CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Project Report on

Consumer Behavior for Purchase of Goods

in a Supermarket
 

Submitted by

Group No. 06
ABHINANDAN BALA (21PGP007)

AKSHAYA A (21PGP027)

CHAPORKAR KALYANI GAJANAN (21PGP061)

DEVASHISH KURRE (21PGP072)

RAHUL KUMAR (21PGP181)

Under the guidance of

Dr. Sushant Kumar

Asst. Professor, IIM Raipur
Introduction
There are more than 435,000+ supermarkets in India. These supermarkets are expanding each passing
day. They are working on their services and offerings. The array of products offered by supermarkets
are increasing through mass customization. This study of consumer behavior in supermarkets will
help us understand customers’ expectations and preferences which could be used to suggest
improvements in the supermarket industry. 
Since their introduction, supermarkets and hypermarkets have been crucial to the distribution of food.
Traditional markets no longer exist for modern living, and their descendants, supermarkets, have
progressively taken their place. People now rely on supermarkets for their essential shopping needs.
Supermarkets were not affected even during COVID-19 since they stock essential items so we could
understand how important it is to study the supermarket industry. Supermarkets provide hassle free
one stop solutions for household necessities which is the main attraction for customers. 

Objective
 To study the consumer behavior of Indians while purchasing goods in Supermarkets,
understand their shopping habits and their perception about services offered by supermarkets
 Use of qualitative analysis to understand consumers in supermarket industry and identify
opportunities for improvement

Methodology
Focused group discussions were conducted in order  to understand the perception and thoughts of the
consumers on purchasing from a supermarket. There were 6 members in a group including consumer
who regularly visits the supermarket, consumer who casually visits and non-visitors along with a
moderator and an observer.
Findings
On the basis of focus group discussions and the interviews conducted with the sample, compiling of
regular visitors, casual visitors and non visitors to supermarkets we came across factors which
stimulate the consumer behavior while they go to shop in supermarkets. Through our findings we
tried capturing key factors whose frequency of occurrence along this process were highest and took
them into consideration.
These factors include- ambience, space, store helpers, discount, pre decided plan for shopping and
along this we also tried to capture the intention of consumer- need based or impulsive, whom they are
accompanied along when they go to supermarkets.
These factors actually helped us understand how consumers’ are actually affected in this supermarket
environment and how they make a decision/call. 
To further verify that these factors actually influence the consumer behavior in a supermarket
environment, we prepared a questionnaire consisting of questions that capture the above mentioned
influences, through this questionnaire (Google form survey) further we have explained the analysis of
the result we got from this survey.

The following were the key findings from the survey:

 More than 50% of individuals being surveyed visit 1-2 times per month to the supermarket.
 Around 40% visit supermarkets with family, 27.5% with friends and the same 27.5% alone.
 Around 65% of individuals give a planned visit with minimal purchase goal to the
supermarket and around 25% for bulk purchase.
 65% of the purchasers buy as per convenience needs and 35% are impulsive (mood based).
 Around 72.5% of individuals believe that discount affects their purchase intention.
 Around 80% individuals believe that space and ambience is important and play a vital role in
consumers' purchase behavior.
 More than 50% of individuals admit that salesmen and store helpers are also important and
affect consumers’ purchase.
Analysis
Most individuals considered here are of a particular age group and thus there is a sampling bias, 71.8
% 0-25 and 23.1 % from 26-29 years.

55% visit 1-2 times in a month. 25% visit 3-5 times. 15% visit 6-10 times in a month. Most of
them are monthly buyers.
Most visits are planned visits for minimal purchase 65% and next 25% are for planned bulk purchase. 

Mostly the individuals visit with family 40%. Who visit alone and with friends are equally
distributed at 27.5 %.
Most visits are need based convenience purchase visits 65% and the rest are impulsive purchase visits.

Around 80% individuals believe that space and ambience is important and play a vital role in
consumers' purchase behavior.
Influence of discount on purchase decision for around 72.5% rated as 4 and 5

Influence of sales team at store to influence the purchase decision of customers visiting super markets.

Conclusion
Supermarkets are growing rapidly and big players like Reliance, Future Group etc are investing
heavily in this sector.
Through our research, we were able to identify a few factors that affect the consumer buying behavior
in a supermarket. These factors include Ambience, Discounts and behavior of salesmen towards
consumers.
Supermarkets can use these factors to formulate their marketing strategies and provide better value
propositions to the consumers. 
Future Scope