Segmenting grocery consumers in India

Abstract

This project on ‘Segmenting Grocery Consumers in India’ is an attempt to throw light on the storeformat choices made by grocery consumers specifically between kirana stores and modernsupermarkets. We have targeted three segments of consumers – those who buy at kirana storesonly, those who buy at supermarkets only and those who buy at both. We studied secondaryresearch by studying papers on format choice and shopper profiling. Interesting insights werethrown up during our filed visits to store owners, shoppers, working mothers, etc each of whom haddifferent requirements and perceptions about the grocery stores.The depth interviews at kiranas stores were rich in quality and content, but we did not get such astrong response from supermarkets for sharing information. Out of 96 respondents to our survey, 38purchased from only supermarkets, 38 from only kiranas and 20 from users of both formats. Thebroad framework on which we focused our survey was categorizing shopper behavior to depend onproduct features, store features and customer profile.The probable attributes under each category were tested by framing separate research questionsthat affect store format choice, finding ways of classifying consumers and segmenting consumersbased on perception and reaction to product, price, service, ambience, ambience, demographics andpsychographics.By applying quantitative research techniques such a regression, discriminant analysis and factoranalysis, we found that there was higher preference to buying in loose quantity and tendency tobargain by the consumer while making purchases from kirana stores. The option to buy on creditenabled kirana stores reach out to customers they would have otherwise lost. However, kiranasstores incur small losses on providing credit but are willing to take the risk. The assortment ofproducts offered in supermarkets attracts customers whereas buying in loose and on credit is asignificant aspect of shopping at kiranas. Convenience, ability to get volume discounts throughbargaining and utilising home delivery services are the chief drivers of kirana users. Thesupermarkets project and maintain attractive store layout, cleanliness and prioritize providing acomfortable shopping experience.