An Empirical Study on Retailing Industry in India: A Case Study on Apparel Market

The study puts focus on how retailers are designing organized retail formats to keep pace with the changing moods of the shoppers. This will help them out in reaching a huge market comprising middle segment in order to enhance their clientele. These organized retail formats are at a paradigm shift in India and the need of the hour is a place where the consumers are seeking the convenience of one-stop shopping which can be catered by none other than malls. In the past few years there has been a shift in India from individual retail outlets owned separately and managed distinctively and professionally for retailing. Things changed primarily because of rising expectations of Indian consumers Corporate houses in turn responded quickly to the needs of the consumers. The study addresses how factors within and outside the stores affect store-level shopping decision. Preference for certain retailer attributes differs by shopper and these preferences are reflected in store choice. Therefore, several retailer attribute act as reasons for store patronage. A questionnaire was designed to investigate store patronage relative to the importance and perception of selected attributes of the stores. The data were collected from retailers. Respondents were asked to describe their perception of store on the basis of various attributes. These attributes were then treated as variables/indicators in the study. The six main indicators on the basis of which retailers decide to go for specific type of retail format consisted of price, sales personnel, quality of merchandise, assortment of merchandise, advertising, services, and other convenience services. The data collected from 100 retailers.