, while the least
proportion, i.e., 42.00% took the mega marts as a place to socialize. The mean
score of agreement ranged between 0.98 in favour of mega marts as a place to
shop, and 0.19 in favour of mega marts as a place to socialize. The CD value
conveys that the extent of agreement as a place to shop significantly came to be
the highest, followed by a place to compare. The mega marts as a place of
enjoyment and a place to experience, could secure the third rating, while 4 th and
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the lowest stage rating was found to be in case of mega marts as a place to socialize. Thus,
the mega marts are generally taken to be a place to shop and to compare.
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Spending on Different Items
The data given in Table 6 show that the highest proportion, i.e., 35.90% of the customers'
total spending was incurred on clothing’s, followed by 16.56% on footwear’s, 14.98% on
grocery and 12.98% on cosmetics. The lowest proportion, i.e., 0.82% of the total spending at
mega marts was incurred on communication instruments, followed by 2.08% on artificial
jewellery and 7.82% on cosmetics. Thus, it can be said that the mega marts emerged as the
most common shopping centres for clothing’s.
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Preference for Different Sale Promotion Schemes
A perusal of Table 7 leads to the fact that majority, i.e., 62.40% of the
customer’s assigned 1st rank to cash discount offered at mega marts, while the
least rank was assigned to guarantee/warranty by as high as 45.60% of the
customers. The overall ranking based on C.D. value came to be 1 st in favour of
cash discount, followed by free gifts schemes and financing facilities, while the least and the
fifth rank was found to be in case of guarantee/warranty, preceded by lucky draw schemes.
This shows that cash discount and free gifts schemes emerged as the most common sale
promotion schemes amongst customers at mega marts.
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Importance of Different Factors for Purchase Decision
Some factors were identified which influence the decision making for purchase
by the customers. The factors were rated as per the level of importance. The
results are presented in Table 8. It is obvious from Table 8 that the highest
proportion, i.e., 74.80% of the customers considered the quality of products as
most important, followed by 63.60% in favour of discount. Ambience was the
most important factor only for 8.40% of them, while only for 11.20%, the
pressure from family members came to be the most important factor while
making a purchase decision. The mean rating of factors in terms of importance
came to be significantly the highest for quality and discount, followed by value
for money. The 3rd rating factors were fixed prices and need-based purchases,
while there were wide range of products and display of products which acquired
4th level of importance. The next level of importance, i.e., 5 th level, was secured
by international brands, socioeconomic status and behaviour of the staff, while
packaging stood at the 6th level of importance. Advertisement influenced the
purchase decision of customers at the 7th level, while pressure from family
members and ambience could secure only 8th and 9th level of importance,
respectively.
Thus, quality and discount emerged as the most important factors influencing
customers' purchase decision, while family members' pressure and ambience came to be
the least important factors in this regard.
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Factors
Overall Position
Important
Unimportant
MostUnimportant
Mean Rating
Neutral
Most
Important
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Members’ (11.20) (28.40) (37.60) (22.80) (0.00)
Influence (%)
Socio- 54 89 62 40 5 0.51 V
Economic (21.60) (35.60) (24.80) (16.00) (2.00)
Status (%)
Behaviour of 67 93 60 33 7 0.59 V
the Staff (26.80) (37.20) (24.00) (13.20) (2.80)
(%)
Fixed Prices 72 98 55 20 5 1.07 III
(%) (28.80) (39.20) (22.00) (8.00) (2.00)
F-ratio 11.12
C.D. 0.1191
Note: Overall position is based on the value of C.D.
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FINDINGS
Page 49
SUGGESTIONS
1. The organized retail outlets should improve the quality of Vegetables &
fruits they provide to customers.
2. The organized retail outlets should provide the free home delivery
facility.
3. The organized retail outlets should increase the no. of billing counters in
their outlets.
4. The organized retail outlets should also provide the credit facility to the
lower class customers so that they can increase their market share.
5. The organized retail outlets should also provide the mobile van facility in
the areas which are far away from the stores.
6. to attract the rural sector customers, mega marts may extend their
advertisements offering special sale promotion schemes to the rural areas.
7. The customers are dissatisfied with the safety and parking facilities at the
mega marts. Therefore, they should concentrate on developing these
aspects properly, besides extending more cash discount and free gifts
schemes to attract the customers at a higher level.
8. The mega marts should focus on quality, discount and attractive display
of products, as these are very important factors considered by the
customers while making purchase decisions.
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LIMITATION
Page 51
CRUX OF
THE STUDY
Page 52
CONCLUSION
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ANNEXURE
Page 54
Questionnaire
Note: Tick your Responses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q.2 Gender :
Male Female
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Q.5 Which sources of promotional mix method used by the company
attracts you most ?
(a) Yes ( )
(b) No ( )
(a) Yes ( )
(b) No ( )
(a) Yes ( )
(b) No. ( )
(a) Yes ( )
(b) No. ( )
Q.9 Are you satisfied with the pricing polices of this company ?
(a) Yes ( )
(b) No. ( )
(a) Yes ( )
(b) No. ( )
Important Unimportant
(a) Safety 5 4 3 2 1
(b) Uniqueness 5 4 3 2 1
(c) Less Time 5 4 3 2 1
Consumption
(d) Location 5 4 3 2 1
(e) Parking 5 4 3 2 1
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Q.12 “Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the
following utility aspects of organized Retail Outlets.”
Strongly Strongly
Agree Disagree
(a) A place to 5 4 3 2 1
shop
(b) A place to 5 4 3 2 1
socialize
(c) A place to 5 4 3 2 1
Enjoy
(d) A place to 5 4 3 2 1
experience
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q.13 “Please rank the following sales promotion schemes as per the degree
of attractiveness.”
Attractive Unattractiveness
(a) Cash Discount 5 4 3 2 1
(b) Lucky Draw 5 4 3 2 1
Scheme
(c) Free Gift 5 4 3 2 1
Scheme
(d) Financing 5 4 3 2 1
Facility
(e) Guarantee / 5 4 3 2 1
Warranty
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Most
Important Unimportant
(a) Quality 5 4 3 2 1
(b) Wide Product 5 4 3 2 1
Assortment
(c) Fixed Price 5 4 3 2 1
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(d) Presence of 5 4 3 2 1
International
Brands
(e) Discounts 5 4 3 2 1
(f) Packaging 5 4 3 2 1
(g) Advertisement 5 4 3 2 1
(h) Display of 5 4 3 2 1
Products
(i) Ambience 5 4 3 2 1
(j) Value for Money 5 4 3 2 1
(k) Socio Economic 5 4 3 2 1
Status
(l) Behaviour of 5 4 3 2 1
Staff
Page 58
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES:
www.imagesretailing.com
www.reportbuyer.com
www.reportbuyers.com
www.thirdeyesite.in
www.google.com
www.datamonitar.com
www.rediff.com
www.scribd.com
Books
Kothari.C.R, Research Methodology, New Age (P) Limited, Second
Edition, 2004.
Pillai & Bagavathi, Marketing management, New Delhi, sultan Chand &
Sons, 1999.
David Gilbert, Retail Marketing Management, Prentice Hall, Second
Edition, 2003.
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