Big Bazaar: A Study of Consumer Behavior towards Organized Retail

Purpose: The shopping habits and purchase patterns of the Indian consumer have seen a drastic change in the past decade. This paper aims at identifying the profile of this new Indian consumer, how they purchase, what are the factors that influence their consumer behaviour towards shopping malls and how do they choose their shopping destination. Methodology: We have taken responses from 405 respondents through a questionnaire. The samples were chosen on the basis of their availability at our convenience. Research Limitations: The major limitation of this research is that it was undertaken in the geographic boundary of the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Practical Implications: This study will reveal the purchase pattern of the consumers of Big Bazaar. Thereby recommending how can Big Bazaar position itself better in the minds of its consumers and paving a way for further research. Findings: Our findings were that Big Bazaar’s biggest client base is youngsters, who visit Big Bazaar mainly to shop Cloths and Food Items, and prefer Big Bazaar because of its Low-Price Pricing Strategy. Introduction The purchase patterns of consumers related to food items has seen a major shift in developing economies like India. This can be specifically attributed to the increase in disposable incomes, access to global information, urbanization, education and health awareness. (Rao, 2000; Shetty, 2002; Deshingkar et al., 2003; Vepa, 2004; KPMG, 2005; Kaushik, 2005; Kaur and Singh, 2007; Pingali, 2007). Further the development of households towards higher income groups, changes in lifestyle and family structures are having similar fall-outs on the other shopping needs too. Discussing in the same league, Dodge and Summer (1969) suggest that store choice also depends on socio-economic background of the consumer. In order to verify the above propositions in the case of Big Bazaar in Ahmedabad, we have undertaken this project to chalk-out the profile of consumers who visit Big Bazaar, their purchase patterns and the standing of Big Bazaar as against its competitors. Research Objectives Based on the above discussion, we can put forth the following objectives for this study: 1. To generate a profile of the consumers visiting Big Bazaar 2. To detail the purchase pattern of consumers based on: a. Outlet Location b. Frequency of visits c. Day of the week d. Time of the day e. Time spent during each visit f. Amount of money spent during each visit g. Types of products purchased h. Mode of payment 3. To measure Big Bazaars standing against its competitors, based on the attractive features of Big Bazaar and who do the consumers prefer amongst the available options in organized retail market. Research Questions 1. What is the profile of the consumers visiting Big Bazaar based on their gender, profession and income? 2. Which Big Bazaar outlet do the consumers prefer to visit? 3. How frequently do consumers visit Big Bazaar? 4. Which are the most preferred day of the week and time of the day that consumers choose to visit Big Bazaar? 5. What is the amount of Time and Money spent on one visit at Big Bazaar? 6. What are the kinds of products that consumers prefer to purchase from Big Bazaar? 7. What is the most preferred mode of payment used by consumers of Big Bazaar? 8. What factors that impact the preference for Big Bazaar amongst its consumers? 9. Who are the major competitors of Big Bazaar? Why? Empirical Study Sample: We have questioned 405 respondents for our study. The samples were chosen through convenient sampling. Data Collection: Data was collected through the administration of a questionnaire. Data collection was done outside the three Big Bazaar outlets in Ahmedabad, namely: SG Highway, 10 Acres Mall and Himalaya Mall. Findings 1. Gender of respondents visiting Big Bazaar Gender Total Percentage Male 192 47.41 Female 213 52.59 Total 405 100 Table: 1 As seen in Table: 1, the proportion of gender visiting Big Bazaar is balanced and the population is divided equally, where the proportion of women visiting Big Bazaar is slightly more than the men. 2. Profession of respondents visiting Big Bazaar Profession No of respondents Business 63 Service 96 Home-Maker 80 Student 166 Total 405


Introduction
The purchase patterns of consumers related to food items has seen a major shift in developing economies like India. This can be specifically attributed to the increase in disposable incomes, access to global information, urbanization, education and health awareness. (Rao, 2000;Shetty, 2002;Deshingkar et al., 2003;Vepa, 2004;KPMG, 2005;Kaushik, 2005;Kaur and Singh, 2007;Pingali, 2007). Further the development of households towards higher income groups, changes in lifestyle and family structures are having similar fall-outs on the other shopping needs too. Discussing in the same league, Dodge and Summer (1969) suggest that store choice also depends on socio-economic background of the consumer.
In order to verify the above propositions in the case of Big Bazaar in Ahmedabad, we have undertaken this project to chalk-out the profile of consumers who visit Big Bazaar, their purchase patterns and the standing of Big Bazaar as against its competitors.

Research Objectives
Based on the above discussion, we can put forth the following objectives for this study:  Table: 1 As seen in Table: 1, the proportion of gender visiting Big Bazaar is balanced and the population is divided equally, where the proportion of women visiting Big Bazaar is slightly more than the men.

Profession No of respondents
Business 63 Service 96 Home-Maker 80 Student 166 Total 405 Table: 2 Table: 2 denotes the profession of respondents visiting Big Bazaar. Students make the largest part of the population visiting Big Bazaar, followed by working professionals and Home-makers. The reason why home-makers are not at the 1st rank is probably because they tend to make most of their purchases from vendors near their residence.  Table: 4 We also asked respondents to specify which Big Bazaar outlet they prefer in Ahmedabad.  Table: 6 Another component of the purchase pattern was the day of the week that the respondents preferred to visit Big Bazaar. 38% of respondents revealed that they spent between 1000 and 2000 rupees per visit at Big Bazaar and another 18% said they spent more than 2000 rupees per visit (Table: 9). This means that more than 50% of Big Bazaar customers pay a bill of more than 1000 rupees per visit. This is another motivating point for us to make note of. Total  Cloths  215  Accessories  107  Grocery  133  Food items  208  Electronic items  50  Other  21  734   Table: 10

Product Purchased
To understand what kind of products are the respondents buying from Big Bazaar, we can look at Table: 10, which ReseaRch PaPeR shows that Cloths, closely followed by Food items are the most purchased products from Big Bazaar.  Table: 11

Preferred mode of payment
Nearly 80% of the consumers of Big Bazaar preferred to pay their bills through cash (Table: 11). Only a little more than 20% paid through credit or debit cards.  Table: 14

Factors that impact preference for
Based on the weights multiplication, we have been able to rank the factors impacting preference of Big Bazaar over its competitors. Reliance Mart 4rth Table: 16 Table: 15 and 16 show that National handloom has been chosen as the number 1 competitor of Big Bazaar by the respondents and Reliance Mart the last at 4th place. The respondents could choose more than one option, therefore the tally of total responses is more than 405.

Conclusion
Through our research we conclude that Big Bazaar is preferred by its patrons for its pricing strategies followed by variety. One of the major reasons for this is the high proportion of students and youngsters who are dependent on their parents for their incomes.

Recommendations
Our recommendation to Big Bazaar and their close competitors would be maintain status quo on pricing and increase variety of products, especially in the clothing and food & grocery department, because that is where the highest amount of sales are happening.