RESEARCH PLAN PROPOSAL

STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AT RETAIL STORES IN JAIPUR (CASE STUDY OF SHOPPERS STOP)

Submitted to: Aditi Gupta Assistant professor Dept of Business Studies The IIS University, Jaipur

Submitted by: Ms. Arshdeep Kaur M. Com. ICG/2010/10923

IntroductionThe study of consumer behavior focuses on how individual makes decisions to spend their available resources(time,money,efforts) on consumption related items. It includes what they buy, why they buy it, when they buy it, how often they buy it and how often they use it.Study of consumer behavior at retail stores usally deal with identification of customers and their buying behavior pattern.

Shoppers StopShoppers Stop was promoted by the K Raheja Corp Group in 1991. Its first store was established at Andheri, Mumbai. Shoppers Stop Ltd has been awarded "the Hall of Fame" and "the Emerging Market Retailer of the Year Award", by World Retail Congress at Barcelona, on April 10, 2008. Shoppers Stop is listed on the BSE. At present Shoppers Stop has 34 stores in 15 cities in India. Mission - NOTHING BUT THE BEST

Vision - to be a global retailer in india and maintain its no. 1 position in the department story category.

Review of literature:Some related study on the consumer behavior at retail stores have been undertaken in past.These include: 1.Piyali Ghosh,Vibhuti Tripati and Anil Sharma(2009) in their research paper Consumer expectation of store attributes:A study of organized retail outlet in india showed that: Store atmospheric attributes such as colour,lighting,sales personnel,music affect the image of the store.Retailers realize the importance of such attributes and systematically try to improve ambience including appropriate colours,music that will attract their target customers. 2.S.Ramesh kumar,professor and U Dinesh kumar,professor(2006) in their research article Exploring consumer retail shopping experience concluded that stock availability,quality,brand variety,knowledgeable salesperson and product display are likely to have a significant impact on store image.

3.Kaul(2005) in his research article Consumer shopping behavior among modern retail formats showed that: Individuals determinants such as shopping intension,attitude toward retail outlet and shopping habit plays important role on consumer shopping decisions.so retailers should concentrate on strategies in building consumer positive attitude towards their retail,so that consumers visit their retail store in order to make purchases regularly.

4.Tripathi and Sinha (2006) in their research paper Study of consumer behavior with respect to shopping concluded that retail store choice not from the perspective of an individual but of the family. They argue that it is mostly the family and not the individual who is the consumer of the retail offering.

5.Book review Leon G. Schiffman and Leslie Lazar kanuk (2008)city university of new York in their book Consumer behavior explained The consumer as an individual: personality and consumer behavior, consumer learning, consumer attitude formation and change.

Consumers in their social culture and cultural settings: influence of culture on consumer behavior, social class and consumer behavior.The consumer decision making process: consumer influence and consumer decision making process.

Objectives of the studyTo understand the Influences of retail stores on shopping behavior. To understand the varied consumer behavior and identity. To understand the expectations and experience of customers at retail stores. To understand the influence of shopping experience on building customer loyalty. To understand the measure and evaluate the customer's response towards various loyalty building programmes.

Scope of the studyThe study is helpful to understand the shopping experience of the consumers at retail stores. The study is helpful to understand the loyalty building programmes. The study is helpful to understand the departmental performances, staff ability to maintain long term relationship with customers. The study is helpful to understand the consumer behavior at retail outlets.

HYPOTHESES:To meet the objectives of the study, following null hypothesis shall be formulated and tested. The high quality of products and services offered by shoppers stop has a positive impact on consumers buying behavior. Shoppers stops loyalty building programs have a direct influence on consumer behavior.

Plan of Work and MethodologyMethodology has a prime importance in any study. The study will be conducted with the help of structured questionnaire. The data will be collected by the personal interviews and questionnaire administration with the sample customers.

Sample sizeAmong all the customers, a sample size of 100 will be selected. In these 100 customers for better understanding of customer behaviour , it is divided into 4 type of age group. The age groups 15 to 25yrs, 26 to 35yrs, 36 to 45 yrs and 45yrs above.

Sample Area:Sample area will be confined to Customers visiting Shoppers stop, gourav tower and triton mall,jaipur.

Sampling techniqueSimple random sampling technique: This is a process in which every individual of the population has an equal probability of being chosen. Descriptive Research: This type of research is also known as statistical research, describes data and characteristics of the population or phenomenon being studied.

Data collectionPrimary data:Questionnaire Personal interview

Secondary data:Company website Internet

Analysis of data:The data will be analysed using various stastical technique like tabulation, pie charts, measures of central tendencies etc.

Limitations of the studysome of the customers might not cooperate. Responses from the customers might be different during weekdays and weekends.

The findings will be based on the information given by the customers and can be baised.

Proposed chapters1.INTRODUCTION 2.COMPANY PROFILE2.1 concept and format 2.2 History 2.3 Company mission statement 2.4 company vision 2.5 Products 2.6 Loyalty Programs 2.8 Marketing strategy 2.9 Marketing mix 2.10 visual merchandising 2.11 Public relations 2.12 Publicity of product 2.13 Supply chain 2.14 Competitors 2.15 Future plans 2.16 SWOT analysis

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3.1 General introduction 3.2 Objective of study 3.3 Data collection method 3.4 sample design 3.5 Sample size 3.6 Limitations 3.7 Review of literature

4. Data Analysis and interpretation

5. Findings and conclusions5.1 Findings 5.2 Conclusions 5.3 Suggestions

6. REFERENCES6.1 Bibliography 6.2Webliography

7. ANNEXURE

BIBLIOGRAPHYBajaj, C., Tuli, R. and Srivastava, N. (2007) Retail Management. New Delhi, India: Oxford Higher Education.

Bermans, B. and Evans, J.R. (2007) Retail Management A Strategic Approach. New Delhi, India: Pearson Education.Gupta, C.P. and Chaturvedi, M. (2007) Retailing: An emerging trend in India. Indian Journal of Marketing 37 (6): 3944. Hotelling, H. (1929) Stability in competition. The Economic Journal 39 (3): 41 57. .Article Haig, R.M. and Hotelling. (1926) Towards understanding of the Metropolis: Some speculation regarding the economic basis of urban concentration. Quarterly Journal of Economics

Webliographywww.google.com www.managmenteducation.com www.livemint. com/shoppers-stop-plans-to-open-15-st. www.shoppersstop.com www.indianretailnews.com www.financialexpress.com/news/raheja-Group-to-live-off-shopper-stop

ANNEXURE NAME: OCCUPATION: AGE GENDER: a)15-25 b)26-35 c)36-45 d)45 and above 1.How often do you shop? a) a week b) Fortnightly c) ONCE a Month 2.Rank your preferences for shopping location: a) Proximity b) Quality c) Brand d) Price e) Store Layout f) One-stop shopping 3. Does advertising and promotion influence your shopping decisions? a) Yes b) No

4. Do you prefer branded cloths and accesories? a) Yes b) No 5. Have you ever shopped from shoppers stop? a) yes b) No 6. To what extent you are satisfied with service quality at shoppers stop? a) Excellent b) Good c) Average d) Bad 7. How do you rate the ambience at shopper stop? a) Excellent b) Good c) Average d) Bad 8. What is your shopping experience at shoppers stop? a)Always delighted b) Happy c)Satisfied d)Boring

9. Do you recommend others to visit shoppers stop? a)Strongly recommend b)Recommend c)May not recommend d)Do not recommend 10. How often you visit shopper stop? a)Weekly b)Fortnight c)Montly d)Occasionally 11.Are you a first citizen member at shoppers stop? a)yes b)No 12.Being a member, are you satisfied with the first citizen card benefits? a)Yes b)No 13.Being a member what do you like most about the first citizen program? a)Discount b)Points c)Gifts d)Information

14.Are you aware of any events of shoppers stop? a)Yes b)No 15. What you look for the most while shopping in Shoppers Stop ? (Rate your preferences) a)Price b) Quality c) Comfort and fitting d) Color e) Fashionable 16.Rate the quality of products offered at shoppers stop? a) Excellent b) Good c) Average d) bad 17.Does loyalty building programs help in increasing your frequency of visit at shoppers stop? a)Yes b)No

THANK YOU