Research Proposal for Ph.D.

On

An Empirical Study of Promotion strategy by leading companies in FMCG Sector of India

Submitted to Fulfill Partial Requirement for Registration of Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Management

Research Guide Dr. (Prof) R. K. Balyan

Prepared By: Mr. Nailesh R Limbasiya

Submitted to

The Registrar Gujarat Technological University, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad-380009

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Comparative Study of Consumer Perceived Value for Organized and Unorganized Retail Sectors in Gujarat State 1. Introduction to the Topic
Consumer Perceived Value: Consumer perceived value can defined as the consumers overall assessment of the utility of a product based on a perception of what is given and what is received. The benefit value include salient intrinsic attributes, extrinsic attributes, perceived quality, and other aspects such as convenience and appreciation. The sacrifice components of perceived value include both monetary prices and non monetary prices such as time, energy, and effort to obtain products and services. Dimensions of Consumer Perceived Value: Five dimension relating specifically to the perceived utility of a choice, functional value, social value, emotional value, aesthetic value, and conditional value. Other additional dimensions are consumer acquisition value and consumer transaction value. Personal shopping value is worth of a shopping experience related to both hedonic and utilitarian consequences. Societal value is termed to be the products benefit/value to society. Experiential value is related to the senses: if the product feels, smells and looks good, while functional value is related to whether or not the product is reliable and safe. And market value is the products worth regarding price for value. Consumer Perceived Value in Retail Sector: A consumer decision making style in retail sector is the reflection of their selected perceived Dimensions. Perfectionist and high quality conscious consumer 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. Brand conscious consumers concerned with getting the most expensive well known brands. They perceive that price is an indicator of quality. Novelty and fashion conscious like new and innovative products and who gain excitement from seeking out new things. Recreational and shopping conscious take pleasure in shopping and perceive shopping as the fun and recreation. Price conscious consumers concerned with getting 2

lower prices. They perceived shopping with reference to other. Habitual and brand loyal consumer are apt to have favorite brands and stores. Organized Vs Unorganized Retail Format: The retail is derived from the French term retaillier meaning to cut a piece of or to break bulk. Retailing forms an integral part of the marketing mix. Retailing involves direct interface with customers. The retail format is the store package that the retailer presents to the shopper. A format is defined as a type of retail mix used by a set of retailers. Early retailing Indian can be traced back to the weekly Haaats or gathering sat the market place and Melas, where not only the local products but also products from outside used to be on display for sale. Later on local mom and pop store (kiranas stores) sprung up in the landscape to cater to the needs of the local population. Hence, the early Indian retail scenario was primarily dominated by local products and local vendors i.e. unorganized one. Of late retailers have started providing some pleasant enjoyable experience to the consumers by providing improved facilities like shopping ambience friendly layout and a single point of purchase laced with the lure of discounts. The modern, systematic and consumer oriented shopping culture is the mainstay of organized retailing. The store format depends on the mix of variables such as assortment, price, transactional convenience, and experience that retailer use to develop their business strategies. It also requires the retailer to evaluate the nature of competition and challenge in the market place. The choices of retail mix elements enable it to decide the type of format or structure of business. Indian retail trade increased from Rs 2200 billion in 2000 to Rs 3300 billion by the year 2005and annual increase of 20 percent. There are more than 13 million operational retail outlets in India. 32% of his outlets are in urban areas and they are likely to grow by 1 million per annum. Fast moving consumer goods are account for 75% of these retail outlets. Very large stores of more than 800 sq ft area constitute 4 per cent of all establishments. 96 per cent of these outlets are small, with an average area of less than 500 sq ft. Due to its unorganized nature, the Indian retail industry is one of the most fragmented and challenging in the world. There are several challenges that Indian retailing has to face; prominent amongst these are real estate issues, capital availability, legal framework, human resources, and supply chain development and management. 3

Consumers / Shoppers Profile: Retailer caters to different types of shoppers including economic consumers (concerned with value), personalized consumers (concerned with relationships), recreational shoppers (shopping as a leisure activity) and apathetic consumers (who dislike shopping). Consumer evaluation of a purchase can be influenced by the purchase process itself, post purchase dissonance, product use, and product / package disposition. Consumer may evaluate each aspect of the purchase, ranging from information availability to price to retail service to product performance.

2. Rational of the Study

The business of retail in India has seen significant changes in the last 10 years. There is emergence of new formats and the application of global concepts and constructs albeit with modifications to suit the Indian Environment. It not only provides the Indian consumer a wide choice, but also represents a very large employment opportunity for people with diverse skill sets. The Indian retail landscape is observing an upsurge in organized retail even in the absence of foreign players. The organized retail industry in India is expected to grow 2530 percent annually. The phenomenon of consumer decision making is complex. These recent expansion is concurrent to many factors like increase in national income, per capita income, per capita consumption etc. The purchase of goods and services includes a number of factors that could affect each decision. One of the important decision drivers of retail success is consumer perceived value. Objectives of this study were to investigate the perceived value and decision making styles of Shoppers in organized and unorganized retail and variation in styles in different demographic variables. The study captures nine consumer perceived values viz., choice value, efficiency value, aesthetic value, curiosity value, transaction value, social interaction value, social status value, acquisition value and self gratification value. This study will help the managers of organized retails and store owner of unorganized retails to understand the underlying decision making styles of the shoppers and help them to craft their marketing strategies and formats of store. The importance of the topic attracted me to select this topic for research study.

3. Objective of the Study

a. To explore and understand how consumers perceived value of their shopping experience in two key retail environmentsunorganized (General retail formats) and organized (malls) retail formats, the factors that influences the buyers decision,. b. To understand the importance of consumer perceived values, factor affecting in creation of values and the strategies used by companies for consumer satisfaction and value creation. c. To find out the strategies adopted and problems faced by organized and unorganized retailers for creating, communicating and delivering consumer perceived value. d. To summarize on the basis of study, the findings and give suggestions for further improvement for organized and unorganized retailers to improve consumer value. e. To meet the requirement of Ph.D. programme for award of degree.

4. Scope of the Study

The scope of my study is limited to retailers of organized and unorganized format in Gujarat state. Study is also limited to influence of consumer perceived value for selecting retail formats.

5. Expected Contribution from the Study

The study of this topic would contribute in clarifying the all concepts relating to importance of kind of retail formats in present global scenario. The beneficiary from the study of this topic would be first of all self-researcher, academicians, practicing managers, prospect researchers and the organized and unorganized retailers under study. If these parties refer this research study in future may take advantage of the finding and suggestions. Academician, practicing managers and research students may take benefits for academic purpose and on the jobs. The company management if feel may implement the suggestions for providing values to the customer at retail outlet. It can be said the benefits would be multidimensional for above mentioned parties. 5

6. Research Methodology
Research methodology explains the method of conducting research and shows the logical sequences of the steps involved in research. Research methodology includes the following: A. Type of Research: This research would be descriptive research. The topic is theoretical and data would be collected from personal visit of Mall visitors from five major cities of Gujarat State. The descriptive research is most suitable to the topic selected. B. Sources of the Data: A preliminary study will be conducted to identify important perceived values consumer considers for selection of retail format. The study will be conducted in the five major city of Gujarat state i.e Ahmadabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Surat, and Jamnagar. These data would be used in combination as per need of the study. Research will relies on primary data; a self reporting questionnaire will be developed for study. The criteria for selecting the designated area will be the presence of different formats of stores and the spread of different socio-economic background of the consumers. C. Instrument for Data Collection: A Structured Questionnaire would used as an instrument, which consists of open ended and closed ended questions. One to one interaction with respondents will be done to ascertain their point of view on various aspects which will not covered in the structured questionnaire. Internet and Email will also be used as per suitability of instruments while collecting data. D. Research Methods For collection of primary data for this research work, survey and observation methods would be used. Experimental method is not found suitable for this study because the topic is a theoretical topic and there is no need to have experiments. E. Sampling o Sampling Method: Stratified Random Sampling o Sampling Unit: Individual Malls Visitors and small retail shops o Sample Size: 500 (100 x 5 Cities) o Population: Gujarat 6

F. Time Duration To carry out the study the time permitted by the University for Ph.D. research work would be taken to complete and submit the report to the university, G. Statistical Tools for Data Analysis For analysis and presentation of data, measures of central tendency, average, variance, percentage, graphs and charts etc. would be used. Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney signed ranks test will be needed to analyze the data. H. Hypothesis: Based on the above objectives the following assumptions are framed: 1) Null Hypothesis H0: There is no significant difference between consumer perceived value when consumer shops at organized retail outlet and at unorganized retail outlets. 2) Alternative Hypothesis H1: There is significant difference between consumer perceived value when consumer shops at organized and unorganized retail outlets.

7. Limitations of the Study:

a. The present study will be conducted in major cities of Gujarat state, where the malls are still in an emerging phase. b. The consumers are new to the concept and backed by a relatively few experiences. c. Proper care is required to collect accurate response through personal meeting. d. e. The small sample size and time is also error prone. Consumers might avoid or hesitate to give relevant data.

f. Sample size might not be exact representative of the universe g. The consumers awareness about Malls and other organized retail formats are varied among the different location so we can have different result when we carried out the same research. h. Time, Cost and Location factor would also cause difficulties.

8. Bibliography
1. B S Hundal, Significant Considerations in the Purchase of Consumer Durables: A Study of Rural Consumer in Punjab, The IUP Journal of Marketing Management, May-08. 2. Donald Cooper and Pamela Schindler, Business Research Methods, ninth edition, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi, 2007. 3. Dr. M Selvakumar and P Rajeshkumar. The Indian Retaul Industry is Booming, Facts for you, September 2009. 4. Dr. S. V. Pathak, Aditya P. Tripathi. Customer Shopping Behavior among Modern Retail Formats: A Study of Delhi and NCR. Indian Journal of Marketing, February 2009. 5. Gupta S. L. Retail Management an Indian Perspective, 1st edition 2007, Delhi, wisdom Publication, 18-72. 6. Hitesh Bhatia, Retail Business in Indian Revolution or Evolution? Marketing Mastermind, January 2010. 7. http:// www.iimahd.ernet.in/download.php?downloadid=448 8. http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/industry-infrastructure/service-sectors/retailing.htm 9. Malhotra Naresh & Dash S, Marketing Research, Pearson Publication, fifth edition, 2007. 10. Mathew Joseph and Nirupama Soundararajan, Impact of Organized Retailing on the Unorganized Sector, Indian Council For Research On International Economic Relations, May 2008. 11. Nitu Saxena, Changing Consumer Behavior and its Influence on Organized Retailing in India, Marketing Mastermind, November-09. 12. Nityanand Singh, Status of Supply Chain Management in Organized Vs Unorganized Retail Indian Journal of Marketing, March 2010. 13. P N Raghunathan, Consumers Views on Department Store Servies, Advertising Express, January 2010. 14. Pradhan Swapna: Retailing Management, third edition 2004, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 3-90, 117-147. 8

15. Prof. Sudhanshu Sekhar Kar and Dr. Sarat Kumar, Organized Retailing in India: Issues and Challenges, Indian Journal of Marketing, November-09. 16. Rajan Saxena, Marketing Management, third edition, The McGraw-Hill Companies,467 491 17. Ramesh Krishnan and Monika Kothari, Involvement Constructs and Paths to Persuasion Models in Decision Making by a Retail Buyer, ICFAI Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. VIII Nos. 3 &4. 2009. 18. Sandya A. S. and Peeru Mohamed. Shopping Habits and Influence of store Attributes on Apparel Store Patronage intension, Advances in Management, Vol.2 (3) March 2009. 19. Shilpa Kokatnur and Chandan Chavadi, Do Private Brands Results in Store Loyalty? An Empirical Study in Bangalore, The IUP Journal of Marketing Management, August-08. 20. Shirshendu Ganguli and B Vinoth Kumar, Drivers of Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in Indian Retail Supermarkets: An Exploratory Study, ICFAI Journal of Management Research, August-09. 21. Sita Mishra, a Conceptual Framework for Creating Customer Value in E-Retailing in Inida, South Asian Journal of Management, Vol. 16 No.4. 22. Soum Suvra Sanjib Das, An Analytical Study of the Development of Retail Marketing in Indid: A case of Big Bazaar MIT School of Management PGRC Vol I Issue 02. May-August 2010. 23. Sumeeta Gupta and Kavita Jain, Customrer Retention Strategies for Organised Retailers in Semi-urban Markets, The IUP Journal of Marketing Management , May09. 24. Valsamma Antony, Small Retail Stores Thrive on Customer Relations: An Empirical Study, Marketing Mastermind, February -09. 25. Vipul Patel, Consumer Decision Making Styles in Shopping Malls in New Age Marketing Realities, Excel Book, New Delhi -2008, pp. 627- 637. 26. Yogesh Upadhyay and Shiv Kumar Singh. Measuring Consumer Perceived value of Different Retail Formats. The Indian journal of Commerce vol. 61, No. 4 OctoberDecember 2008 9

Contents for the Proposed Research Topic

1. Introduction to the topic of Research Study a. Consumer Perceived Value b. Organized and Unorganized Retail Formats in India c. Consumer perceived value regarding the retail sector 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. 7. Research Objectives Rationale of the Study Scope of the Study Expected Contribution from the Research Study Research of Methodology Type of research Source of data Instruments for data collection Methods of research Sampling Time duration of the study Statistical tools and data analysis Hypotheses Limitations of the Study

8. Literature Review: Consumer Behavior 9. Industry Analysis: Indian Retail Industry 10. Data Analysis and Interpretation 11. Findings 12. Conclusions and Suggestions or Recommendations 13. Appendices 14. Bibliography

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