The Connected Consumer – Evolving Behavior Pattern in

Retail Stores

Dr. Rahela Farooqi

Associate Professor
Centre for Management Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi – 110025, India
Tel: 91-(11)26981717 E-mail: rahela.farooqi@gmail.com

Shadma
UGC NET
25, Azad Nagar, Ansar Colony, Meerut (U.P.) – 250002, India
Tel: 91-08859944373 E-mail: mail2shadma@gmail.com

Abstract – The paper lays emphasis on the factors which affect the decisions of the consumers
while making a selection for their choice of retail store. The paper tries to study those variables
which affect the choice of retail stores for the consumers. The survey revealed through the paper
that the male consumers would prefer a retail store which provides them with varied variety of
the product assortment rather than going by the décor and lightning of the store. It was also
found that the older generation is likely to do shopping from their local stores and street markets.
The male consumers were also found to be in favour of visiting those retail stores which provide
better quality products rather than getting swayed by the discounts being offered by them.

Keywords – retailing, apparel, retailing management, consumer behaviour, marketing

Introduction

With the world being reduced to a global village and the consumers enjoying the attention from
the marketers’ world over, the concept of retailing has also evolved simultaneously. The
consumers are more comfortable shopping in the ease of air conditioned showrooms where they
can get a good assortment of various products at one place. This has given the industry of
retailing the pre requisite boom it was waiting for. Retail industry has grown globally in the
recent past due to extensive, international activities, and is considered to be one of the
developing fields in the research area for construction of framework (Alexander et al., 1996).
However, the highly volatility of business environments in the current business scenario provides
retailers high competition, increased operational costs and dwindling profits (Yasin and Yavas,
2003). The Indian Retail Industry is witnessing a rapid transformation and is the fastest growing
sector contributing 10 percent of the country’s GDP. Indian retail market is estimated to grow
from $427 billion in 2010 and is expected to reach $637 billion by 2015 (Srivastava 2008).

Literature Review
The concept of Retail Stores was popularized after the First World War when companies started
shifting from centralized management structures to multi-divisional product-based organizations
(Perkins et al., 1999). The term “retail stores” has many definitions. The Standard Industrial
Classification Manual, USA defines department stores as “Retail stores carrying a general line of
apparel such as suits, coats, dresses, accessories, home furnishings such as table and kitchen
appliances, dishes and utensils” (Bluestone et al., 1981). Retailers today have come long way
ahead. There have been changes in the retailing environment to a great extent. With the increase
in the number of retail stores, retailers focus on a need to ensure specific behavioural
responses-‘stay, browse and purchase’ (Davies and Ward, 2002). The other behaviour they try
for is a delayed behaviour i.e. ‘enjoy this store; come back and purchase again’. Both these
responses help the retailer both in the short as well as in the long run. For the business
organisation, loyal customers are considered to be competitive assets (Dekimpe et al., 1997).
Retailers hence should keep in mind at all times ways and means to retain customers, i.e. to
create loyalty amongst its customers. There are several factors that influence the attitude and
behaviour of a customer. There can be physical factors, environmental factors, prices, quality of
products, services provided to name a few. Researchers like Mehrabian and Russell (1974) have
proposed the impact of environment on the purchase decisions of the consumer. It is necessary
for the retailer to ensure that they establish ways to get a positive response from the purchasers.
Lindquist (1973) claims that variety in merchandise; service and location of the store are
determinants for customer’s choice of stores. The customer’s choice of retailing formats is
primarily governed by the variety and services offered. Bloch et al (1994) stressed that the retail
store was perceived attractive because of the physical ambience and the entertainment facilities.
Many researchers observed that the consumers were affected by the way a retail store would
place itself in their minds.
Through this research paper, we would try to gauge the factors which are responsible for
affecting the choices of the consumers as they decide to do shopping in the retail stores. It has
been observed that demographic factors play a crucial role when it comes to determining the
consumer behaviour. The objective of this research paper also is to study their role in deciding
what attracts the customers towards the retail stores.

Research Methodology
The data was collected by personal interaction by getting the questionnaires filled by them. The
data was collected from the field' work i.e. approaching the respondents and getting the
questionnaires filled by them. A sample size of 60 was selected for the same purpose.

The survey was conducted using a quota sampling method which is a part of non probability
sampling method. The sample was selected on the basis of the three parameters –

1. Gender - The sample size was divided considerably into male and female category and 30
male and 30 female respondents were interviewed subsequently.
2. Age - The age category was divided into 5 sections – 18-24 years, 26 – 30 years, 31 – 40
years, 41- 50 years and the last category included of those respondents whose age limit
was more than 50 years.
 3. Education – The respondents surveyed were undergraduates, graduates and
postgraduates.

The sample size of the respondents for the survey conducted was 60.

Hypotheses

Apparel retailing has taken an interesting turn since the time the consumers are being throng with
a number of options when it comes to choosing a retail store. However, the factors affecting the
choice of the retail house vary from consumers to consumers.

Managers of retail and service outlets are increasingly recognizing that the store environment
significantly affects sales (Milliman 1982, 1986; Smith and Cumow 1966; Stanley and Sewall
1976), product evaluations (Bitner 1986; Rappoport 1982; Wheatley and Chiu 1977), and
satisfaction (Harrell, Hutt, and Anderson 1980). In fact, it has been shown that attitudes toward
the store environment are .sometimes more important in determining store choice than are
attitudes toward the merchandise. Researchers have investigated several dimensions of the store
environment, including music, color, clutter and cleanliness, lighting, crowding and many others.
Thereby we would try to test the hypothesis that gender wise males are susceptible to choose an
outlet on the basis of décor or lightning or due to some other reasons.

Hypotheses 1 –

Ho: There is no gender bias on choosing an apparel outlet on the basis of the décor, lighting
and product assortment.

Favourable demographic and psychographic changes relating to India's consumer class,

international exposure, availability of quality retail space, wider availability of products and
brand communication are some of the factors that are driving retail in India. Age also remains
one such factor where the researchers have been trying to gain a foothold with its correlation
with being a significant factor affecting the choice of the consumers with respect to the retail
stores.

Hypotheses 2 –
 Ho: The older generation prefers shopping in retail stores as compared to the nearby local
shops and markets

Discounts have always played a greater role in luring the customers towards the retail stores. It
has been a common perception for long that the best way to create a loyal customer base in India
is to provide them with discounted schemes from time to time. This would keep them coming
back to the seller again and again. The retailers throughout the country have been trying their
best to keep their customers happy with them by providing them with favourable concessions
every now and then.

Hypotheses 3 –

Ho: The male consumers would prefer those retail stores offering bigger discounts as against
those offering quality products

Analysis and Interpretation

The above hypotheses were tested with the help of the questions framed in the questionnaire. The
first hypothesis was upright rejected. The survey conducted revealed that the men consumers
prefer a certain retail store due to the assortment of products they have and the décor and the
lightning available in the retail store will have very little effect on their selection while choosing
a certain retail store.

Mann-Whitney
 Test Statisticsa

Décor Lightning Assortment

Mann-Whitney U 372.500 426.000 275.500

Wilcoxon W 837.500 891.000 740.500

Z -1.208 -.366 -2.677

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .227 .714 .007

a. Grouping Variable: Male Gender

The Man Whitney conducted revealed that the male consumers are more likely to be influenced
by the product assortment available in a retail house and not by lightning and décor.

H1: There is no gender bias on choosing an apparel outlet on the basis of the décor,
lighting and product assortment - Rejected

The second hypotheses being discussed in the paper claims that the older generation mostly visits
retail stores to enhance their shopping experiences, However, it has been proved wrong by the
survey conducted and the Kruskal Wallis Test which was used to determine the behaviour of the
older generation claims that they are more comfortable shopping in the nearby local stores.

Kruskal-Wallis Test

Test Statisticsa,b

Street Market Local stores Reatil stores Online shopping

Chi-Square 19.348 12.345 4.609 4.824

Df 4 4 4 4

Asymp. Sig. .001 .015 .330 .306

a. Kruskal Wallis Test

b. Grouping Variable: Age

H2: The older generation prefers shopping in retail stores as compared to the nearby local
shops and markets - Rejected

Hypotheses 3
The third hypotheses claimed that the male consumers chooses a retail store depending upon the
discounts being offered by them as against the quality apparel and brands beings made available
by them. However, this hypothesis was also proved wrong as through the survey it was found
that the male consumers would rather base their choice of retail store on the basis of the quality
of apparel and brands being offered by them and would not blindly follow or visit any retail store
which offers discounted deals.

Mann-Whitney Test

Test Statisticsa

Quality discounts Brands proximity

Mann-Whitney U 287.000 370.500 285.500 37.500

Wilcoxon W 752.000 835.500 750.500 502.500

Z -2.582 -1.313 -2.571 -6.632

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .010 .189 .010 .000

a. Grouping Variable: Gender

Through the Man Whitney test which was used, it was proved that the male consumers would
prefer quality and brands available over discounted deals in a retail store.

H3: The male consumers would prefer those retail stores offering bigger discounts as against
those offering quality products - Rejected

Conclusion
The study conducted revealed that the consumers were well versed with the functioning of the
retail stores and retailing had been a buzz word for the shoppers for some time now. Through the
hypotheses, it was proved that the male respondents would choose an apparel retail store based
on the assortment of products they have. The more, the merrier seems to be their motto with the
respondents claiming that they would place their interest high on those retail stores which have
more brands and more products lined with them. The décor and the lightning of that retail store
would not matter much to the consumers and it wouldn’t be a big factor in drawing the
consumers towards the retail houses. The different age groups also had different preferences
when it came to choosing the retail stores based on their convenience as compared to other
shopping options. The older generation seemed to be more comfortable shopping in the local
stores and nearby markets rather than visiting the retail stores. The hypotheses tested also proved
that the elderly consumers would prefer wandering in the local street markets as compared to
paying a visit to the retail store. In the third hypotheses, we tried to test that what drives the male
consumers towards the retail stores. The comparison was made between the quality offered or
the discounts offered. A lot of retail stores start compromising with the quality of products which
they offer thinking that the customers would be lured by the discounts on display. However, this
hypothesis was proved wrong since it was found that the maximum male consumers would
prefer the retail stores offering better quality than stores offering more discounts on the products.

Future Research
There is an immense scope for the future researchers to take this research further. The
researchers can study and analyze all the demographic variables affecting the choice of the retail
store. Each variable can be studied in great depth to assess the role and significance they have in
having an impact on the consumer’s decision making while choosing a retail outlet of his choice.

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