Title: Profiling urban shoppers in India: a qualitative study of select retail chain stores

Authors: Rashmi

Addresses: Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, North Campus, Delhi 110007, India

Abstract: This article attempts to understand urban shoppers of modern (organised) grocery retail in India. Multiple qualitative methods - in-situ observations, direct interviews, focus group interviews and CI technique - were applied to reveal insights on shopper personalities and shopping motives for three popular super- and hypermarket chains. A list of shopping contexts was translated into categories of nine shopping missions. Six shopper types were uncovered. The more prominent shopper types were identified for each retail chain under study. A multi-brand retailer can adjust its brand portfolio and product offerings (e.g., by deleting or adding product categories) by understanding its typical customer and her shopping motives. It can accordingly monitor its customer's accessibility to preferred product categories by suitably designing the store layout to match shopper missions and managing stock-outs. Retail chains can apply these insights to formulate their store brand strategy - whether to offer own-brands, in which product categories, and positioned how.

Keywords: shopper types; observation; shopping missions; grocery buying; emerging markets; urban shoppers; cities; India; retail chain stores; shopper personalities; shopping motives; brand portfolio; product offerings; consumer preferences; brand strategy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJQRS.2015.076920

International Journal of Qualitative Research in Services, 2015 Vol.2 No.2, pp.129 - 146

Received: 07 Nov 2015
Accepted: 11 Jan 2016
Published online: 07 Jun 2016 *

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