CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1. Literature Review

Need and buying pattern is what differentiates the different types of customers who visit retail

stores and grocery shops. The need for visiting grocery shops may range from making a routine

buying decision for day to day use to bulk purchases to save time and effort. Therefore, it is

important for retail stores to identify the customers and their buying behaviour pattern. For

marketers, there is a continuous process of seeking answers to questions like: Who buys? What

do they buy? When do they buy? Where do they buy? How do they buy? How much do they

buy? A marketer will be able to determine what products to push forward more in the stores and

what strategies are to be placed for boosting product sales.

Marketers need to first have a clear understanding of their customer profiles i.e. if the person is a

customer, a consumer or both. A consumer is the actual individual/unit who uses the product

whereas a customer is the one who purchases the product but may or may not necessarily use the

product. For e.g. a mother buying a baby oil for her daughter at a retail store is a customer while

the daughter is the consumer, in this case, the daughter being unable to express her preference for

a specific oil has no role in influencing the buying decision. In another case, a husband who buys

jewellery for her wife is also the customer of product jewellery, but his preference in buying that

particular jewellery is influenced by the personality, taste, lifestyle, preference of his wife who is

the consumer in this case. Impulsive buying behaviour seems to be very prominent in the buying

behaviour of customers in supermarkets and similar retail stores.

Pradhan (2016) has revealed from her study that some of the factors that are significant to

triggering impulsive buying behavior among consumers in supermarkets in Kathmandu Valley

are the availability of cash, the mood of consumer, POS terminal/ATM facility, price, store

layout, availability of time, product promotion, store environment and the reference group.

Research has been carried out by two scholars shedding light on the impact of store layout/
visual merchandising on impulse buying. Arifah and Saputri (2017) have conducted a study on
the impact of visual merchandising on impulse buying of consumers of Miniso in Bandung City,
Indonesia. They have revealed from the study that visual merchandising component window
display has significant relation to impulse buying whereas other components of visual
merchandising like in-store form/mannequin display, floor merchandising, and promotional
signage have non-significant relationship to impulse buying. They also concluded that
components of visual merchandising