Study of Consumers’ perceptions about Malls and Traditional Retail Outlets

Cooperative marketing is not new to India. To get the economies of scale, Indian craftsmen and traders made shrenies or groups of similar products and trade during 6th and 7th centuries. This was the basis of caste system. The villages during medieval and British period grew with cooperative trade. Cooperative marketing is just an extension and application of the philosophy of cooperation in the area of agricultural marketing. It is a process of marketing through a cooperative society, formed for the producers, by the producers. It seeks to eliminate the middlemen between the producer and the consumer, thus getting the maximum price for their produce. Kirana shops are traditional retail outlets in India. However with the advent of new cooperative marketing with modern all-facility malls, there is general perception that retails consumers are getting skewed towards malls and consequently Kirana stores are experiencing tough competition to retain their customers. This paper is an attempt to know consumers’ perception of Malls and Kriana stores.