A Study on Consumer Behaviour and Buying Patterns In Apparel Retail Environment

Abstract

Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. It concerns with identifying consumers’ needs and satisfy them more effectively than competitors. It makes marketing consumer oriented. It is the key to succeed. Consumer behaviour is a study of how individuals make decision to spend their available resources (time, money and effort) or consumption related aspects (What they buy? When they buy?, How they buy? etc.). The heterogeneity among people makes understanding consumer behaviour a challenging task to marketers. Hence marketers felt the need to obtain an in-depth knowledge of consumers buying behaviour. This study is conducted in the retail environment to study and observe retail consumer behaviour and consumption patterns.

Design/methodology/approach: A structured questionnaire consisting of 15 questions was prepared, distributed to 200 customers by using preferential sampling method.

Major Results: The age group that visits the apparel outlets more is of 23-27 years, most of the customers are male, salaried employees and graduates. The average amount spent by the customers is ranging from Rs.1000/- to Rs.5000/- and most of the customers visiting the apparel stores are coming from 3km-5km radius.

Managerial Implications: Most of the customers are coming to know about the offers through in-store communication. There are less people who come to buy the lifestyle products. It is identified in the study that the retail consumer behaviour is mostly affected by the factors like offers, prices, fashion and location of the outlet.