PART-1

A STUDY ON CONSUMER’S BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS

SHOPPING MALLS IN CHENNAI CITY

INTRODUCTION:

Recently, the developers and investors are conscious of the benefits of retaining,
customers which are essential leading to the success of shopping centre development. The
effective marketing plan can draw more people and repeated customers to visit the 5
shopping arcade again and as a consequence enhance the sales revenue to the tenants and
achieve stable and high rental income to the investors. Therefore the developers are willing to
put more financial and manpower resources to implement market strategy so as to enhance
the attractiveness of the arcade and build up a good relationship with customers. There has
been a shift in the market demand in today’s world. Technology is one of the major factors
which are responsible for this paradigm shift in the mark. New generation people are no more
dependent on hate market and far off departmental stores. Today we can see a new era in
market with the opening up of many departmental stores, hyper market, shopper’s stop,
malls, branded retail outlets and specialty stores.

In today’s world shopping is not any more tiresome work rather it’s a pleasant outing
phenomenon now. The present study is based on a study on the consumer behaviour towards
shopping malls. Shopping malls is a new type of market which came into existence in India
since 1994. It is a type of market where various kinds of products are available under one
roof. My study is on determining the customer’s buying behaviour of customer’s in shopping
malls and the satisfaction level of customers in shopping malls. My study will find out the
current status of shopping malls and determine where it stands in the current market. This
market field survey will help in knowing the present customers tastes and preferences. It will
help me in estimating the customer’s future needs, wants & demands. Shopping malls are
increasingly using promotional activities to differentiate the mall from competitors through
image / brand communication, to increase traffic (visits) and to stimulate merchandise
purchases in an increasingly competitive environment characterized by over capacity and
declining customers Owner/management groups that have a portfolio of malls have
recognized a need to market themselves effectively given that the store mix and product
offerings of many regional shopping malls are very similar. However, the changing consumer
base is creating a need to better understand the requirements of a heterogeneous market
composed of numerous diverse segments making the use of mass market promotions more
difficult.

CONSUMER:
 Simply speaking, consumer is a person who consumes or uses various goods and
services. Goods may include consumable goods (like wheat, salt, sugar, fruits etc.) or durable
consumer goods (like T.V., Refrigerator, Toaster, etc.). Services that we buy may include
electric power, Transport, Professional’s advices etc. “Anybody who chooses goods and
services spends money to obtain them and uses to satisfy his or her own needs.”

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR:

Consumer behaviour is the study of human response to products and services. It is

important to understand “ Why” & “ How” of buyers behave so manufacturer can do a better
job of developing quality of product, charging reasonable price, improvement in distributing
product through various channels, and promoting goods and services with various promotion
measure for the group of consumers. The study of consumer behaviour has its roots in
examining people for the sake of understanding and going insight. Consumers are like finger
prints, no two consumers are same in their behaviour. Consumers are shaped to some extent
by the environment in which they live they in term affect environment through their
behaviour. The fundamental goals of every business are to achieve full profit potential out of
target consumer with various needs and taste there are many similarities also among them.
Therefore it becomes necessary to study target consumer wants, perception preferences and
buying behaviour. The behaviour that consumer display in searching, purchasing eliminating
and disposing of goods and services which make them to essence of study of consumer
behaviour. To study the changing pattern of consumer behaviour and penetration, the result
can get by doing survey so I decided to do survey on Mall. Consumer behaviour obviously
refers to the behaviour of consumers in deciding whether to buy or not to buy, whether to use
or not to use, whether to dispose of or not to dispose of the products, which satisfy their
needs. Consumer behaviour also refers to the use of scarce resource like time, money and
efforts on consumption items.

Consumer behaviour tries to answer the following question:

1. What products and services consumer buy?
2. What makes consumer to buy?
3. When these are bought by consumer?
4. From where the consumer buy?
5. What is the frequency of buying? How often consumer use it?

I will undertake what is known as “consumer research” to find the answers to the
above questions. These answers will provide help to the manufacturers in the design,
development and further improvement of their product. It also enables them to design their
promotional strategies. A purchaser or buyer is not necessarily being a consumer. Generally
parents also buy for their children in this case they are not the user but, the children.
Sometimes a product brought may be used jointly. It is also noted that the decisions to buy
may influence by a number of persons. A marketer has to buy may influence by an either to
the buyer or the user or the influencers. Some think that the best audience is that of buyers,
while some others think that it is that of the users. It is possible to play safer by directing the
promotion to both the buyer and user. Medicines are promoted through the doctors, who take
the product selection decision, but they neither buyers nor user.

Why We Study Consumer Behaviour?

The study of consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals make decisions to
spend their available resources (time, money, efforts) on consumption-related items. It
includes the study of what they buy, why they buy it, when they buy it, where they buy it,
how often they buy it, and how often they use it. Just as consumer and marketers are diverse,
the reasons why people study consumer behaviour are also diverse. The field of consumer
behaviour holds great interest for us as consumer, as marketers.
As consumer, we benefit from our own consumptions-related decision: what we buy,
why we buy, how we buy, and the promotional influences that persuade us to buy. The study
of consumer behaviour enables us to become better, that is, wiser, consumer. As marketers
and future marketers, it is important for us to recognize why and how individuals make their
consumption decisions, so that we can make better strategic marketing decisions. If marketers
understand consumer behaviour, they are able to predict how consumers are likely reacting to
various informational and environmental causes, and are able to shape their marketing
strategies accordingly. Without doubt, marketers who understand consumer behaviour have
great competitive Advantage in the marketplace.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

Retail shops / outlets in India are spread across Chennai city in high and busy street,
neighbourhood strips, shopping centres and shopping malls. The present study will help to
understand the consumer behaviour in shopping mall with special reference to Chennai
region. It will also try to measure the marketability of malls. The purpose of this research is
to focus on the retail shops development and community interaction aspects of Chennai city
shopping malls.

The Present research on shopping mall development and redevelopment can more
comprehensively address the importance of malls to the communities in which they are
located. Broadly, neglected areas of research are the community and economic contributions
of shopping malls. These are critical issues, given the age of shopping malls worldwide, the
need for adjacent area redevelopment and requirement of large public subsidies for
infrastructure construction. The present study will also give suggestions to enhance the
effectiveness of Retail shops through shopping malls. The study attempts to provide
recommendations/ suggestions which can be used for effective management of shopping
malls and induct revolution and continuously appreciate the dynamics of change so as to have
competitive edge in the survival and growth of shopping malls in Chennai. Shopping mall is
the fastest route for business expansion which offers an excellent business model particularly
for service organizations waiting to extend their networks and reach to the consumers.
 PART-2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Taylor and Cosenza (2002) conducted a study to examine the shopping choice
Behaviour of an important and viable segment of teen market called, “Later aged female
teen”. The results revealed that typical later aged female teen made right choice especially for
clothing products. Finally the groups desire to stay and shop at the local mall seemed to be a
function of the mall composition and excitement.

Parsons (2003) in his paper analysed common promotional activities employed by

shopping mall marketers, which were ranked by a sample of customers on their likelihood of
encouraging increases in the two key performance indicators used by shopping malls – sales
and visits. Whilst mall–wide sales are the preferred promotion, a combination of general
entertainment and price–based promotions were found to be a strong alternative way to
Encourage visits and spending.

Anselmsson (2006) in his study found selection as the most important determinant of
shopping mall choice, followed by atmosphere / ambience of the mall and third most
important determinant of satisfaction was convenience, which includes opening hours,
parking, ease–of–movement and ability to find one’s location in the mall. If shopping mall
enjoys high visiting rates, a better strategy might be to focus on present customers and build
relationships by improving satisfaction management. The focus would then be on
atmosphere, refreshments, convenience and performance of the store personnel. On the other
hand, if a mall is behind competitors and needs to increase sales and visit frequency,
management should focus more on promotional activities and location aspects in terms of
improving geographical convenience.

Feinberg, Sheffler, Meoli and Rummel (1989) considered the social stimulation
provided by malls, finding that the mall served as an outlet for social behaviour. Further
examination of this issue was made by Lotz, Eastlick and Shim (2000), who studied the
similarities and differences between mall entertainment seekers and mall shoppers. Their
results supported hypotheses that there are different motivations for individuals who visit a
mall for entertainment activities versus those who visit for shopping purposes.

Burns and Warren (1995) opined that since the store mix and product offerings of
many regional shopping malls are very similar, often the primary discriminator between
many of these centres is merely location. Making the choice to shop at a regional shopping
mall other than the one nearest to one’s place of residence, therefore, does not appear to be a
logical choice in many instances. Such behaviour, however, appears to be relatively common.
It would appear; therefore, that regional shopping mall choice may not always be based
solely on the offerings and location of the available shopping alternatives.

Subhashini Kaul (Ms.) & Abhishek (2007) in their paper titled “Consumerism and
Mindless Consumption Sustaining the New Age Urban Indian’s Identity.” highlighted the
critical factors that contribute to a negative impact on consumer identity. Key factors
impacting the ‘New Age’ Urban Indian’s identity were discussed in the paper and
mechanisms suggested at business firm levels to sustain and arrest this damage. Paper
identified that multiple social identities are a reality. In the new millennium, every consumer
has to realize her multiple role(s) and the roles‟ salience in an integrated manner.

Nidhi Katare (2007) attempted to look at the structure of Retail Marketing in India.
According to her retail marketing is most dynamic and exciting areas of growth in global
economy. The author suggest that to beat the competition, stand out in a saturated
marketplace and succeed despite tightening margins, savvy retailers has to focus on
customer-centric service, personalization and loyalty programs to attract and retain
customers.

Ooi & Sim, 2007 The last few years have witnessed an accelerating increase of
shopping malls in the Indian retail sector. The evolution of malls happened not with a motive
of evolving a new retail format but with the basic idea of developing a community centre for
people where they could converge for shopping, cultural activity and social interaction.
Gradually malls increased in huge numbers that they replaced the street shopping centres and
became shopping communities themselves. (Feinberg et al, 1991).

Maronick, 2007 The shopping centres which are larger could facilitate variety of
shops and create pleasant environment for the shoppers, leading the shoppers to visit and stay
longer The shopping malls attract regular and tourist shoppers towards frequent shopping and
most of the growing cities are patronizing the shopping malls compared to the downward
market places The consumers may be attracted to a mall by feelings evoked by qualitative
aspects of a particular amalgamation of stores rather than a variety of stores with a limited
depth and width (Meoti et al, 1991). This is because consumers in an overcrowded market,
when have choice of variety and several shopping centre options for multiple purpose trips,
the need arises for a measure of attraction, which grasps the essence of consumer’s liking and
can also be practically applied. The stores which a customer shops in represent reinforcing
stimuli that contribute to the attraction response towards the mall. It was termed as the
reinforcement-affect model and an experimental study was conducted to prove that the more
likeable stores that a mall housed, the more acceptable the mall was to the consumer. The in-
store environment variables in the shopping malls driving impulsive buying behaviour
include display of point of sales posters, exhibiting promoting discounts and cheaper prices,
while the atmosphere engagement referring to enjoyment, elegance and attractiveness is
indicated by ambience inside the shopping mall. Such behavioural drivers may also be
referred as in-store promotional effect and atmospheric effect.
 Zhou & Wong, 2004 Moreover, major attributes of shopping mall attractiveness
include comfort, entertainment, diversity, mall essence, convenience, luxury from the
perspective of shoppers and such shopping mall attractiveness may be designed in reference
to the three broad segments of shoppers that include stress free shoppers, demanding
shoppers, and pragmatic shoppers which enables mall managers to develop appropriate
retailing strategies to satisfy each segment (EL-Adly, 2007).

Roy, 1994 The shopping malls needed to be positioned effectively so that it increases
footfalls of shoppers which would require greater attention to ambience and the inclusion of
related services such as gaming zones, theatres or restaurants. Additionally, studies were
done between mall shopping frequency and background variables, both demographic and
those related to shopping motivations, which characterize shoppers at a mall on the basis of
functional shopping motivation, deal proneness, recreational shopping motivation, age,
income and family size This study of ‘Correlates of Mall Visit Frequency’ had used the
classification of shoppers where two broad categories namely functional economic and
recreational shoppers were identified. This study found a very high degree of correlation
between the visit frequency and degree of recreational shopping motivation. This study used
a Poisson-gamma model to explain grocery-shopping trips and also further highlights the
managerial implications of such a study and the positioning aspect for a mall. Furthermore,
the presence of discount stores and frequent mall promotions might increase visits by deal
prone buyers. Strategic marketing results could also be based on these results (Woodside,
1973) e.g. special mall events and exhibits might cause recreational shoppers to visit malls
frequently and increase the repeat rates.

Dickson & Albaum, 1977 However, researchers have also investigated the feasibility
of loyalty of customers towards a mall (Lehew et al, 1994). The in-store loyalty programs
were considered by mall owners a promising option for retaining customers. This research
ascertained if a loyal mall group existed and also examined their assessment of mall
characteristics to provide a better understanding of attributes that induced a loyal response.
The survey instrument included both behavioural and attitudinal measures of customer
loyalty. The behavioural loyalty measured each respondent’s percentage of product category
purchases made annually in the mall. There were 28 shopping mall attributes which
represented seven distinct categories. There had been tremendous amount of research work
carried out pertaining to retail stores and formulation of the retail Store Image measurement
scale.

Nevin & Houston, 1980 Moreover, there were other researchers who claimed the
dependency of mall loyalty on underlying dimensions like mall environment and value
assortment They found that while value assortment had a significant and positive impact on
mall loyalty, the mall environment did not have much influence. Another significant finding
was that the perceptions of the mall were different amongst the loyal and non-loyal shoppers.
Hence, mall customers can be divided into loyal and non-loyal groups. However, a drawback
of the above research is the low percentage of variance explained by the regression model, as
well as only one mall attribute i.e. competitive prices receiving a positive perception by loyal
mall shoppers. This does not present a strong case for the importance of mall attributes in the
loyal customer’s mind and hence there is further scope to study the essential ingredients
encouraging loyalty to a specific mall.

Stoltman et al, 1991 Furthermore, researchers had also investigated into mall
shopping as a relative choice phenomenon where a consumer chooses to shop at malls over
other outlets dependent on the choice given and the patronage is contingent upon the choice
alternatives. The shoppers undergo important changes in their lifestyle, spending habits,
shopping tendencies and strategies. In addition, those who have certain shopping orientations
may prefer to shop at malls, as in case of the browser. The mall shopping could also reflect
more economical or functional shopping orientations because they provide a convenient way
to compare shops across a variety of goods and a way to complete several purchases in one
trip. The study involved a stepwise regression on 3 criterion variables: regency, frequency
and intention that were carried out and compared across three malls. This study highlighted
that emphasis must be laid on the correct ways of data collection and more factors for mall
choice must be explored prior to collecting data about it amongst the respondents.

Taushif and Gupta 2013, There is a need to understand shopping as a fundamental

feature of modern society, says Dennis (2005). His empirical investigation carried over a
three-year period, of four UK shopping centres focused in finding out the role of attributes
such as transport links, parking, choice of major stores, attractiveness of malls, basic
facilities, seating areas, helpfulness of staff, friendly atmosphere, quality of products etc. And
the study concluded that the people are attracted to different shopping centres for different
reasons. Another crucial study by attempted to investigate the relationship of various factors,
with impulse buying tendency of consumers in the Delhi region also concluded that same.

Applebaum 1951 On the other hand, argues that the buying behaviour of customer is
influenced by the needs and preferences of the consumers for whom the products are being
purchased. Sohail (2015), in his empirical research study compared men and women for
differences in mall shopping. Based on a survey of 513 shoppers across Saudi Arabia, the
study suggest that factors such as value perceptions, lifestyles and shopping orientation differ
across genders and have a significant impact on mall patronage (Sohail, 2015).A cross-
cultural study by Wijnen et al., (2011) analzed how shopping centre attributes can be adapted
to culture related shopping behaviour of emigrants. The results, based on an online survey
among British, Japanese and American emigrants living in Amsterdam and Amstelveen (the
Netherlands), reflect a universal lifestyle among emigrants, while they also emphasize
cultural values and differences (Wijnen et al., 2011).A quantitative empirical research by Heij
(2012) was performed among consumers of two inner-city shopping areas in The
Netherlands. The researcher focused in finding out “Which –and how do –atmospherics of an
inner-city shopping area contribute to the experiential value of the consumer, differentiated
by age?” On the other hand, Kanoga et al (2015) investigated the effect of place mix
dimension on performance of shopping malls in the Kenyan context.
 Rajagopal 2010 The article discusses how consumers' decision-making styles shift
towards shopping at malls as well as street markets in Mexico City. Based on exploratory
data and using a theoretical model of consumer-decision making styles, this study addresses
the causes and effects of coexistence of shopping malls and street markets. As discussed
earlier, Age factor is an important composition in understanding the purchasing behaviour of
the customer. In this regards, Rousseau, G.G., & Venter, D.J.L. (2014) argues that retailers
often give high priority to other market segments while ignoring the mature consumers,
because they perceive that they have limited purchasing power. But the study concluded that
mature mall shoppers have specific needs and preferences. The Indian consumer seems to be
undergoing a shift in terms of personality, buying motives, interests, attitudes, beliefs and
values when he or she is making a shift from „kirana‟ stores towards shopping malls (Shekar
et al, 2016). In India, there is huge potentiality for the future development of the retail
industry as the market is growing, government policies are becoming liberal and the
technological developments in the country arefavourable for operations in India (Taneja,
2007).
Shekar et al., 2016 studied the overall customer satisfaction, response of customers
with regard to the availability and quality of products and services offered at shopping malls
and the comfort level of the respondents towards shopping in the shopping malls. Sharma
(2012) research carried in Mumbai also assessed the overall customer satisfaction. The
researcher analysed the response of customers with regard to the availability and quality of
products and services offered at shopping malls and the comfort level of the respondents
towards shopping in the shopping malls.

Yaaminidevi 2013 On the other hand, research study carried out in Madurai city,
Tamilnadu with a sample of 100 respondents focused on Facility Management like ambience,
infrastructure and traffic were analysed particularly. She suggested that malls not only cater
to the product needs of the customers, but also a source of entertainment, recreation. Khare
(2010) on a different note researched the mall shopping behaviour of Indian small town
consumers. She focused on how these malls bring functional and experiential benefits and
affect the shopping behaviour among small town people, though they are unfamiliar with the
concept of malls.

The findings show that men and women differ in their perception towards malls on
the issue of social interaction and the role of cultural restriction is clearly visible here.
Ravindran et al. (2009) investigated decision-making styles like price consciousness, quality
consciousness etc., of Indian shoppers in shopping malls and the variations in these styles
across different demographic variables.

Madhavi and Leelavati (2013) studied the impact of visual merchandising on

consumer behaviour, especially towards women apparel. The study concluded that retailers
can help customers to find the right products and enhance desirability of products through
focused merchandising, intelligent store design and layout, and other visual merchandising
practices, such as product displays, packaging, and signage.
 Ahmed and Mayya (2015) The survey findings in Mangalore region on the
perceptions of the customers of shopping malls clearly indicate that consumers have gained
lot of benefits from organized retail on multiple counts like wider choice of products and
well-known brands, one stop shopping, new market arrivals, festive offers, huge discounts,
and other benefits.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The following are the objectives of the study

 To analyse the perception of consumers in purchasing at shopping malls.
 To identify the factors of influencing consumers to purchase at shopping malls.
 To study the consumer behaviour at shopping malls with reference to gender, age,
occupation and income.
 To analyse different attributes of layout, accessibility, ambience, availability of
services, sales personnel and promotional tools in Mall.
 To study consumer’s buying tactic, shopping priority during shopping at malls in
region of Mumbai.
 To find the expectation and perceptions of Consumer’s desirable and wishful
factors in future they want in mall.