Buying practices followed by homemakers of Ludhiana city

Women are important decision-makers in household purchases, have always had a huge influence on household expenses and consumption behavior. Women set their decisions and priorities not only according to their needs but also according to people in their personal circle. Women’s buying habits include evaluating the market for better options before paying off by checking on the brands, their durability, and price, as well as attempting to learn from others’ experiences by asking individuals around them. The buying behavior of women is also subjected to post-purchase dissonance. So, the present study was planned to explore the buying behavior of women and to assess the problems faced by them during and after purchase. The study was conducted in Ludhiana city with a sample of 120 women selected purposively who were the main buyers in their homes. Snowball technique was used for sample selection. The selected respondents were interviewed personally with the help of a self-structured interview schedule. Results revealed that majority of the respondents always preferred local market for purchasing various items. Also, most of the respondents were always involved in pre-decision making for purchasing any goods/services. However, respondents were not fully aware of the practices they should be following while buying goods and services like 28.33 per cent respondents never checked items purchased for any defect, 15.83 per cent of the respondents never asked for bill and nearly 50 percent respondents never checked ingredients of the goods. For after buying challenges, majority of the respondents reached out to the sellers and manufacturers of the product but only 56.66 per cent of the respondents approached consumer court “sometimes”. “Free gifts” was the promotional method most preferred by the respondents. Some of the problems reported by the respondents while buying goods such as furniture, electronics, grocery/food, apparel and footwear, and books and stationary items as well as various services included overcharging by sellers, inferior quality products, poor after sale service, adulteration, high maintenance cost, delivery delays, etc.