Changes in shopping interest with reference to LULU INTERNATIONAL SHOPPING MALL, Kochi * P. Balasubramanian
** Dhanya Rooban
II M.com
Assistant Professor
** Malini Mohan
II M.com
Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi
** Mishle Clare Mendez - II M.com
Abstract It was 23 years back the first shopping mall named Spencer Plaza was introduced in India at Chennai leaving all other metropolitan cities back. The shopping mall found successful as people getting their needs and wants under one roof. This trend of shopping mall spread over including the state “Kerala” which in known as “God’s Own Country”. Kochi is known as the capital city of these malls. It is on the lap of Kochi, the international shopping mall, Lulu Mall is situated and it is necessary to find out what makes people to shop at Lulu and to know how much of people satisfied through the shopping at Lulu Mall. Key words: Customer, Satisfaction, Consumer Behaviour, Unorganized, Super Market, Big Shopping Malls. Introduction There is a drastic change that is happening in the retail shopping trends of Kochi. The big shopping malls and supermarkets are transforming the landscape as well as the lifestyle of a city. The Bay Pride Mall near Marine Drive, Gold Souk at Vyttila, Oberon Mall at Edappally, and Nucleus Mall at Maradu have persuade to make changes in the new shopping trends and habits of Kochi. And now to top all, Lulu International Shopping Mall, which is biggest of all, is to be thrown open to the heart of the city, which made drastic changes in the face and life style of the Kochi. All these changes clearly indicate that Kochi is also following the same trend patterns that swept and garnished the streets of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore & other metros of the nation. The malls at these metros changed the lifestyle and helps in consistent developments in infrastructure which facilitated an easy and comfortable living of people. Customer is a buyer or a purchaser who receives the goods from the seller. A customer may or may not be a consumer. A customer is different from a consumer in a way that the consumer is the end user of the product. Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products which includes food, clothing etc. Sometimes shopping is done as the recreational activity. There are people who visit malls just to make window shopping. A shopping mall is a place where wide varieties of retail outlets are situated under one roof, and is usually there always some anchor stores which attract a large number of consumers to that place. It is the largest form of organized retailing. They are advertised as both shopping and recreation centres. The major advantage of the shopping mall is that all merchandise, entertainment such as a theatre, amusement park, games, food, services etc are all available under one roof and which is fully air conditioned. This advantage also acts as a crowd puller to the shopping malls. Moreover, the consumer can save time by shop without the tensions of any traffic congestions or parking problems, security issues or crime districts. [* Author ** Co-Author]
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Objectives of the study
To know how much the consumers are satisfied to shop in Lulu Mall What are the factors which drive people to shop at Lulu Mall To know the purpose of people visiting Lulu Mall To understand the customer shopping interest at LULU Mall Koch
Scope of the study The scope of the study is limited to changes in the consumers shopping interest due to the influence of Lulu International Shopping Mall. Regarding the respondents, customers of Lulu International Shopping Mall was randomly selected. The geographical area for the study is restricted to Kochi city alone. Research Methodology According to Dickinson Mc Graw and George Watson, the procedure by which researcher goes about their work of describing, explaining and predicting phenomena are called methodology. Research methodology is the description, explanation and justification of various methods of conducting research. This study is based upon descriptive research design. Both the primary and secondary data were collected for this study. Primary data was obtained through a structured questionnaire, which was distributed among 50 potential customers of Lulu International Shopping Mall, Kochi. Out of 50 questionnaires, 25 distributed to male and 25 distributed to female. Secondary data was obtained from journals, books and websites. Sampling technique used for the study is convenience sampling. Company Profile The Lulu Shopping Mall is the largest shopping mall in India and 48th largest shopping mall in the world, which is located at Edapally, in the heart of the Kochi city at the junction of Kochi Bypass and two major Highways – NH 17 and NH 47, Kerala. Lulu Mall is an international shopping mall, which have the outlets of only internationally branded shops. It is built on an area of 3,900,000 sq ft, with total area for mall alone at 230,000 square meters (3,900,000 sq ft) and the remaining portion for a premium five-star hotel managed by JW Marriott Hotels. The hotel has interesting features like multi cuisine restaurants, a swimming pool, a coffee shop, spa and privilege club facilities, etc. The hotel stands at a height of 84 meters and has a Helipad also. The mall was opened in March 2013 and contains more than 215 outlets spread over in four floors. It includes food courts, restaurants, family entertainment zones, a multiplex, ice skating rink, bowling alley, Money exchange centre etc. The estimated cost for this project is more than INR 16 billion. The property is owned by Mr. M A Yusuf Aliand managed by Lulu Group. Other Features
Ample parking space Expensive check-out counters Bank ATM Escalators and Elevator Large glass central atrium with translucent roof Rest rooms, Care rooms, Baby care rooms 2
Wheel chair and pram service Mobile charging stations Pharmacy Wi-Fi service
Anchor Stores
Lulu Hyper Market Lulu Fashion Store Lulu Celebrate Lulu Connect Westside PVR Cinemas Sparkys
Literature review
Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society ( Kuester, Sabine (2012): MKT 301: Strategic Marketing & Marketing in Specific Industry Contexts, University of Mannheim, p. 110.). It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology, marketing and economics. It attempts to understand the decision-making processes of buyers, both individually and in groups such as how emotions affect buying behaviour. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, sports, reference groups, and society in general ( Lynn R. Kahle, Angeline G. Close (2011).Consumer Behaviour Knowledge for Effective Sports and Event Marketing. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-87358-1. ) Solomon (2002) and Stern (1962) have recognized four types of purchase behaviours namely:
Planned: it involves information search about the product to be bought, evaluation of alternatives and then rational decision making. This is time consuming. Unplanned: it does not involve this kind of an initial planning. It arises when the consumer is unfamiliar with the store layout, has a shortage of time or just remembers to buy the product when he sees it on the store shelf (Shoham and Brencic, 2003; Hausman, 2000). Impulse: occurs when a consumer finds a product on the store shelf and is unable to resist the urge of buying it. It accounts for a large quantity of products sold that are bought every year and also covers a wide range of product categories. It has been portrayed by many researchers as a signal of immaturity, irrationality and risk and an absence of behavioural control (Levy, 1976 and Solnick et al., 1980) (Hausman, 2000). Compulsive: it is repetitive and excessive shopping by consumers due to anxiety, boredom and tension (Solomon, 2002). According to O’Guinn and Faber (1991), compulsive buying has been defined as a ‘chronic, repetitive purchasing that becomes a primary response to negative events or feelings’. Such consumers are characterized by depression, obsession, tend to fantasize and have lower levels of self esteem (Shoham and Brencic, 2003).
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Data Analysis Opinion Survey method has been used for collecting data for this study. For analyzing the collected data, simple percentage analysis and chi-square analysis is been used.
Age group of people visiting Lulu Mall Figure- 1 6% 12%
Below 18 19-35
26%
36-45 56%
46 & above
INTERPRETATION
Majority of people visiting Lulu Mall is youth. That is 56% people are in the age between 19 to 35 years and 26% people are in the age between 36 to 45 years. 12% are in the age group below 18 years. Only 6% people are visiting Lulu Mall having the age above 46 years.
Locality of living of people visiting Lulu Mall Figure – 2 10% urban 30%
semi urban 60%
rural
INTERPRETATION
The people who visiting Lulu Mall are from urban, semi-urban and rural area. Majority of visitors are from urban and semi-urban areas. That is, 60% are from urban and 30% from semi-urban. Only 10% people who visiting Lulu Mall from rural area.
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Monthly income (in ₹) of people visiting Lulu Mall Figure – 3 10% 5001-10000
16%
10001-20000 36%
38%
20001-40000 40001 & above
INTERPRETATION
Majority of people who visiting Lulu Mall are high income earning persons. 38% people having monthly income between ₹20001 and ₹40000 and 36% having monthly income between ₹10001 and ₹20000. 16 % people who visiting Lulu Mall having monthly income above ₹40001. Only 10% are visiting Lulu Mall having monthly income between ₹5001 and ₹10000.
Frequency of visiting Lulu Mall Figure – 4 8% 18% 30%
weekly monthly
44%
once in 3 months occasionally
INTERPRETATION
Most of the people visiting Lulu Mall in a monthly basis. That is 44% of people are visiting Lulu Mall monthly. 30% are visiting once in 3 months and 18% people are visiting occasionally only. Only 8% of the total population of people is visiting weekly basis.
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Criteria for choosing a product Figure – 5 16%
Quality Brand
12% 20%
52%
Offers/Discounts Price
INTERPRETATION
52% of population will prefer quality products as criteria for choosing a product. For selecting a product, 20% people prefer the brand and 16% people give preference to its price. Only 12% of population needs offers and discounts for purchasing a product.
Purpose of visiting Lulu Mall Figure – 6 Shopping 22% 42%
Entertainment Food
26% All of the above 10%
INTERPRETATION
Lulu Mall gives the customer everything under one roof. That is shopping, entertainment, food etc. Because of this reason 42% of people choose the option ‘all of the above’ for the purpose of visiting Lulu Mall. 26% of people visiting Lulu Mall only for fun and entertainment. 22% of people choose shopping as the purpose of visiting Lulu Mall. 10% of people visiting Lulu Mall only for the purpose of food.
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Reason for shopping in Lulu Mall Figure – 7
Centralized shops
14% 10% 12%
60%
Time saving Parking facility Safety and security All of the above 4%
INTERPRETATION
60% of people selected the option ‘all of the above’, which means they prefer Lulu Mall for shopping because of centralized shops, parking facility, safety and security and saves time. 14% of people choose Lulu Mall for shopping because it is having centralized shops. 12% of people prefer Lulu Mall for shopping because of the parking facility provided by them. Because of the reason time saving, 10% of people choose Lulu Mall for shopping. 4% of the people prefer Lulu Mall for shopping because of safety and security.
Opinion about Lulu Mall Figure – 8 0% 10%
Excellent V Good
30% 60%
Good Average
INTERPRETATION
Majority of the people (60%) ranked excellent as their opinion about Lulu Mall. 30% of the people have the opinion as very good. 10% of the people ranked good as the opinion about Lulu Mall. None of them have the opinion as average about the Lulu Mall.
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CHI-SQUARE TESTS 1) Gender and Frequency of shopping Options Weekly Monthly Once in 3 months
Occasionally
Total
Male
2
11
8
5
26
Female
2
11
7
4
24
Total
4
22
15
9
50
(Primary Data) H0- There is no association between gender and frequency of shopping. H1- There is association between gender and frequency of shopping. O 2 2 11 11 8 7 5 4 Total
(O-E)2 0.0064 0.0064 0.1936 0.1936 0.04 0.04 0.1024 0.1024
E 2.08 1.92 11.44 10.56 7.8 7.2 4.62 4.32 50
(O-E)2/E 0.003076923 0.003333333 0.016923077 0.018333333 0.005128205 0.005555556 0.021880342 0.023703704 0.097934473
Calculated value=0.097934473 V=(r-1) (c-1) V= (4-1) (2-1) Degree of freedom=3 Level of significance =5% i.e0.05 Table value=7.81 Since table value is greater than calculated value we accept H0. i.e., There is no association between gender and frequency of shopping. 2) Age and Frequency of shopping Option Less than 18
19-35
36-45
46 and above
Total
Weekly Monthly
0 3
4 18
2 4
0 0
6 25
Once in 3 months
2
5
4
0
11
Occasionally
1
1
3
3
8
6
28
13
3
50
Total (Primary Data)
H0- There is no association between age and frequency of shopping. H1- There is association between age and frequency of shopping. 8
O 0 3 2 1 4 18 5 1 2 4 4 3 0 0 0 3 Total Calculated value=22.95535714
(O-E)2 0.5184 0 0.4624 0.0016 0.4096 16 1.3456 12.1104 0.1936 6.25 1.2996 0.8464 0.1296 2.25 0.4356 6.3504
E 0.72 3 1.32 0.96 3.96 14 6.16 4.48 1.56 6.5 2.86 2.08 0.36 1.5 0.66 0.48 50
(O-E)2/E 0.72 0 0.35030303 0.0016666667 0.121904762 1.142857143 0.218441558 2.70321486 0.124102564 0.961538462 0.454405594 0.406923077 0.36 1.5 0.66 13.23 22.95535714
V=(r-1) (c-1) V= (4-1) (4-1) Degree of freedom=9 Level of significance =5% i.e0.05 Table value=16.9 Since table value is lesser than calculated value we reject H0 and accept H1 ,i.e., There is association between age and frequency of shopping. 3) Locality of living and Frequency of shopping Options weekly Monthly Once in 3 months Occasionally Total 6 18 4 2 30 Urban 0 8 4 3 15 Semi urban 0 3 1 1 5 Rural 6 29 9 6 50 Total (Primary Data) H0- There is no association between locality of living and frequency of shopping. H1- There is association between locality of living and frequency of shopping. O 6 0 0 18 8 3 4 4
(O-E)2 5.76 3.24 0.36 0.36 0.49 0.01 1.96 1.69
E 3.6 1.8 0.6 17.4 8.7 2.9 5.4 2.7 9
(O-E)2/E 1.6 1.8 0.6 0.20689655 0.056321839 0.003448276 0.362962963 0.62595296
1 2 3 1 Total Calculated value=6.858237548
0.9 3.6 1.8 0.6
0.01 2.56 1.44 0.16 50
0.0111111111 0.711111111 0.8 0.26666667 6.858237548
V=(r-1) (c-1) V= (4-1) (3-1) Degree of freedom=6 Level of significance =5% i.e0.05 Table value=12.6 Since table value is greater than calculated value we accept H0. i.e., There is no association between Locality of living and frequency of shopping. 4) Monthly income and Frequency of shopping Option Weekly Monthly Once in 3 months 0 0 2 5001-10000 2 9 6 10001-20000
Occasionally 3 1
5 12 2 0 20001-40000 1 4 3 0 40001 and above 8 25 13 4 Total (Primary Data) H0- There is no association between monthly income and frequency of shopping.
Total 5 18 19 8 50
H1- There is association between monthly income and frequency of shopping. O E (O-E)2 (O-E)2/E 0 0.8 0.64 0.8 2 2.88 0.7744 0.268888889 5 3.04 3.8416 1.263684211 1 1.28 0.0784 0.06125 0 2.5 6.25 2.5 9 9 0 0 12 9.5 6.25 0.657894737 4 4 0 0 2 1.3 0.49 0.376923077 6 4.68 1.7424 0.372307692 2 4.94 8.6436 1.749716599 3 2.08 0.8464 0.406923077 3 0.4 6.76 16.9 1 1.44 0.1936 0.13444444 0 1.52 2.3104 1.52 0 0.64 0.4096 0.64 Total 50 27.65203273 Calculated value=27.65203273 V=(r-1) (c-1) 10
V= (4-1) (4-1) Degree of freedom=9 Level of significance =5% i.e0.05 Table value=16.9 Since table value is lesser than calculated value we reject H0 and accept H1. i.e., There is association between monthly income and frequency of shopping. Findings There is no projected variations between the gender who are visiting Lulu Mall. The age group above 46 years are visiting Lulu Mall lesser than other age groups due to their lack of interest in shopping and other varied problems. People visit shopping malls irrespective of locality of residence. The majority of respondents’ educational qualification is UG. Students and salaried people are spending more time in Lulu Mall. Peoples having monthly income less than ₹10,000 visits Lulu Mall occasionally while people living in urban and semi-urban areas whose income is greater than ₹10,000 visits Lulu frequently. Majority of the people who visit Lulu Mall for the purpose of making shopping at Lulu Hypermarket, which is one of the anchor store in Lulu Mall. It is mostly done on a monthly basis. People are saying that shopping in Lulu Mall is not affordable for lower and middle class family. These people will shop durables like electronics items during festival seasons in Lulu Mall because of the offers, discounts, lucky draws provided by them. The mall is following a good customer relation which attracts people to shop during any time and it is crowded during weekends. Most of the people are visiting Lulu to spend their leisure time with their dear ones and to make window shopping. Mall has a good public image in Kochi. Lulu has an excellent brand value. Suggestions
Mall should satisfy the needs of all income groups. It should accommodate both the international and Indian brands. It should spend more on advertisement. It should provide more offers and discounts to the customers. It should introduce night shopping. That is 24x7 working. It should properly maintain the Edapally canal by modify it and which will beautify the backside entrance view of the Lulu Mall.
Conclusion The changes in the customers shopping interest are bringing about change in retail industry, as Kochi migrates from the unorganized to organize retail due to influence of Lulu Mall which gives the customers an international shopping experience. That’s why customers are attracted towards Lulu shopping mall. Most of the family wants to purchase from big malls because there are no bargaining system so they have a trust that there is no cheating.
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References
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