Shopping orientation in the evolving Indian market

Abstract

Studies on shoppers in India have largely been limited to their time and money spending pattern, demographic profile, and preferences for a particular format. It has been found in the studies in other countries that shoppers do not differ much in terms of their demographic profile. Therefore, this study attempts to understand shoppers from their disposition towards shopping. This has been found useful as the differences between retailers are not significant in terms of value delivered. The study brings out the shopping orientation of the Indian shoppers. The analysis indicates that the Indian shoppers seek emotional value more than the functional value of shopping. Although there is an indication of shopping being considered as a task and should be finished as soon as possible, this orientation is overshadowed by the entertainment value derived by the shoppers. The study also indicates that though there are some similarities in the orientation of Indian shoppers and shoppers from developed countries, there are some significant differences too. The Indian shoppers show an orientation that is based more on the entertainment value than on the functional value. The other distinct aspects of the Indian shoppers are as follows: ? Post-purchase information management and bargaining. ? Definition of convenience which is proximity to home, work place as well as the places that the shoppers frequent. Based on the orientation of the Indian shoppers, 300 shoppers are clustered into two segments: ? un shoppers: Consisting of 39 per cent of the sample, this segment enjoys shopping and is found to be involved. ? Work shoppers: This segment takes to shopping as an activity that needs to be finished with least effort. The two segments are found to be different in terms of their demographic and behavioural profile: ? More men in the second segment. ? The first segment buys products of varying values. ? The new format stores attract more fun shoppers than the work shoppers. The orientation is found to be affected primarily by the type of store, the frequency of buying, and to some extent by the socio-economic classification (SEC). It may be inferred that these variables could be utilized to define the orientation of the shoppers. Based on the findings, the study draws implications for store format, pricing, and merchandising and suggests that, in order to be successful, the retailers need to experiment with a format that attracts both types of shoppers. As a future initiative, researchers may like to find out the relationship of orientation with store variables such as merchandising, location, communication, and customer retention. � 2003, SAGE Publications Ltd. All rights reserved.