RETAILING IN THE EMERGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT: A STUDY OF CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS STORE IMAGE, STORE PATRONAGE & STORE LOYALTY IN THE GARHWAL REGION OF UTTRAKHANDSTATE
DR. D.S. Chaubey*
Abstract
The retail sector in India is witnessing a huge revamping exercise as traditional markets make way for new formats such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores. Retail is India’s largest industry, accounting for over 10 per cent of the country’s GDP and around eight per cent of the employment.. It has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the market. Western-style malls have begun appearing in metros and second-rung cities alike introducing the Indian consumer to a shopping experience like never before. India’s vast middle class and its almost untapped retail industry are key attractions for global retail giants wanting to enter newer markets. Therefore, it is imperative to study the consumers’ perception towards various retail format. The present paper is an attempt to identify the consumer perception and their behaviour toward store image, store patronage & store loyalty in the garhwal region of uttrakhand state.. With the formation of new state of Uttrakhand, the business opportunities have increased in many folds. Research also indicates that originality of the product was given highest preference by the respondents and they believe that retail showroom offers original product . it was followed by the availability of the product in large variety. The relationship and services offered by the retailer has emerged as another important issues which were given due consideration and scored better in their preference list. The importance of recognition of consumers value system and the discount offered by the retailer are another important factor which respondent has considered in selecting the retail showroom.
*Asst. Professor, Omkarananda Institute of Management and Technology, Rishikesh(Uttrakhand); can be reached at:
About the Author:
Author is M.B.A and Ph.D in Marketing Management . he has authored more than 20 research papers for various national and international journals of repute and also participated in many national and international level of conferences and seminars. Presently he is working with Omkaranada Institute of Management and Technology, Rishikesh. His areas of interest are: Marketing Management; Management; Sales and Distribution Management.
Contact:
Dr. D. S. Chaubey,
Assistant Professor
Omkaranada Institute of Management and Technology (OIMT)
P .O. Sivanada Nagar, Muni Ki Reti
Rishikesh-249192 (Uttrakhand), India
Ph: 09411712859
e-mail:
RETAILING IN THE EMERGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT: A STUDY OF CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS STORE IMAGE, STORE PATRONAGE & STORE LOYALTY IN THE GARHWAL REGION OF UTTRAKHANDSTATE
Introduction:
The retail sector in India is witnessing a huge revamping exercise as traditional markets make way for new formats such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores. Retail is India’s largest industry, accounting for over 10 per cent of the country’s GDP and around eight per cent of the employment. Retail industry in India is at the crossroads. It has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the market. Western-style malls have begun appearing in metros and second-rung cities alike introducing the Indian consumer to a shopping experience like never before. India’s vast middle class and its almost untapped retail industry are key attractions for global retail giants wanting to enter newer markets. The organized retail sector is expected to grow stronger than GDP growth in the next five years driven by changing lifestyles, strong income growth, better products and shopping options, and favourable demographic patterns. In modern retailing, a key strategic choice is the format. Innovation in formats can provide an edge to retailers. Organized retailers in India are trying a variety of formats, ranging from discount stores to supermarkets to hypermarkets to specialty chains.
Adding one more feather in cap, notably, organised retail market has also registered very rapid growth in India.ETIG (Economic Times Intelligence Group) estimated the size of the organized retail industry at about Rs. 16,000 cr in 2001-02 and estimates that the retailing industry will cross the Rs. 37,000 cr sales mark by year 2007. The industry is growing at the rate of about 18-20% per annum“Retailing in the new business environment: : A Study of Consumer Perceptions Towards Store Image, Store Patronage & Store Loyalty in The Garhwal Region of Uttrakhand State” is a modest attempt to understand the consumer perception towards retailing in the Garhwal region of Uttrakhand state. The present study is a focus on the scope of retailing in new business environment by assessing the respondents demographic profile, their attitude and preference towards different types of store selection The study also intends to know the relationship between respondent preference with the different factor which they consider while selecting a particular store. Study also tries to assess the consumers attitude toward retail preference.
Review of Previous Literature
Retail comes from the French word retailer which refers to "cutting off, clip and divide" in terms of tailoring . It first was recorded as a noun with the meaning of a "sale in small quantities" in. Its literal meaning for retail was to "cut off, shred, paring”. Like the French, the word retail in both Dutch and German (detail Handel and Einzelhandel respectively) which also refer to sale of small quantities of items.The retail sector in India has been hailed as one of the sun shine sector today. Global consultancy major, AT Kearney recently identified India as the ``second most attractive retail destination'' from among 30 emergent markets. It has made India the cause of a good deal of excitement and the cynosure of many foreign eyes. With a contribution of 14 per cent to GDP and employing 7 per cent of the total workforce or 42 million (only agriculture employs more) in the country, the retail industry is definitely one of the pillars of the economy. If numbers are to be believed, India’s retail industry is estimated at about USD 350 billion and forecast to be double by 2015. After agriculture, retail is the largest source of employment and has deep penetration into rural India. Retailing contributes to 10% of GDP.As per Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), the overall retail market is expected to grow by 36%. The organized sector is expected to register growth amounting to Rs 150 billion by 2008. The total size of the market is also expected to increase to Rs 14,790 billion from the current level of Rs 5,880 billion.Retail is amongst the fastest growing sectors in the country and India ranks 1st, ahead of Russia, in terms of emerging markets potential in retail.
Not only is it the largest component of the services sector, but is also double the size of the next largest broad economic activity in the services sector. The Indian retail market, which was largely unorganized till recently, has undergone an immense transformation in the post liberalization era. Given the attractiveness of the Indian retail sector, foreign retailers like Wal-Mart, Carrefour SA, Europe's largest retailer and Tesco Plc, the UK's largest retailer, were keen to enter this growing market.The retail environment is changing more rapidly than ever before (Dabholkar, 1996). It is characterized by intensifying competition from both domestic and foreign companies, a spate of mergers and acquisitions, and more sophisticated and demanding customers who have great expectations related to their consumption experiences (Sellers, 1990; Smith, 1989). Consequently, retailers today must differentiate themselves by meeting the needs of their customers better than the competition. There is general agreement that a basic retailing strategy for creating competitive advantage is the delivery of high service quality (e.g., Berry, 1986; Hummel and Savitt, 1988; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990).
Before looking at the markets themselves it is first necessary to define what is meant by retailing. The purpose of retail shops or markets for any commodity is to provide an environment for looking at and buying merchandise that is displayed for sale. With a conventional shop, including a large-scale supermarket, there is usually a sales area where goods are displayed, a shop front used for advertising the goods and a service area where goods can be received, re-packed and stored. With a market stall these functions occur at one place. Or in other words, retailing offers a bundle of products and product benefits at one point to its customer
In modern retailing, a key strategic choice is the format. Innovation in formats can provide an edge to retailers. Organized retailers in India are trying a variety of formats, ranging from discount stores to supermarkets to hypermarkets to specialty chains. In commerce, a retailer buys goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers or importers, either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells individual items or small quantities to the general public or end user customers, usually in a shop, also called store. Retailers are at the end of the supply chain. Marketers see retailing as part of their overall distribution strategy. Retailing It consists of all activities involved in selling goods and services to end consumers for their personal, family, or household use. Retailing (organized & unorganized) can take place in any of the following possible formats like Mom-and-Pop , Mass Discounters, Warehouse Stores , Category Killers Department Stores , Boutique Catalog Retailers, E-tailors, Franchise , Convenience, Vending Hypermarkets, and Supermarkets etc.
Success of retail depends upon Store image formed by the customer in their mind. Retail store image can be described as the series of mental pictures and feelings that a store evokes within the beholder. In other words it is the overall perception of customers about a Retail store which is the result of Physical characteristics of a store such as its brand name, logo, symbol, layout, presentation, signing, displays, entrances, events, flooring, cleanliness etc as well as other variables related to employee behavior within the store image has been defined and operationalized in a myriad ways. Martineau, 1958 was among the first to link store image or what he called as personality of the store, to the image that a shopper has of oneself. Martineau suggested that a shopper is unable to differentiate based only on price amongst various grocery stores and would tend to shop at that store which is congruent with the self image. “The shopper seeks the store whose image is most congruent with the image she has of herself. Some stores may intimidate her; others may seem beneath her. A store may be acceptable for one type of goods and not for others. A model proposed by Huff, in 1964 states that customer patronage is directly proportional to utility factors given by square feet and inversely proportional to disutility factors given by physical distance. Applebaum, 1966 studied that the limits to enhancing loyalty can essentially be seen as the limited centripetal pull of a store/shopping centre.
Hubbard, 1978 researched on location-related variables to conclude that customers give more importance to location related variables in analyzing both trade areas and retail patronage behavior. These studies most often count the benefits of locating a store in a shopping centre/mall to increase the store ‘destination’ traffic rather than just stay with the convenience pull. The same work was further supported by Gautschi, 1981 to determine that shopping centre traffic more accurately than single store traffic. The Huff model has subsequently been studied by introducing trade overlap areas for effects on store patronage. (Bucklin, 1971). Generically speaking, these studies have resulted in the formation of the Theory of Gravitational Pull in the field of retailing patronage studies. Moore and Barry, 1969 fount out that apart from distance, several other factors such as Income and social class perceptions have also affect retail centre patronage decisions.
Arnold et al.1983, Craig et al. 1984, Louviere and Gaeth, 1987 studied the effect of product characteristics on store patronage. They concluded that within a given trade area, the uniqueness of assortment is a way of influencing store loyalty and patronage. In consumer priorities, assortment and variety comes after convenience and price. Given that consumers are favorably inclined to revisit a store where they have had positive shopping experiences (found something they could not find anywhere else), these studies suggest that competing stores need to differentiate themselves based on type and quality of assortment. Several studies (Kunkel and Berry-1968, Reynolds, Darden and Martin, Korgaonkar, Lund and Price-1985) have report direct linkages between Store Image and intensity of Store Loyalty. Thus, we can conclude that more positive the Store Image the greater is the degree of loyalty. M.Z. Osman, 1993 proposed a model that showed patronage as a result of past purchasing experience and the customers’ (favorable) image of the store. He stressed that Patronage behavior is the culmination of Past purchase experience and the congruity of the Store Image between the retailer and the consumer.
Miller and Ginter, 1979 in his study found that situational factors impact consumer characteristics and produce significantly varying store choice and shopping trip behavior. Usage context has been considered as a critical factor determining consumer preferences and satisfaction In 1981, Hirschman and Krishnan, concluded that Evaluating Store Image on purely objective criteria without accounting for individual subjectivity would lead to insufficient and maybe erroneous information to retailers.Several studies (Stone, 1954, Darden and Reynolds, 1971 and Darden and Ashton 1974) have found correlations between shopping orientations and life style, with store loyalty and preferences for stores. A study by Moschis (1976) found that shopping orientation correlates differently with the information mix elements- varying with source, source credibility, preference for a source by some consumers and usage of such information.
Popkowski, L. and Timmermans-1997, Kim and Park-1997 concluded that Store choice and shopping trip timing decisions tend to differ for individuals and households as a result of personal differences, household composition and activity patterns. Ina research in 1989 Kahn and Schmittlein, quoted “Store Choice is dependent on the timing of shopping trips, as consumers may go to a smaller local store for short fill-in trips and go to a larger store for regular shopping trips.” According to Popkowski, Sinha and Timmermans-2000, personal differences interact with situational factors and together they determine the store choice and shopping trip behaviour.
Several studies show that store choice is affected by the past experiences of the consumer. Aaker and Jones, 1971, quote from an unpublished dissertation by Rao, (Rao, Tanniru R., “Modeling Consumer’s Purchase behaviour as a Stochastic Process” 1968) ”A consumer’s selection of a store…is not completely random. The more recent her purchase experience…and the more frequent her visits to the store, the more she is likely to repurchase that product in that store”. This shows that past experience influence store choice and trip pattern to change, alter or reinforce the new shopping experience.Thus we can say that Consumer Characteristics interact with Situational Variables to impact how information about the retail mix elements is processed, resulting in store choice and trip patterns.
The concept of store loyalty is derived originally from the brand loyalty concept which refers to the tendency to repeat purchase the same brand. Osman in his review paper, concludes that at the store level, it refers to the tendency to repeat purchase at the same Store for similar or other products. Borrowing from the concepts of loyalty and commitment from the field of Organizational Behavior, there is inherently a large affective component in loyalty. Amongst others factors, it has elements of trust as built over a period of time (repeated experiences at the store) and is relatively stable over a long period of time. A loyal customer would give priority to the specific store over competition. Though much work has been done there is still no clear conceptualization of what store loyalty means. Reynolds, Darden, Martin in 1974 found out that store loyalty has been related to store patronage dimensions i.e. repeat purchase over time indicates loyalty as related to attitudes where as research by Tidwell and Horgan, in 1992 indicated brand loyalty as an attitude which may result in a purchase behavior”. Most often it has been taken to imply a mix of both behaviour and attitude. Ajzen and Fishbein, provided a model of attitude comprising three elements: affect, cognitive and behavioural. According to Piron quoting from the work by Lewison, all these three components of attitude contribute to Loyalty. A model by Dick and Basu ,conceptualized loyalty as the relationship between relative attitude and patronage behaviour. Studies by Cunningham, Ennis and Gordon, Reynolds et al., found that it is beneficial for a store to identify and retain its loyal customers. Enis and Gordon found that store loyal consumers spent a larger portion of their total expenditure at the store. Tate, as stated in the paper by Reynolds, Darden and Martin, 1974, found that loyalty implies an increased number of shopping trips as compared to other stores. Studies into demographic and socio-economics found that they explain very little of the loyalty and patronage behaviour and neither are they a useful basis for segmentation. Store Image has found significant attention. It has been the focus of much research. According to Korgaonkar, Lund and Price-1985 A consumer could display patronage behavior and yet not be loyal. This ‘spurious’ loyalty is indistinguishable from intended loyalty in the short term and occurs due to price offers and heavy promotions. Deal prone consumers would shift to a store that offers the best price/discounts though over a short period of time they may have the same shopping patterns as loyal customers. Loyalty (henceforth used to mean intended loyalty) is the prime attitudinal objective that every marketer/retailer aims for with his marketing/retail mix elements. Loyalty assures a retailer of patronage, of not just constancy and longevity of his business but creates an effective competitive advantage and an entry barrier which is difficult to erode.