Shopping styles and modern retail format preferences among young shoppers

Organized retailing is changing the whole concept of shopping, creating a radical shift in consumer buying behaviour. In such a scenario, understanding consumer's shopping styles and preferences is considered to be very crucial in order to succeed in selling a product or service. Consumer shopping styles is a major area of concern for marketers as it provides the advantage of aligning the sales techniques with the buying style, which improves the chances of converting more prospects to paying customers. Today, the market is driven by the changing consumption patterns and aspirations of the youth. Young consumers show more consumer confidence, are active and spend more than they save. They represent a powerful new consumer force and shape the trends that affect the modern retail sector. Moreover, there exists considerable difference in the shopping styles exhibited by urban, semi-urban and rural consumers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in shopping styles and modern retail format preferences of young urban and semi-urban consumers in Kerala, India and to analyze the consumer shopping styles across different demographic variables.

Data for this study were collected from 220 students in Kerala, who frequently shop from modern retail outlets. The study revealed that there exist statistically significant differences in the shopping styles of urban and semi-urban consumers. The consumer shopping styles also vary across demographic variables and both urban and semi-urban consumers prefer to visit the modern retail formats more often. This study will help marketers to understand the young shoppers in terms of their shopping styles and retail format preferences and to adapt and improve their marketing campaigns as well as strategies to penetrate more into the market.