Keywords

Consumer Behaviour, Retail formats, Qualitative analysis, Content analysis

Introduction

The wheel of retail selling is continually rotating however but not primarily among a similar place. From the primary retail conception i.e., Barter system to the most recent fashion retail conception, marketing has modified considerably with time. The old general stores of original retailing were a compound of items related to the life-styles of the locality. Retailers were primarily getting agents for the subject of a selected vicinity, reflective closely those customers’ life-styles, whole preferences, searching hours etc (Blackwell and Talarzyk, 1983). The Indian retail industry has evolved revolution which has swept other big countries (Gupta et al, 2008). There was a colossal alteration, the advancement of trade started within 80s and quickened in the 90's has begun to have an effect on the structure and direct of the retail business (Rani, 2015).

Literature Review

Lifestyle, as defined by Oxford dictionary, was an individual’s way of living, culture, and society that people demonstrate in dealing with their physiological, psychological, socio-economic atmospheres on daily basis. With this approach, shoppers who embrace comparable philosophies, attitudes or likings within a certain class are grouped together (Honkanen et al., 2004). Since purchaser esteems and lifestyle attributes do give a more extravagant perspective of the market and a more life-like representation of the buyer, they meet the demand of the board marketing practices for progressively and significant marketing information (Hawkins et. al., 1998).

Consumer Behaviour elucidates the motives and reason that trigger buying choices and consumption patterns; it describes the procedures by which consumers mark their decisions. Loudon and Bitta (1993) defined consumer Behaviour as the choice method and physical engagement when assessing, gaining, consuming or positioning of goods and service. Indian ladies still incline toward conventional dress for formal events, as it is a social desire for them to wear conventional dress for family and standard occasions. Conversely, Indian men incline toward Western wear for work and merry apparel (Prayag, 2012). They have a high positive recognition towards way of life (Krishana, 2011).

Culture is considered the combined mental activities of humans in this living atmosphere (Hofstede, 1980). The retailers consider offering merchandise, for example, garments and family items, their approach should be adjusted by the taste, culture, and inclinations of buyers in different geographic and social sections (Karthika, 2012). Freymann et al. (2010) revealed that attitudes of customers about the service quality of the store unique variety and their intention to continue to select that store for their ongoing needs. In Malaysia, the consumers cited that uniqueness of shop and products are the main attraction in the modernized retail outlet (Mui et al., 2003). Hypermarkets and supermarkets were the most chosen shopping places in general.

Customers' style of reckoning and conviction of purchasers toward the flexibility are settled part of characteristic and brand connection (Park et al., 2010) impact the reaction and acknowledgment of brand augmentation (Yorkston et al., 2010). According to Netemeyer et al., 2004, about 86% of the variance in the store choice is due to the low prices and wide selection range.

Research Methodology

Qualitative analysis approach was utilized which means. We conducted focus group interviews and personal interviews and prepared a transcript. The themes were generated using content analysis. Two focus groups can cultivate more relevant information as compared to 10 individual interviews (Fern, 1982). To elaborate this, 20 focus group interviews were conducted and 30 personal interviews were carried out. To split the above information, 12 focus group of females and 8 for male were done. Whereas 30 personal interviews were conducted, which constituted of personal interviews of both the retailers and the customers. For the retailers, 10 personal interviews were done and for the customers 20 personal interviews were recorded. It is to be highlighted that out of 10 retailers, 2 retailers were females and 8 retailers were males. The contributors of the interviews were elected on the foundation of their acquaintance of lifestyle product plus lifestyle retailing formats. The focus group interviews were done prior to personal interviews. The respondents were selected from kitty parties, luxury gym and spas, university campus and social gatherings. In case of the focus group interviews, the number of homogenous respondents varied from 5-10 in each group. The data collected from interviews was transcribed and content analysis was done for generation of themes.

Data Analysis

The focus group and in-depth interviews were conducted for attaining categories as the outcome of qualitative data. The data attained from the interviews was examined as per the process discussed. The data was examined using content analysis and nine themes were generated. Theme arranges a group of repetitive ideas and it consist of codes that have similar reference. It is viewed as a string of hidden importance certainly found at the interpretative level and components of emotional understandings of members. Themes were generated by reading and reading the transcript and eliminating the unnecessary content, till saturation arises. These themes were later used to formulate the questionnaire.

The nine themes which developed from the purposive qualitative method are mentioned as follows: Fashion (Fs), Family (Fm) , Social (Sc) , Culture (Cl) , Uniqueness (Uq), Price (Pr), Brand (Br), Store based (SA) and Product attributes (PA) in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Retail Formats

Findings

On the base of analysis of data and the previous studies, it has been observed that the behaviour of the consumers is directly associated with their lifestyle. The selection of a particular retail format is also based the type of merchandise they are dealing with. Lifestyle products like apparel and home-furnishing are the major influencing segments in todays market. With the increasing knowledge and contemporary lifestyle of the consumers, the Jammu region has seen a tremendous change in the market of lifestyle products. It is obvious from the outcomes that the selection of a retail group selling clothing and home-furnishing is dependent not only upon the demographic factors but also psychographic factors. Lifestyle factors like activities, interest, opinions, values, fashion sense, price consciousness, cultural orientation, social status, family influence and uniqueness hold equal importance in driving consumers to differentiate between retailing formats. The attributes of the store as well as the product are major criteria for selecting a store. The result of qualitative analysis, which was done through unstructured in-depth interviews and focus-group interviews generated seven consumer Behaviour constructs, namely Fashion consciousness, family orientation, society, uniqueness, brand association, price and culture. The findings from qualitative part are effective after recognizing the foremost ideas to be considered in finding out the variables which majorly impacts the behaviour of the consumer when they go to shop for lifestyle products at various lifestyle stores. The data from qualitative interviews suggested that the consumers are well aware of the lifestyle products and different types of retail formats. These responses of these respondents were used to prepare a conceptual model supported by literature

Retail formats like malls and specialty store are preferred by all age-group. While the retailing formats such as discount store and hypermarkets are majorly chosen by the young patrons. Mature consumers and middle-aged consumers are more inclined towards the convenience store as well as the discount store. Specialty store are preferred to have lifestyle goods that have high quality and high price. The customers that are less inclined towards discounts and price tends to buy more product form these stores.

The result of the study provides helpful marketing connotations, highlighting a numeral of determinants that affects the behaviour of the consumers. The study has also identified the clusters consumers groups using VALS and AIO. These clusters are different set of consumers who have different choices based on type of product and retail formats.

The store attributes played an important role in selection of retail formats. Products attributes are determined by good quality, product packaging and variety. The store attributes are determined by good ambience, layout, quality of the product they have, efficient staff and latest product. it’s recommended that fashion consciousness, uniqueness, social status, family orientation, culture orientation and price consciousness are the prominent elements of Behaviour of the consumers with regard to lifestyle product purchase from the various retail formats. The consumers with high fashion sense are more inclined towards specialty store and malls. They fancy to purchase from malls and specialty stores rather than another existing retail formats.

Consumer which are more influenced by the price are more subjected to buy from discount stores and hypermarkets. These price conscious customers tend to buy more when they product at a discounted price. Thus, their preference remains more inclined towards discount store and the hypermarkets. These customers also prefer to buy from the specialty store. The socially conscious customers are more like to visit specialty store and the malls. Their least preferred retail format is discount store and convenience store. There are customers who find themselves very much associated to the culture. The like to buy from their traditional shop, shops which are recommended by their family, and store that represent more of culture to which they belong to. They prefer to buy from convenience stores. It has been found that the family oriented customers are likely to buy from the malls. Mothers prefers to buy from the malls because in malls they have option of keeping their kids at the kids’ zone while the shop for themselves.

It was also found that uniqueness seeking customers like to show-off and consider themselves the buyers of the luxury and premium products and are brand loyal. These customers majorly prefer to shop from the specialty store and malls. They have least inclination towards the discount store and convenience store. The product attributes of any product clearly impact the customers’ choice of retail formats. The customers are more quality conscious and variety seekers. They opt to buy from store or formats which offers them both. The quality of a product plays a critical function is driving patrons to a particular showroom or a retail format. The retail store formats that offer ample amount of variety has positive impact on the customers.

The store which have good ambience, better layout, good quality product, pricing strategy, efficient staff and latest product are likely to magnetize customers to their store. The store with good ambience majorly impacts the consumer behaiour. the product quality offerings and the store layout also majorly impacts the store selection choice. These attributes are vital and are positively related to the customer’s choice of retail format.

The nature of the model of the investigation is conceptual in nature, it was consequential from the hypothesis developed through previous literature. The model is based on the themes that were generated through content analysis of the transcriptions. The themes are well supported by the previous studies thus leading to the formulation of the conceptual model. Factors such as price consciousness, fashion sense, uniqueness, culture, social status and family influences the selection of retail formats. The attributes of the product and store were the key determinants that impact buying of lifestyle products from different retailing formats.

References

1. Blackwell, R.D., and Talarzyk, W.W. (1983). Life-Style Retailing-Competitive Strategies For The 1980s. Journal of Retailing, 59(4), 7-27.
2. Freymann, G., Ledermann, A., Thiel, M., Staude, I., Essig, S., Busch, K., and Wegener, M. (2010). Three‐dimensional nanostructures for photonics. Advanced Functional Materials, 20(7), 1038-1052.
3. Gupta, C. P., Agarwal, R., and Sinha, M. (2008). Organized Retailing and its Effect on the Consumers Buying Behaviour: with special reference to Agra City. Journal of Marketing and Communication, 4(1).
4. Hawkins, D.I., Best, R.J., & Kenneth, C.A. (1998). Consumer Behavior Building Marketing Strategy. Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
5. Hofstede, G. (1980). Motivation, leadership, and organization: do American theories apply abroad?. Organizational dynamics, 9(1), 42-63.
6. Honkanen, P., Verplanken, B., & Olsen, S. O. (2006). Ethical values and motives driving organic food choice. Journal of Consumer Behaviour: An International Research Review, 5(5), 420-430.
7. Krishnan, J. (2011). Lifestyle-A tool for understanding buyer Behaviour. International Journal of Economics and Management, 5(1), 283-298.
8. Loudon, D., & Della-Bitta, A. (1993). Consumer Behaviour (4, h ed.). McGraw-Hil Inc.
9. Mui, L.Y., Badarulzaman, N. & Ahmad, A.G. (2003), Pacific Rim Real Estate Society 9th Annual Conference, January 20-22, 2003: Retail activity in Malaysia: from shophouse to hypermarket. Brisbane, QLD: University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology.
10. Netemeyer, R.G., Bearden, WO and Sharma, S 2003, Scaling Procedures: Issues and Applications, Sage Publications, Inc.
11. Park, J., Yu, J., & Xin Zhou, J. (2010). Consumer innovativeness and shopping styles. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 27(5), 437-446.
12. Prayag, G., & Moital, M. (2012). Consumer behaviour in tourism: Concepts, influences and opportunities. Current issues in Tourism, 17(10), 872-909.
13. Rani. A . (2015), Apparel retailing in India, Journal of marketing and consumer research, Vol 9.
14. Yorkston, E.A., Nunes, J.C., & Matta, S. (2010). The malleable brand: The role of implicit theories in evaluating brand extensions. Journal of Marketing, 74(1), 80-93.
15. Blackwell, R.D., and Talarzyk, W.W. (1983). Life-Style Retailing-Competitive Strategies For The 1980s. Journal of Retailing, 59(4), 7-27.
16. Freymann, G., Ledermann, A., Thiel, M., Staude, I., Essig, S., Busch, K., and Wegener, M. (2010). Three‐dimensional nanostructures for photonics. Advanced Functional Materials, 20(7), 1038-1052.
17. Gupta, C. P., Agarwal, R., and Sinha, M. (2008). Organized Retailing and its Effect on the Consumers Buying Behaviour: with special reference to Agra City. Journal of Marketing and Communication, 4(1).
18. Hawkins, D.I., Best, R.J., & Kenneth, C.A. (1998). Consumer Behavior Building Marketing Strategy. Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
19. Hofstede, G. (1980). Motivation, leadership, and organization: do American theories apply abroad?. Organizational dynamics, 9(1), 42-63.
20. Honkanen, P., Verplanken, B., & Olsen, S. O. (2006). Ethical values and motives driving organic food choice. Journal of Consumer Behaviour: An International Research Review, 5(5), 420-430.
21. Krishnan, J. (2011). Lifestyle-A tool for understanding buyer Behaviour. International Journal of Economics and Management, 5(1), 283-298.
22. Loudon, D., & Della-Bitta, A. (1993). Consumer Behaviour (4, h ed.). McGraw-Hil Inc.
23. Mui, L.Y., Badarulzaman, N. & Ahmad, A.G. (2003), Pacific Rim Real Estate Society 9th Annual Conference, January 20-22, 2003: Retail activity in Malaysia: from shophouse to hypermarket. Brisbane, QLD: University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology.
24. Netemeyer, R.G., Bearden, WO and Sharma, S 2003, Scaling Procedures: Issues and Applications, Sage Publications, Inc.
25. Park, J., Yu, J., & Xin Zhou, J. (2010). Consumer innovativeness and shopping styles. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 27(5), 437-446.
26. Prayag, G., & Moital, M. (2012). Consumer behaviour in tourism: Concepts, influences and opportunities. Current issues in Tourism, 17(10), 872-909.
27. Rani. A . (2015), Apparel retailing in India, Journal of marketing and consumer research, Vol 9.
28. Yorkston, E.A., Nunes, J.C., & Matta, S. (2010). The malleable brand: The role of implicit theories in evaluating brand extensions. Journal of Marketing, 74(1), 80-93.