A Study on Purchase Behavior of Gold Consumers of Koduvally – The Golden City in Kerala

The purpose of this empirical research is to evaluate the purchase behavior of gold consumers and to explore the relationship between factors influencing the purchase behavior, both directly and indirectly, in order to validate the proposed research model in the context of gold consumers in Koduvally, the golden city. Koduvally, a place in God's own country, has a reputation as the "city of gold" and "golden city" due to its history in the gold trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was discovered that Koduvally is known for having more than 100 jewelers within a radius of just one km. It is based on 'perception, intention to purchase, shopping habit, and willingness to pay more in relation to'socio-economic,, personal, and cultural factors and was analyzed by the data collected from 182 gold consumers. The findings revealed that purchase intention and perception were significantly and directly driven by personal, economic, and socio-cultural factors. However, psychological factors have the most significant positive effect on the shopping habits of the gold consumers in this model. Moreover, personal and economic factors were found to have the highest significant positive effect on the willingness to pay more for purchasing gold products. Hence, the present research model provides valuable inputs to gold marketers from the perspective of the purchase behavior of consumers to design policies and strategies in order to cope with the changing environment in the gold market