Retail Marketing and Shoppers’ Experience

RETAILING vs CUSTOMER SWITCHING

1. Dr. Mohd. Yaseen Khan

Asst. Professor
Army Institute of Management & Technology Gr. Noida. U.P. India-201306
Mob-9999900423
Mail id- mykhan@aimt.ac.in

2. Mr.. Joni Sahoo 3. Ms. Suchita Rakholia

Student Student
Army Institute of Management & Technology Gr. Army Institute of Management & Technology Gr.
Noida. U.P. India-201306 Noida. U.P. India-201306
Mob-9547418036 Mob- 9760697229
Mail id- mba2018_joni_sahoo@aimt.ac.in Mba2018_suchita_rakholia@aimt.ac.in

ABSTRACT
A business or person that sells goods to the ultimate consumer, as opposed to a wholesaler or supplier, who
normally sell their goods to another business is called retailer.
Indian market is the vital market for most of the multinationals all over the world. The country with its vast
diversity has undergone a tremendous changes in last decade or so. Gone are the days, when M. Gandhi's
thought of ‘simple living and high thinking’ was respected by one and all in India. Prior to independence,
conspicuous consumption was restricted to merely with the Nababs and Maharajas. However, in the last six
decades, much water is flown under the bridge. Retail market is flourishing in leaps and bounds in our country.
Several players have become ‘apple of eyes’ of affluent consumers in India. One may notice the existence of
various Indian and foreign retail brands in the sphere of grocery, apparels, accessories, automobiles,
cosmetics, wristwatches, electronic gadgets, furniture etc. Considering the peculiar nature of Indian consumer,
special type of strategies is required to maintain, retain and sustain existing consumer base as customer
switching is the challenge to retailers of the country. To cope up with this challenge, retailers are striving for
new and innovative strategies.
Customer retention is an important aspect in today’s competitive business scenario. This is especially true
more for the services sector. Retailing constitutes an important aspect in the business scenario. Retailers will
not be able to serve their customers unless they are aware of the requirements of their customers. Ignorance
of the requirements will result in customers switching to other brands. For this reason, it becomes important
to understand the dimensions affecting customer switching in retailing. According to Brassington (2003)
customer switching refers to “consumers who are not loyal to any one brand of a particular product and switch
between two or more brands within the category. Customer switching means customers are abandoning a
product or service in favor of a competitor. It is a situation where a brand loses a once loyal customer to
a competitor. In other words, a shopper changes their buying habits, choosing deliberately to pu rchase
another brand instead of their usual choice.
Consumer Behavior has always been a meadow of an immense concern and it differs from consumers to
consumers. Several factors are accountable for this like knowledge, income, lifestyle, social class,
background, customs &traditions etc. India has become luxury consumption country; its rapid economic
growth is enhancing employment and business opportunities and in turn escalating disposable incomes. There
has been rapid transformation in the Indian retail industry owing to mishmash of economic and social factors
like rising affluence, exposure to media, accessibility of luxury brands, market regulations etc. Shopping and
fashion plays a vital role in young women's lifestyle. In this context, the present paper makes a modest attempt
to analyze the relationship between the personal values, social recognition, and demographics factors and its
effects on brand loyalty.
This research paper has focused on the action been adopted to prevent consumers switching. This study
concluded that the Indian retailing has changed. The consumption class and its consumption pattern has also
undergone a tremendous change. This paper will help multinationals to redefine their products for Indian
market and gives them a glimpse of taste of Indian consumers. This will also help them set a competitive price
for the market which is still a driving force in Indian consumers to buy a product. This paper attempts to
examine the influence of social and personality factors on the attitude of the consumers which further
strengthens the purchase intention to buy a brands. It is a descriptive research and data was collected through
exploration of different source of secondary data and self-observation.
The purpose of our study is to identify and measure the relative influence of different factors contributing to
brand switching in a retail service context. The study found that there are three basic reasons why consumer
switch to a brand (1) changes in usage context or situation; (2) marketing mix variables which are directly
controllable by the firm; and (3) customer background variables. The strategic marketing implications and
possible actions to be take are discussed in the study.

Keywords: brand switching, lodging industry, retail service, marketing strategy, empirical studies