customer style inventory

Consumer Decision Making Styles inShopping Malls of Bhubaneswar.

The retailing sector in India has undergone significant transformation in the past 10 years. The organized retail industry in India is expected to grow 25-30 per cent annually and would triple in size from Rs. 35,000 crore in 2004-05 to Rs.109,000 crore ($24 billion) by 2010. Retailing is gradually inching its way towards becoming the next boom industry. The consumer decision makingProcess is a complex phenomenon. The purchase of goods or services includes a number of factors that could affect each decision. Decision making is more complex and even more important for consumers today than in the past. The objectives of this study were to investigate the decision making styles of Indian shoppers in shopping malls of Bhubaneswar. Mall intercept survey was conducted to study the decision making styles of Indian shoppers in shopping malls. The sample included 60 active mall shoppers. The Consumers decision making styles were identified by a structure questionnaire and captured in eightStyles by conducting factor analysis. These decision making styles were perfectionist/high quality conscious consumer, brand conscious, novelty and fashion conscious, recreational and shopping conscious, price conscious, impulsive /careless, confused by overchoice,habitual/brand loyal(described in table -1). This study will help the managers of shopping malls to understand the underlying decision making styles of the shoppers in the malls and help them to craft their marketing strategies. Profiling consumers by their decision-making styles provide more meaningful ways to identify and understand various consumer segments and to target each segment with more focused marketing strategies.

Table- 1. (Characteristics of Eight Consumer Decision-Making Styles)

1. Perfectionist/high quality-conscious consumer: Decision style of consumers who systematically search for the best quality products possible. Consumers have high standards and expectations for consumer goods, and are concerned with the function and quality of products.2. Brand consciousness: decision style of consumers concerned with getting the most expensive, well-known brands. They feel that price is an indicator of quality.3. Novelty and fashion conscious: decision style of consumers who like new and innovative products and who gain excitement from seeking out new things. They are conscious of the new fashions and fads.4. Recreational and shopping conscious: decision style of consumers who take pleasure in shopping and who shop just for the fun of it.

5. Price conscious: decision style of consumers who are concerned with getting lower prices. They are likely to be comparison shoppers.6. Impulsiveness/careless: decision style of consumers who never plan their shopping and tend to buy spontaneously. They are not concerned about how much money they spend.7. Confused by over choice: decision style of consumers who feel they have too many brands and stores to choose from and who likely experience information overload in the market. Consumers find the marketplace confusing, view brands as alike, and seek help from friends.8. Habitual/brand loyal: decision style of consumers who are apt to have favourite brands and stores. They shop at the same stores and tend to buy the same brands each time.

INTRODUCTION

Over the last few years, retail has become one of the fastest growing sectors in the Indian economy. Though the country has highest retail outlet density in the world, Indian retail sector is highly fragmented and organized retail in the country is at very nascent stage. Organized retailing accounts for less than 5% of the retailing industry in India. Therefore, there is no real retail revolution in India since the industry is still in the stage of infancy. The organized retail industry in India is expected to grow 25-30 % annually and is projected to attain USD 23 billion by 2010(FCCI, 2005).Retailing is gradually inching its way towards becoming the next boom industry. Consumers are the major beneficiaries of the retail boom. The Indian consumer is changing rapidly. They now have a choice of wide range of products, quality and prices. Organised retailing is changing the whole concept of shopping in terms of consumer buying behaviour. In such a scenario, consumer decision making is of great interest for consumer educators and marketers interested in serving the consumer (Canabal, 2002). Therefore, there is clearly a need for research on this issue in India. In this study, we have tried to identify the consumer decision making styles in different shopping malls (Pantaloons, Big bazaar) of Bhubaneswar.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Retailers and marketers often seek to learn how and why people shop. The consumer decision making process is a complex phenomenon. The purchase of goods or services includes a number of factors that could affect each decision. Decision making is more complex and even more important for consumers today than in the past. Consumers are besieged by advertising, news articles, and direct mailings that provide an abundance of information, much of it with mixed messages. In addition, increases in the number and variety of goods,

stores, and shopping malls, and the availability of multicomponent products and electronic purchasingCapabilities have broadened the sphere for consumer choice and have complicated decision making (Hafstrom et al., 1992). Sproles and Kendall (1986) define a consumer decision making (CDM) style as “a mental orientation characterizing a consumer's approach to making choices.” Broadly speaking, there are three types of approaches in studying consumer decision-making styles: the psychographic/lifestyle approach, which identifies hundreds of characteristics related to consumer behaviour; the consumer typology approach, which classifies consumers into several types; and the consumer characteristics approach, which focuses on different cognitive dimensions of consumer decision making (cf. Fan et al., 1998). In the extant consumer behaviour literature, most studies assume that all consumers approach shopping with certain decision-making traits that combine to form a consumer's decision-making styles. Academicians and researchers have long been interested in identifying these underlying decision styles of shoppers. For example, consumers are identified as economic shoppers, personalizing shoppers, ethical shoppers, apathetic shoppers, store loyal shoppers, recreational shoppers, convenience shoppers, price-oriented shoppers, brand loyal shoppers, name-conscious shoppers, problem-solving shoppers, quality shoppers, fashion shoppers, brand conscious shoppers and impulse shoppers. (Bellenger andKorgaonkar 1980; Darden and Reynolds 1971; Stone 1954, Williams, Painter, and Nicholas 1978, Moschis 1976;Stephenson and Willett 1969, Gehrt and Carter 1992, Jacoby and Chestnut 1978, Lumpkin 1985). (cf. Hiu, A.Y. et al., 2001).Using the consumer characteristics approach, Sproles (1985) developed a 50-item instrument to profile the decision making styles of consumers. Using data collected from 111undergraduate women in two classes at the University of Arizona and employing a factor analysis technique, Sproles (1985) found six consumer decision-making style traits He named and described these traits: (1) Perfectionism, (2) Value Conscious, (3) Brand Consciousness,(4) Novelty-Fad-Fashion Consciousness, (5) Shopping Avoider-Time Saver-Satisfier (6) Confused, Support-Seeking Decision-Maker.In a later study, Sproles and Kendall (1986) developed a comprehensive instrument called Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) to measure consumer decision making styles. The instrument was administered to 482 students in 29 home economics classes in five high schools in the Tucson, Arizona area. (cf. Fan, J.X.,1998). This instrument measures eight mental characteristics of consumer's decision making: perfectionism, brand consciousness,Novelty-fashion consciousness, recreational, price-value consciousness, impulsiveness, confused by over choice, and brand-loyal/habitual. (cf. Mitchell, Vincent-Wayne, 2001).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The major objective of this study includes: To investigate the decision making styles of Bhubaneswar

shoppers in different shopping malls. To investigate the role of different decision making styles in the

inter-relationship between the above mentioned eight decision making styles.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This study used mall simple random survey method. Data were collected from shopping malls located in Bhubaneswar city of Orissa. The target population for this study consisted of active mall shoppers. A structured questionnaire was developed to measure the customer decision making styles in the shopping malls. The questionnaire consisted of questions concerning customer decision making styles and demographic information of respondents. For this study items were adapted from Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) developed by Sproles and Kendall (1986). CSI items were adopted from various available articles i.e. Mitchell, Vincent-Wayne (2001); Wesley et al. (2006) and Canabal, M.E. (2002). All of these were five point Likert-type scales in which respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). Lastly, the questionnaire also consisted questions to solicit demographic information of the respondents such as gender, age, household income and marital status.Questionnaire was hand carried and personally explained to respondents by us. We gave instructions for completing the questionnaire and waited while respondent independently filled out questionnaire.

HYPOTHESIS

In our survey we have taken 8 hypotheses based on the behaviour of the customers they are:

o (Ho)The customers are perfectionist.(Ha)The customers are perfectionist

o (Ho)The customers are brand conscious(Ha)The customers are brand conscious

o (Ho)The customer are fashion conscious/ novelty(Ha)The customer is fashion conscious/ novelty

o (Ho)The customers are recreational and shopping conscious

(Ha)The customers are recreational and shopping consciouso (Ho)The customers are price conscious

(Ha)The customers are price consciouso (Ho)The customers are confused by over choice

(Ha)The customers are confused by over choiceo (Ho)The customers are habitual/ brand loyal.

(Ha)The customers are habitual/ brand loyal.o (Ho)The customers are novelty and fashion conscious

(Ha) The customers are novelty and fashion consciousWe have conducted hypothesis test to find out whether the hypothesis that we have selected should be accepted or should be rejected. For this we have fixed our test mid value as 2.5 as because we have a chosen five point likert scale for our research. The following are the results of our t- test.

Perfectionist/high quality-conscious consumer = 2.04<2.5 hence rejectedBrand consciousness = 2.87>2.5 hence acceptedNovelty and fashion conscious=2.38<2.5 hence rejectedRecreational and shopping conscious=2.14<2.5 hence rejectedPrice conscious=2.1<2.5 hence rejectedImpulsiveness/careless=3>2.5 hence accepted Confused by over choice=2.82>2.5 hence acceptedHabitual/brand loyal=2.89>2.5 hence accepted

Hence the hypotheses those are being accepted are as:1. Brand consciousness 2. Impulsiveness/careless3. Confused by over choice4. Habitual/brand loyal

N Mean Std. DeviationStd. Error

MeanPERFECT 153 2.0392 .98597 .07971


MeanRECREATI 153 2.1438 1.06015 .08571


MeanCONFUSED 153 2.8235 1.16482 .09417


MeanCONSCIOU 153 2.8693 1.05564 .08534


Mean

IMPULSE 153 3.0065 1.16131 .09389


MeanFASHION 153 2.3791 1.14137 .09227


MeanCAREFUL 153 2.0915 1.00236 .08104


MeanLOYAL 153 2.8889 1.15597 .09345

FACTOR ANALYSIS

Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed variables in terms of fewer unobserved variables called factors. The observed variables are modelled as linear of the factors, plus "error" terms. The information gained about the interdependencies can be used later to reduce the set of variables in a dataset. Factor analysis originated in psychometrics, and is used in marketing, product management, operations research, and other applied sciences that deal with large quantities of data.In this study, factor analysis was carried out in two stages. In stage one; known as the factor extraction process, objective was to identify how many factors to be extracted from the data. In the second stage, all the factors were interpreted and labelled. Items having factor loading more than 0.5 were included in the interpretation. More detailed descriptions of the factors are presented in the next section.

In the factor analysis we have extracted three main variables. In the 1 st variable loyalty has the highest factor loading with .693 under component 1 with respect to recreational, brand conscious, impulsive & fashionable with factor loading .400, .449, -.376, .662 respectively.

Similarly under component 2 confused by over choice with the highest factor loading of .715 with respect to perfectionist with factor loading -.771.

For the 3rd variable, brand conscious with factor loading .634 is clubbed with price conscious and impulsive with a factor loading of -.553 & .596 respectively. It can be concluded that the new three variables have an effect of variance of 46.9% on the total sample.

Component

1 2 3LOYAL .693FASHION .662RECREATI -.400PERFECT -.771CONFUSED .715CONSCIOU .449 .634IMPULSE -.376 .596CAREFUL -.553

Component

Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

Total % of Variance Cumulative %1 1.429 17.866 17.8662 1.230 15.370 33.2363 1.094 13.672 46.908

REGRESSION ANALYSIS

Regression analysis includes any techniques for modelling and analyzing several variables, when the focus is on the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. More specifically, regression analysis helps us understand how the typical value of the dependent variable changes when any one of the independent variables is varied, while the other independent variables are held fixed. Most commonly, regression analysis estimates the conditional expectation of the dependent variable given the independent variables — that is, the average value of the dependent variable when the independent variables are held fixed.

After the factor analysis we have extracted the three most important variables.In the 1st variable loyalty has the highest factor loading with .693 under component 1 with respect to recreational, brand conscious, impulsive & fashionable with factor loading .400, .449, -.376, .662 respectively. Since loyalty is having the highest loading we have taken it as dependent and the other four variables as independent.Similarly under component 2 confused by over choice with the highest factor loading of .715 with respect to perfectionist with factor loading -.771. Hence we have taken confused by over choice as dependent because of its highest factor loading and perfectionist as independent. For the 3rd variable, brand conscious with factor loading .634 is clubbed with price conscious and impulsive with a factor loading of -.553 & .596

respectively. Hence we have taken brand conscious as dependent variable because of its highest factor loading and price conscious and impulsive as independent variable.

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized Coefficients

t Sig.B Std. Error Beta1 (Constant) 2.768 .437 6.333 .000

FASHION .161 .082 .159 1.979 .050RECREATI

-.084 .087 -.077 -.976 .331

CONSCIOU

.127 .087 .116 1.456 .147

IMPULSE -.149 .079 -.149 -1.886 .061

a Dependent Variable: brand loyal

Model



t Sig.B Std. Error Beta1 (Constant

)2.938 .304 9.663 .000

IMPULSE .023 .074 .025 .307 .759CAREFUL

-.066 .086 -.062 -.763 .446

a Dependent Variable: price cousious

Model



t Sig.B Std. Error Beta1 (Constant

)3.306 .213 15.503 .000

PERFECT

-.236 .094 -.200 -2.510 .013

a Dependent Variable: confused by over choice

A typical example of the regression equation(Y=A+BX, where Y is the dependent variable, A is the constant is the coefficient and X is the independent variable) for the 1st variable is:Y=A+BXBrand loyal(Y) =2.768+.161*X1-.084*X2+.127*X3-.149*X4, where X1=fashionable, X2=recreation, X3=brand conscious.Similarly all other two equations where also found out.

CONCLUSION

The objectives of this study were to investigate the consumer decision making styles in shopping malls. In the factor analysis we have extracted three

main variables. In the 1st variable loyalty has the highest factor loading with .693 under component 1 with respect to recreational, brand conscious, impulsive & fashionable with factor loading .400, .449, -.376, .662 respectively. Similarly under component 2 confused by over choice with the highest factor loading of .715 with respect to perfectionist with factor loading -.771. For the 3rd variable, brand conscious with factor loading .634 is clubbed with price conscious and impulsive with a factor loading of -.553 & .596 respectively. It can be concluded that the new three variables have an effect of variance of 46.9% on the total sample. Information on consumers' decision-making style will be useful for retailers targeting Indian markets. As Indian retail Industries is in boom today and more and more national and international players are interested in the emerging retail market in India, an understanding of Indian mall shopper behaviour , with particular reference to their decision-making styles, is crucial.

LIMITATION AND FURTHER RESEARCH

There are several limitations that warrant future research. The study has been conducted in Bhubaneswar city of Orissa, India. The results of the same, if conducted in other part of the county may vary. It is because a country like India has geographically, economically, socially and culturally very different areas. This difference is too significant to be ignored. The sample consisted of 60 active mall shoppers. The small sample size is also error-prone.Further research may address the following important questions: 1. Do the various formats of the shopping malls affect the consumers’ decision making styles in particular malls? 2. How do cultural factors influence the consumers’ decision making styles in shopping malls?3. Do the people from different geographical areas of Indian differ in their decision making styles in shopping malls? 4. Do the people from urban area and rural area differ in their decision making styles in shopping malls?

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customer style inventory

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