Consumer behavior and experience about shopping malls

Introduction

RETAIL INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Till the early nineties, the organized retail industry had not evolved. There was no consumer culture, there were limited brands and people bought what was available. There were no shopping areas. The retail industry lacked trained manpower. It was difficult to compete with the unorganized sector because they operated with minimal labor costs and overheads. Tax laws and government restrictions added the problem. Liberalization has changed all this. Today customer is with more spending power, is better educated, and more importantly, exposed to brands and products through television and foreign trips . The Indian consumer now has the desire to acquire. Personal consumption is on the rise. Customer segments, already diverse, have been sub-divided with joint families giving way to nuclear families, and the increasing number of working couples. These changes along with increased availability of retail space and qualified manpower have had a positive impact. New players are now entering the market. Instead of retail evolution, there is a retail revolution in India.

The emerging purchasing power of the urban educated middle class and the growing work culture of the working women has changed the buying habits of families, who are experiencing a growth in income and dearth of time. Rising incomes have led to increasing convenience and service. Consumers have started caring about where they would like to shop, be it multi brand outlet, exclusive stores or malls with development around them but are also more demanding. They want superior quality at an affordable price and they want it instantly.

Thus, we see that there is a strong trend in favor of one-stop shops like malls and supermarkets. A Mall/supermarket appeals because of its pleasant surroundings, better product display and the availability of a wide variety of brands. The store has accurate measure controls and allows economies of scale. A shopper also has the option of shopping for all household necessities under one roof. In the future, with more dual income families, the consumer ability to spend will increase, but at the same time, it is predicted that the time available for shopping will go down. In such a scenario, the retailers will have to increasingly develop shopping as an experience and at the same time, the more successful ones will be those that provide faster service.

Malls, in particular, are contributing hugely to the development of organized retail. Malls are coming up both within cities and at the outskirts vowing to create destinations that will attract thousands of customers every day.

India is experiencing a “mall boom”. Shopping malls are set to one of the most visible faces of the Indian retail scene in the next few years. According to estimates apart from the metropolitan and larger cities, as many as 50 new malls will be coming up by 2005 in the smaller cities as well.

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In India Shopping Malls industry is upcoming industry in India. Today in India Shopping Mall industry is worth 17000 Cr. Industry. In NCR (National Capital Region) Gurgaon is the most favorite place for the shopping malls. M.G. (Meharuli – Gurgaon) Road is the place for all famous shopping malls in Gurgaon. In NCR DLF, MGF, JMD, SAHARA, all big players are in shopping mall industry. On M.G. Road Gurgaon MGF Group has two shopping malls in operation MGF Metropolitan Mall, MGF Plaza, Sahara Group has its Sahara Mall and DLF Group has its City Centre. This project involves around the study of “CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND EXPERIENCE ABOUT SHOPPING MALLS; A COMPARITIVE STUDY OF MGF PLAZA, SAHARA MALLS AND METROPOLITAN MALL”. The methodology adopted to study the project is through survey in Sahara, MGF and Metropolitan shopping malls on M.G. Road, 750 consumers were surveyed. The survey is done through the personal interviews by putting a set of structured questionnaire to the visitors of Shopping Mall.

Consumer purchasing power is the main factor, which determines their buying behavior and brand of shopping malls. Shopping Malls are the places for the fun & entertainment, family outing, shopping and eating’s. In shopping Malls age factor is also one of the dominant factor in daily footfall. What I studied that in different shopping malls different age group consumers come and they impact on the buying behavior.

Consumer who visits any shopping mall on M.G.Road almost comes to visit Sahara, Metropolitan and MGF shopping mall. In study of shopping malls I found after analysis that Metropolitan Mall is the best place for the fun & Entertainment, eating and branded shopping. Metropolitan Mall is not a place for the middle class. Sahara Mall is good for the family shopping like households, apparels due to Big Bazaar and Pantaloon and good for the eating due to the Haldirams. Sahara Mall is the only one mall on M.G. Road for the middle class. Regarding the MGF PLAZA it is the place only for the home furnishings and essential items for the family. It is the place both for the middle class and higher class. In my study all the consumers have visited all the three Shopping Malls and they were of all age groups and all classes. In Metropolitan Mall, management should think about the indoor games like bowling, snooker for the letting customers spend more time in Mall. In Metropolitan Mall there should be a disco for the complete fun and entertainment. In Sahara Mall, management should also think about how to promote other stores except Big Bazaar. Make it like a Shopping mall not like a Big Bazaar store. In MGF PLAZA there are basically home furnishing items so the Management should think of plan to attract the young crowd in the Mall in order to make it a complete Mall for both shopping and entertainment. They can open a Cinema hall to attract the crowd of all age group.

This project evolves around the buying behavior of the consumer in the shopping malls and their perception about shopping malls.

RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Shopping Mall industry is an upcoming industry in India, as Shopping Malls are changing the way middle-class Indians shop. With fully air -conditioned stores, escalators and quality service resembling any international Mall. Today a customer pays greater attention to product availability, display, in-store service and of course, the ease of shopping. Indian families are also looking at entertainment as a escape. Entertainment is equated with shopping, food and options like cinemas and bowling alleys.

The decade old economic reforms have engendered a new, shop till you drop breed of middle class Indians who after experiencing the shopping in big cities overseas, have fueled the demand for the rise of Shopping Malls. There are number of families who are starved of attractive entertainment options and with rising disposable income, who want to spend a greater proportion of their expenditure on shopping in world class ambience where convenience is combined with entertainment. From boring oh no routine to a fun filled yes outing for the entire family, shopping for the typical household has come a long way indeed. Multi-Storyed malls have most definitely made an impact offering shopping, entertainment and food all under one comfortable roof.

Giant malls are coming thick and fast in Gurgaon to completely transform the $200 billion Indian retail sector. More than 200 malls are in planning and construction stage across the country and to in-cash the sudden resurgence of interest in shopping India, big corporate such as the TATAS, PIRAMALS, RAHEJAS, SAHARA , DLF AND RPG ENTERPRISES are racing to revolutionize the Indian retail industry and fuel a construction boom.

India is becoming the hub of Shopping Malls. In Gurgaon particularly lots of shopping malls are opening up. In October 2004 India’s first Mall exclusively dedicated to Jewelry (Gold Souk) was opened in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of the capital. The Gold souk’s retail space has been leased out or sold with about 70 retailers including 35 major national and international brands for business. Leading brand names have occupied space in the gold souk include Hammer Plus, Espirit, Hugo Boss, Citizen, Celeste, Asmi, Sangini and Nakshtra.

This project helps me in finding out how the Shopping Malls are changing the Indian retail industry in general and redefining consumers’ shopping experience due to increase in their overall exposure to the different varieties of product under one roof.

OBJECTIVES OF THE research study

The first step in any Marketing Research calls for the researcher to define the project scope and then define problem carefully and formulate the research Objectives. An old age says, “A problem well defined is half solved.”

To study the “Consumer behavior and experience about Shopping malls: A comparative study of among MGF PLAZA, METROPOLITAN MALL AND SAHARA MALL at Gurgaon.” Will be conducted with the following objectives: –

To study the profile of consumers visiting different Shopping Malls along with their motives.

To find out different buying behaviors of consumers in different Shopping Malls at Gurgaon.

Research Methodology

RESEARCH PLAN: Research Plan is no specific for all types of research; it is decided depending upon the nature of the problem. It can be -Exploratory, Descriptive or Causal.

To study the Consumer Behavior and experience about Shopping Malls is a descriptive research.

Designing a research plan calls for decisions on –

Data sources

Research Instruments

Sampling plan

Contact methods.

Data sources: The research involves gathering Secondary as well as Primary data.

Primary data: A survey will be conducted to gather primary data from the market here the main emphasis will be given on the consumers to gather information as consumers are the ones who decide the brand of any shopping mall and they are different from each other on various aspects. It will help us to know their purchasing behavior in different shopping malls. They are the one who constitute the market and the target of the business. In Shopping Malls Industry until and unless we have the knowledge of consumer buying behavior and where they spend the most and what they think about the mall cannot increase the footfall and conversion ratio.

Secondary data: – Secondary data regarding foot falls in shopping mall, buying pattern and other related will be collected from the internet and mall management itself.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT: In marketing research the main research instrument used in collecting primary data is the Questionnaire. For this research a set of questionnaire will be structured for the consumer buying behavior and their perception towards the shopping malls. The questionnaire will be both open ended and close ended.

SAMPLE PLAN

The Sample Plan calls for three decision

Sampling Unit,

Sample Size,

Sampling Procedure

CONSUMER SURVEY: –

Sample Unit: Consumers.

Sample Size: 750

1. MGF Metropolitan Mall – 250

2. Sahara Mall – 250

3. MGF Plaza – 250

Total – 750

Sample Procedure: (Random Sampling) non probability Convinces Sample is adopted i.e. the most accessible members of the population are randomly selected.

Contact Method: The best-suited method for this kind of survey is Personal Interview. Through this method of conducting research more questions can be asked and it helps in collecting additional information.