Consumer Buying Perception and Preferences towards Organized Retailing: An Empirical Analysis of Shopping Malls in Lucknow

Abstract

Retail industry in India, being one of the largest retail industries in the world in terms of growth, provides goods and services to a large number of people from various strata of society. Retail sector also supports to create huge employment opportunities for the young generation as new form of organized retail sector has emerged within the retail industry. The objective of this paper is to examine the activities in which consumers engage in malls and why the mall culture is gaining acceptance among consumers. The paper focuses on the factors (specially demographic and social) which influence the shopping at malls in Lucknow. Another objective of study is to understand consumer behavior towards shopping malls and also to find out the consumer’s satisfaction level from shopping malls. The study finds that consumers prefer shopping, eating at food courts, window shopping and entertainment in the form of movies at multiplexes or video game parlors in malls. Consumers prefer the air conditioned environment(shopping ambiance), availability of several product categories under one roof, quality of service, car parking facilities, convenience of shopping and the confidence that the store-owner is not cheating in context of mall. So, the retail industry in India must take concrete steps to withstand the growing global competition in market.