INTRODUCTION

After the economic reforms of the 90s, India revitalized itself in to a next big global
phenomenon exhibiting immense potential in all the sectors especially manufacturing,
IT, Retail
and steel. Retailing has seen such a transformation over the past decade that its very
definition
has undergone a sea change. It is one of the pillars of its economy and accounts for 14
to 15%
of its GDP. Today, retailing is much more than mere merchandising. It is about casting
customers
in a story, reflecting their desires and aspirations, and forging long-lasting relationships.
It has
changed from selling a product or a service to selling a hope, an aspiration and above
all an
experience that a consumer would like to repeat.
India is on the radar of Global Retailers and suppliers worldwide are willing to partner
with
retailers here. Comprising of Organised and Unorganised sectors, Retail industry is one
of the
fastest growing industries in India, especially over the last few years. With growing
market
demand, the industry is expected to grow at a pace of 25-30% annually.

Traditionally, retailing in India has meant emergence of numerous kirana shops, which
are
well distributed throughout the urban and rural landscapes. As the economy grew after
Independence, the number of such establishments grew. Since 1956-57, the emergence
of Khadi
and Village industries Commission (KVIC) showed an era of government support for an
indigenous
franchise model of store chains. This was first of its kind of so called Organised Retail
format.
Till 1990s however, the organisation formats included company owned single branded
retail
outlets. The second half of 1990s saw a transformation in the Organised Retail Industry
with the
advent of the multi brand and multi product organised retailing.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Determining consumer behaviour is the most difficult task for the marketers as
consumers
demands keep changing over time. Many Researchers have tried to gain an insight into
consumer
behaviour.
Like, Alhadeff & David, (1982) has defined consumers decision making process which
includes problem identification, information search, and evaluation of alternatives,
outlet selection,
and purchases/post purchase action. Bryunina & Safaei, (2011) however concentrated
on the
environmental concerns of the consumers and has explored ecological labels that
influence buyer
behaviour, however it is difficult to make this statement about Organic bread because of
lack of
supply and advertisement that makes it hard for people to get information about
existence of such
bread.
Batra & Karmi, (2004) has identified that consumer behaviour is highly influenced by
the
demographic factors. Consumers around the world are different in various factors such
as age,
income, education level and preferences which may affect the way they avail of goods
and
services. Consumer behaviour influences namely: cultural, social, personal and
psychological
factors. Similar results were found in the study conducted by Devi & Ravilochanan,
(2011)
where he defined consumer behaviour as the mental and emotional processes and the
observable
behaviour of consumers during searching purchasing and post consumption of a product
and
service
According to Kotler & Armstrong (2001), consumers have more objective view of the
nature of the attributes (e.g. food, cosmetics) because they are constantly being
advertised and
promoted. Similarly, consumer evaluation of a product can be broken into evaluation
related to
product (tangible or physical attributes) and brand name.
Price is another form of attribute used by consumers to evaluate a product. Price can
sometimes be an indicating of quality, with a higher price indicating higher quality.
Consumers
perceive that a higher price can be attributed to the higher cost of quality control; some
consumers are highly price sensitive, whereby a high price may shift consumers to
competitive
brands. Therefore price can have positive or negative influences (Schiffman & Kanuk,
2004).
Doyle &Fenwick (1975), propose that price, product variety, one-stop shopping, quality,
location of the store, advertisement, general appearance of the store and convenience
are some
major attributes looked upon by the consumers while evaluating a grocery store.

Shaw et al (1992) in their opinion on the retailers and customer purchases stated that
buyers
use only a subset of product requirements to decide among many retailers when
making an actual
purchasing decision. Retailing is the one of the most dynamic and rapidly changing
sectors of
Indian industry. Multiple retail companies now dominate the unorganised retail sector
and threatening
their existence.
Brennan & Lundsten (2000), in their study on the consumer shopping habits identified
that
consumers shop at discounts for low prices and large variety and stores for the unique
items
they cannot find elsewhere
The closure of a small shop with a super store nearly would affect the residents of a
local
neighborhood differently compared to the closure of only shop in a small locality without
a super
store nearby and the decline in the number of small shops has different implications to
the
existing customers depending upon the locations and alternative options to shop (Smith
&
Sparks, 1997).

Consumer buying behaviour: introduction

Kotler and Keller (2011) state that the importance of studying consumer buying behaviour as an
area of marketing is increasing due to several factors. In order to offer any product or service to
the customers businesses must understand their customers culture, social group and many other
factors. Understanding these factors helps businesses to draw an effective marketing plan in
order to satisfy the needs and wants of their customers in more efficient way.

Another reason for increase the importance of the study of customer buying behaviour is intense
pace globalization. According to Nargunkar (2008), globalization has changed the way the
businesses operate and target their customers. As more and more businesses are operating in
more than one country, they need to understand the different cultures and characteristics of their
customers. As businesses grow geographically, their customer bases change and the needs of
customers in one country varies from the needs of the customers in another country. Therefore,
the study of consumer buying behaviour is essential in order to target all the customers in all
different geographical areas.

In addition, studying the consumer buying behaviour is essential especially in conditions of

fierce competition in the market. As the number of companies in the same industry which offer
the similar or even the same products or services to the customers, these businesses need to target
the right segment. To make this happen, it is important to understand the buying behaviour of the
customers Lancaster et al (2002).

Another factor leading to the importance of learning customer buying behaviour is rapid
advancements in the technology. Due to the development of information technologies and IT
systems, learning the customer buying behaviour has become more practical and easier. It is also
stated that the large and multinational businesses are investing significantly on improvements of
their IT systems in order to better understand the needs and wants of their customers. This in turn
enables them to identify what and how often their customers are purchasing Brink and Berndt
(2009).

Companies need to be analysing their consumer buying behaviour in a constant manner in order
to asses the impact of marketing strategy on customers, to deal with elements of marketing mix
strategy with an increased level of effectiveness, and to be able to forecast buyer behaviour to
various marketing strategies.
The importance to study the consumer buying behaviour has intensified due to fast pace of
globalization which changed has been consistently changing the way consumers are shopping for
their daily food and grocery products. As more retailers operate in more than on country, they
have to pay close attention to the difference in culture, lifestyle, taste, expectations and many
other factors that determine the differing buying behaviour of customers from various countries.
Therefore, the study of consumer behaviour is very vital to target all the customers from different
geographical areas.

In order to identify and research the whole purchasing process of the consumer, marketing
scholars developed a stage model which lays out all the process and stages of the purchasing
process of the consumer. It is worth noting that the buying process starts long before the actual
purchase and it has consequences long afterward. According to Kotler and Keller (2012) the
consumers usually pass through the five stages which such as problem recognition, information
search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase behaviour. It is of great
importance for the marketers to identify and study all these stages well in order to better find out
about the buying behaviour of their consumers.

However, consumers do not always pass through all these five stages as they sometimes may
reverse or skip some of these stages depending on their buying behaviour, need and the type of
product. They mention about the regular brand products that consumers buy on a daily basis and
their resistance to change this particular purchase decision. The marketers claim that when the
consumers are purchasing these products, they usually skip the process of information search and
evaluation. Therefore, it is important to note that this stage model works well when the consumer
faces a new product with several alternatives.

Because the stage model is vital part of the consumer buying behaviour and this concept on its
own has been very narrowly looked at by many retailers lately, the consequences of this has been
quite adverse in some marketing campaigns. For example, even the largest retailer, Tesco has
failed to successfully implement its price-cut campaign in early 2012 due to uncertainties in the
reaction of its consumers leading to a fall in its share prices and overall revenue.

Therefore, in order to achieve strategic objectives, the retailers have to identify the buying
behaviour of their customers in order to offer them the right products at the right prices through
right marketing channels. In order to do this, retailers have to conduct in-depth marketing
research to better understand the buying behaviour of their customers which requires very
extensive research and analysis.

For example, retailers have to understand their customers culture, social groups, needs and
wants before offering any product or service. Once the knowledge is gathered and analysed about
the customers and their buying behaviour, retailers can design and draw better and more effective
marketing plan to achieve their objectives.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Retailing shops especially have a challenge of identifying and retaining their customers.
In an attempt to curb these problems retailing shops issue customer cards to customers
granting the customers with some benefits. These customer cards eventually end up
strengthening customer relationship and for that matter the customer loyal buying behaviour.
In recent years, almost every shop issues customer cards which has resulted in
several customers owing two or more cards of shops selling similar products. Such
situations raise a number of questions such as does the basic purpose of customer card
still hold, and how do customers with more cards decide on which shop they should buy
their goods from?

1.4 Purpose of the study

Customer cards are issued to customers by several major shops as a marketing strategy
to strengthen customer relationship and for that matter the customer loyal buying behaviour. In
view of such situation, the researcher wanted to find out which factors possibly
influence the buying behaviours of customers with multiple cards.
The main purpose of the study was to find out if the basic idea of issuing customer cards
still holds in a situation where a customer owns two or more of such cards, and which
factors possibly influence the buying behaviour of such customers.