consumer behaviour

1. Consumer Shopping Behaviour in Organized
Food and Grocery Stores: A Case Study of
National Capital Region
Vinod Kumar Bishnoi, Bharti and Nidhi Gupta
KEY WORDS: Consumer Shopping Behaviour; Organized Retailing; Food and Grocery.
INTRODUCTION
Indian economy has transformed from an extensive controlled economy to a
liberal market driven economy. High- income opportunities, changing attitude
towards saving, international exposure and necessities of lifestyle are the key
drivers for fast evolving Indian consumer behaviour (KSA Technopark, 2006).
Indian retail industry is witnessing a paradigm shift as the sector is getting
organized and consumers are seeking a one-stop shopping place with convenience
and entertainment. Professionally managed and separately owned retail
organizations are the face of today’s retail sector. India is stepping into a new era
of ‘Retail Chains’ from the traditional neighbourhood ‘Kirana Store’. Economic
growth, changing lifestyles, urbanization, women’s participation in economic
activities and the spread of IT are the some of the key factors for the growth of the
retail sector. It is the fastest growing sector of the economy with a compounded
annual growth rate of 46.64 per cent. The estimated worth of organized retail
industry is Rs. 350 bn, accounting for less than 3 per cent of the total retail market.
Organized retailing provides an ideal shopping experience through consumer
preference analysis, excellent ambience and choice of merchandise. Changing
lifestyles, strong income growth and favourable demographics are the drivers for
the fast growth of this sector. Rising income level, education, acceptance of smart
and credit cards and global exposure have an impact on the Indian consumer’s
shopping habits (Baseer and Laxmi Prabha, 2007). Health and beauty care
services, food and grocery, entertainment and catering services, footwear and
Vinod Kumar Bishnoi, Associate Professor, Haryana School of Business, Guru Jambheshwar University of
Science and Technology, Hisar • Phone: 91 9416136505 • E-mail: bishnoivk29@gmail.com.
Bharti, Research Fellow, Haryana School of Business, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and
Technology, Hisar • Phone: 91 9416056786 • E-mail: rawatbharti@gmail.com.
Nidhi Gupta, Student, MBA Final Year, Haryana School of Business, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science
and Technology, Hisar • Phone: 91 9255900777 • E-mail: n4nidhi@gmail.com.
3rd IIMA Conference on Marketing Paradigms for Emerging Economies 587

2. mobile phones, apparel and fashion accessories and jewellery are the fastest
growing organized retail categories. In food and grocery retailing, the largest
component of retail, only 1 per cent is organized; the remaining 99 per cent is
unorganized. Food and grocery has three sub categories: branded FMCG products,
dry and unprocessed grocery, fresh grocery and delicatessen (Sahani, 2007).
Impact of the factors like availability of favourite brands, social status, buying
behaviour during discounts, influence of family and friends over the store and
brand choice, relationship between store and store brand, and consumer
perception towards store and nationa l brands while shopping from a store, have
not yet been gauged much by marketers. Thus, this paper is an endeavour to
understand and deliberate consumer shopping behaviour towards organized food
and grocery stores, so as to have a better insight of consumers buying behaviour.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To investigate the consumer shopping behaviour dimensions.
2. To measure the significance of demographic variables on shopping behaviour
dimensions.
To achieve these objectives, answers to the following questions were sought:
1. Do demographic variables and consumer shopping behaviour dimensions
differ significantly?
2. Do membership status and consumer shopping behaviour dimensions differ
significantly?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The present study is focused on the shopping behaviour dimensions of consumers
who visit organized stores for food and grocery items. To achieve an under-
standing of this, a questionnaire consisting of 33 items was developed. All the
responses pertaining to this study were obtained on a 5-point Likert scale (from
point 5 strongly agreeing to point 1 strongly disagreeing). A convenient sampling
method was used to obtain the data from the four areas of NCR namely Gurgaon,
Faridabad, Noida and Delhi. A total of 400 questionnaires were administered;
responses to 365 were received. Out of the collected 365 questionnaires, 330 were
found to be fit for analysis. While conducting the survey due care was taken to
include respondents from different walks of life, i.e., gender, educational
background, occupation, age group, income level, etc. (Table 1).
588 3rd IIMA Conference on Marketing Paradigms for Emerging Economies

3. Table 1: Demographic Profile of Respondents
Variable Frequency Percentage
Gender Male 191 57.9
Female 139 42.1
Age (in years) Below 25 76 23.0
25–35 143 43.3
35–50 88 26.7
Above 50 23 7.0
Education upto 12th 54 16.4
Graduation 152 46.1
Post Graduation 124 37.6
Occupation Business 70 21.2
Profession 48 14.5
Service 156 47.3
Housewife 56 17.0
Monthly Household Less than 20000 92 27.9
Income (in rupees) 20000–40000 125 37.9
40000–60000 82 24.8
more than 60000 31 9.4
Membership Member 106 32.1
Non-Member 224 67.9
The scale of variables was also put to reliability test, the obtained a value show of
0.687on the Cronbach alpha scale, which is considered satisfactory. The data was
analysed with the help of factor analysis and one-way ANOVA. Factor analysis
was applied to investigate consumer shopping behaviour dimensions whereas to
measure the significance of demographic variables on shopping behaviour
dimensions, one-way ANOVA was adopted.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
As mentioned in the research methodology, the scale consisting of 33 items was
analysed; items having low inter- item correlation were dropped and 28 items were
kept for further analysis. Factor analysis with principal component method and
varimax rotation extracted nine factors as consumer shopping behaviour dimensions
(Table 2). One-way ANOVA indicate the significant difference between the
consumers of different demographic profile and their shopping behaviour dimensions
(Table 3).
3rd IIMA Conference on Marketing Paradigms for Emerging Economies 589

4. Table 2: Factor Analysis of Variables
Rotated Factor
Factor Label and Variables
Loadings
1. Impulsiveness and Price Consciousness
I always buy the brands which I have already decided in advance. –0.796
Many a times, I go to a store, see the product, if liked buy it. 0.761
Given the same quality, I will prefer to buy store brand than costlier national
brand. 0.657
During discount period, I usually try new store brands. 0.749
It is mainly the price of the store brand that influences me to buy them. 0.595
If my brand is not available at the store I go for another brand. 0.738
2. Utility and Variety Seeker
I visit a store as it is a one stop shopping place. 0.536
I like self-selection while shopping. 0.519
I visit stores as number of varieties are available there. 0.821
I always look for comparison of different brands in a store. 0.737
I feel usually national brands do not offer much discount. 0.466
3. Store Loyalty
I prefer to visit the store nearest to my place. –0.528
I buy all food and grocery items from stores only. 0.766
I like to shop in a store due to acceptance of credit/debit cards. 0.765
I visit stores for the store brands of my choice. 0.571
4. Time consumption
The store’s advertisement encourages me to visit the store. 0.451
I like self-selection while shopping. 0.486
I prefer to visit store as it saves my time and energy. –0.714
I enjoy shopping at a store. 0.518
5. Status Consciousness
I believe “High price means high quality”. 0.732
I feel shopping at stores is a status symbol these days. 0.708
6. Opinion Seeker
The store’s advertisement encourages me to visit the store. –0.410
I came to know about the store from my friends/relatives. 0.740
My friends/relatives usually suggest me to try the store brands. 0.733
7. Quality Consciousness
I usually compare the quality of brands while purchasing from a store. 0.724
I think store provides better quality product. 0.642
8. Shoppertainment
I enjoy shopping at a store. 0.425
I always go to store with my family or friends. 0.630
I feel no difference while shopping from a store or somewhere else. –0.603
9. Value Consciousness
I feel that store brands are reasonably priced. 0.636
I look for the benefit of the product for the price I pay. 0.703
Barlett’s test of sphericity = 0.00; Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin KMO (0.804)
590 3rd IIMA Conference on Marketing Paradigms for Emerging Economies

5. Table 3: One way ANOVA
Monthly
Gender Age Education Occupation Household Membership
Factor Income
F Sig. F Sig. F Sig. F Sig. F Sig. F Sig.
Impulsiveness and
47.324 .000* .788 .501 .662 .517 5.099 .002* .454 .715 4.492 .035*
Price Consciousness
Utility and Variety
83.557 .000* 2.198 .088 .117 .889 4.958 .002* 4.365 .005* 1.044 .308
Seeker
Store Loyalty .059 .808 .303 .823 3.158 .044* .486 .692 4.294 .005* 225.309 .000*
Time Consumption 49.901 .000* .181 .909 .038 .963 16.187 .000* 1.663 .175 .304 .582
Status
7.549 .006* .383 .765 1.018 .362 2.616 .051 .821 .483 .862 .354
Consciousness
Opinion Seeker .047 .829 1.904 .129 .781 .459 2.272 .080 .121 .948 .217 .642
Quality
2.679 .103 2.950 .033* 1.847 .159 .557 .644 1.789 .149 3.741 .054
Consciousness
Shoppertainment .142 .707 1.606 .188 1.705 .183 1.171 .321 4.085 .007* 1.202 .274
Value
9.738 .002* 1.607 .188 4.581 .011* 2.356 .072 1.613 .186 .082 .774
Consciousness
Factor one deals with impulsiveness and price consciousness behavioural dimension.
Consumers tend to purchase impulsively as they do not plan in advance and they
also go for other brand if their preferred brand is not available in a particular
store. They are influenced by the store brands’ prices and try them during
discounts and if the quality is delivered, they prefer it over costlier national brand
(Table 2). Table 3 explains that impulsive and price conscious behaviour differs
significantly across gender (p = 0.000), occupation (p = 0.002) and membership
status (p = 0.035) of the respondents.
Factor two entitled utility and variety seeker describes the behavioural dimension
of consumers related to the benefits they draw from shopping at a store like one-
stop shopping, self-selection, discounts on store brands and varieties available for
comparison of different brands (Table 2). The one-way ANOVA table indicates
that respondents of different gender ( = 0.000), occupation ( = 0.002) and
p p
income level (p = 0.005) differ significantly on utility and variety seeking aspect
(Table 3).
Factor three, store loyalty behavioural dimension explains that customers are
willing to visit their preferred store rather than nearby store, and buy all food and
grocery items from such stores. They visit store for their preferred store brands
and also due to the facility of making payment other than cash (Table 2). Table 3
3rd IIMA Conference on Marketing Paradigms for Emerging Economies 591

6. concludes that store loyalty dimension varies significantly on education (P = 0.000),
income (p = 0.000) and membership status (p = 0.000) of the respondents but not
on remaining demographic variables, i.e., gender, age and occupation.
Fourth factor, time consumption behavioural dimension, considers that consumers
enjoy spending time while shopping and making self-selection and store adver-
tisements also induce them to visit stores (Table 2). Male and female respondents
vary significantly (p = 0.000) on time consumption dimension and also the
respondents across various occupations (p = 0.000) but not by other demographic
variables (Table 3).
Fifth factor deals with the status consciousness of the customers who perceive
high price as high quality and shopping at store as a status symbol (Table 2). Male
and female respondents vary significantly (p = 0.006) for status conscious
behaviour but not on the basis of the other demographic variables (Table 3).
Sixth factor, opinion seeker dimension explains the behaviour of respondents
who do not value advertisement for reference but look for the advice from friends
and relatives for making the store and brand selection (Table 2). One-way
ANOVA indicates no significant difference among the customers of different
demographic characteristics and opinion seeking behaviour (Table 3).
Seventh behavioural dimension signifies the quality consciousness of the
consumer for products as they consider that stores provide better quality products
and also compare the quality of the brands while purchasing (Table 2).
Respondents belonging to different age groups differ significantly (p = 0.033) on
quality consciousness dimension but p-values do not signify this phenomenon on
any other demographics (Table 3).
Shoppertainment is the eighth behavioural dimension of shoppers who look for
entertainment and enjoyment while shopping with their friends or family and feel
that there is a different shopping experience at a store (Table 2). Income (p =
0.007) of respondents is the only demographic variable that has a significant
association with this dimension (Table 3).
Ninth factor describes the value consciousness of the customers. They look for
value for money and consider that store brands are reasonably priced (Table 2).
Gender (p = 0.002) and education level (p = 0.011) have influence on respondents
in considering the value conscious behavioural dimension for shopping (Table 3).
592 3rd IIMA Conference on Marketing Paradigms for Emerging Economies

7. MARKETING IMPLICATIO NS
Organized retail sector is growing rapidly and consumers are shifting to shopping
in organized retail stores. Thus, understanding of shoppers’ behaviour is the key
to success for the retailers. Marketers will have to understand the consumers’
shopping behavioural dimensions that will help them to tap the consumer in a
better way.
The customers visiting organized food and grocery stores are status and quality
conscious while deciding on the store to purchase from and brands to purchase.
They always look for the benefits of shopping in a store over the traditional retail
outlets in terms of self- selection, variety, comparison of brands and discounts
available and also seek value for the money they pay. They love to spend time in
shopping and prefer to visit store along with family and friends; in all, they seek
for complete entertainment while shopping. In order to taste success a marketer
has to equip himself by taking into consideration all the said aspects of the study
because potentiality in itself is not going to serve any purpose.
REFERENCES
Baseer, A. and Laxmi Prabha, G (2007). “Prospects and Problems of Indian Retailing,” Indian
.
Journal of Marketing, 37(10), 26– 8.
Global Consumer and Retail: Vision 2015, 8th Marketing and Retailing Summit, 12–14 February
2006, New Delhi.
Sahani, P.B. (2007). “Consumer Buying Behaviour and Food Retailing,” Marketing Mastermind,
(December), 21–5.
3rd IIMA Conference on Marketing Paradigms for Emerging Economies 593