An Analysis of Perception of Rural Consumers towards Organised Retail: A Case Study

of 3A Bazaar
Dr. S.K. Dubey*
Vivek Kumar Pathak**
Rajeev Kumar Malik***
Abstract: Retail is an emerging sector in India. Marketers are leaving no stone unturned to
influence the consumers by offering them products and services in various ways, at various
locations, in various forms, resulting in emergence of various retail formats throughout the
country. Paramount Trading Corp (Pvt.) Ltd has launched 3A Bazaar and taken the initiative
of uplifting and empowering rural India by enhancing reach of Information and quality
products. 3A Bazaar is a unique strategy to bring the first chain of rural retailing in India
through small stores and mobile vans. It is India's first shop on wheels to start in different
villages of JP Nagar, in Uttar Pradesh. It offers a wide range of products from Grocery to
FMCG, Cosmetics, Stationary and Women Accessories. The present study is an attempt to
analyse the perception of rural consumers towards organised retail with special reference to
3A Bazaar.
Key words: 3A Bazaar, Rural consumers, Organised retail, Perception


* Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
** & *** Research Scholars, Faculty of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University,
E-mail- dubey_sk@yahoo.com, vivekbizs@yahoo.co.in, rajeevcms@gmail.com
Mobile No.- 9415302077, 9450387713, 9795943341


Introduction: Are rural areas ill-suited for the organised retail business? This question has
assumed significant importance in the present time. At present, the penetration of organised
retail is very low in rural India. Approximately 10,000 out of 6, 00,000 villages in India have
access to organised retail services, but, the huge market potential is undisputable. India's rural
retail market is expected to go up to Rs. 2400 billion (US $ 58 billion, Approx.) by 2015
(Confederation of Indian Industries-YES Bank Study, 2007) helped by rising incomes and
changing consumption patterns. Current major players like ITC, Godrej and DSCL are
expanding their retail operations by setting up more stores, entering new states and offering
newer product categories. When organised retail first made its presence felt in rural India, it
wasnt a pure retailing operation targeting the rural masses. Initially it was more focussed on
the agri-inputs targeting farmers, but now, a shift has been seen towards non-farming
segments. Paramount Trading Corp (Pvt.) Ltd has launched 3A Bazaar and taken the
initiative of uplifting and empowering rural India by enhancing reach of Information and
quality products. 3A Bazaar is a unique strategy to bring the first chain of rural retailing in
India through small stores and mobile vans. It is India's first shop on wheels to start in
different villages of Moradabad & JP Nagar (Uttar Pradesh). Now 3A Bazaar has got three
stores at different locations in Moradabad and J.P. Nagar and 7 mobile vans are associated
with these stores and covers almost all the prominent villages of that area. It offers a wide
range of products from Grocery to FMCG, Cosmetics, Stationary and Women Accessories.
One practical problem that organised retail in rural areas faces is that of image. The products
are perceived as expensive and also the rural people find the ambience of the store
intimidating. The present study is an attempt to analyse the perception of rural consumers
towards organised retail with special reference to 3A Bazaar.
Review of Literature: Marketers are leaving no stone unturned to influence the consumers
by offering them products and services in various ways, at various locations, in various forms
resulting in emergence of various retail formats throughout the country.
According to Gupta & Mittal (2001), consumers are highly influenced by image of the retail
outlet, its attributes, product range, variety, services, employees behaviour, dcor, music and
marketing strategies.
According to Ghosh & Tripathi (2009), consumers choice of a particular store depends on
shopping orientation as well as satisfying experience. In addition, a customers attitude
towards the store may result from his / her evaluation of the perceived importance of store
attributes, moulded and remoulded by direct experiences with the stores overall offerings.
Rajesh Rajaguru and Margaret J Matanda (2007), opined that Store attributes are measured
using variables such as store appearance, service quality, and store conveniences and these
variables are more relevant to Indian context.
For the first time, Martineau (1958), defined store image as a store defined in customers
mind partly based on functional attributes and partly based on psychological attributes. Store
image includes its characteristic attributes and it makes customers feel the store different
from others. Functional attributes are assortment of commodities, layout, location, price value
relation, and service that consumers can objectively compare with other stores. Psychological
attributes are attractiveness and luxuriousness that represent special attributes of that store.
Research Methodology: Consumer characteristics, store attributes, store image, store choice
and retailing strategies are some of the key concepts that play a role in successful retailing.
The marketing mix as well as store image attributes all contributes to the overall store image,
which consumers apply to evaluate the store on a multi-attribute utility function. This study
endeavours to gather information on customers perception of 3A Bazaar.
Objectives of the study: The study includes the following objectives,
To determine the consumers overall perception about 3A Bazaar with special reference
to the marketing mix and store image attributes.
To study the difference in the perception of different income-group consumers on the
basis of individual components of marketing mix and store image attributes.
To study the difference in the perception of different age-group consumers on the basis of
individual components of marketing mix and store image attributes.
Sampling & Questionnaire design: A non-probability, convenience sampling method is
used to select both the stores and the respondents from J P Nagar (Uttar Pradesh). The stores
were chosen arbitrarily in convenient locations across the area of study. A total of 100
respondents were approached, out of which 81 completed responses are used. For the final
study, a structured questionnaire consisting of different sections is compiled in accordance
with the conceptual framework and study objectives. The various sections dealt with
marketing mix & store attributes and demographic information. A Likert-type scale varying
from 1 to 5 was used to measure the degree to which the variables under study vary with 1 =
poor degree and 5 = excellent degree.
Data analysis: The data obtained was statistically analysed using various statistical tools
such as mean, standard deviation and t test using SPSS package. t test was used to find out
significance difference between the perception of different age and income groups.
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SEASONAL SALES AND DISCOUNT
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Results and discussion: The results obtained from the study are presented here. Profile of
the consumers is presented first and the latter part deals with descriptive statistics and
hypothesis testing.
Consumer profile: Table: 1 shows the profile of the consumers of 3A Bazaar. It is clear
from the table that most of the consumers (61%), who shop at 3A Bazaar, are in between the
age group of 20-34 years i.e. younger generation. Furthermore, the consumers having a
monthly income between Rs. 10,000-20,000 per month (58%) are the main shoppers at 3A
Bazaar. It is also clear that Home and personal care goods (65%) are more sought after goods
followed by food and beverages (50%).

Further investigation of the data shows that consumers dont make a regular purchase at 3A
Bazaar (Figure: 1), only 10% of the respondents shop regularly at 3A Bazaar. The purchase is
mostly made at family occasions (25%) and in festival seasons (25%). More than half of the
respondents (60%) dont make a regular purchase at 3A bazaar.
Table: 1- Profile of the consumers of 3A Bazaar (N=81)
Age of Respondents
< 20 Years 20-34 Years 35-50 Years >50 Years
Number 4 50 19 8
Percentage 5 61 23 11
Income of Respondents (Rs./Month)
< Rs.10,000 Rs.10,000-Rs.20,000 >Rs.20,000
Number 30 47 4
Percentage 37 58 5
Types of Product Purchased
Food and Beverages Apparel Home and Personal care
Number 41 24 53
Percentage 50 30 65
Figure: 1-Period of purchase at 3A Bazaar

Descriptive statistics: A list of 19 individual components of marketing mix and store image
attributes were selected. Table:2 shows the mean values of responses received for different
individual components of marketing mix and store image attributes. Quality, availability,
range of products, & store ambience received the higher mean values (>4). Credit facility
received the lowest mean score (1.9933).
Hypothesis Testing: The following hypotheses were designed to be tested in order to attain
the objectives.
Ho1: Consumers overall perception of 3A Bazaar stores marketing mix and store image
attributes is not positive.
Ha1: Consumers overall perception of 3A Bazaar stores marketing mix and store image
attributes is positive.
The descriptive statistics shows that the sample mean of the consumers perception scores is
3.2250, with a standard deviation of .30977. It gives an indication that the Consumers
overall perception of 3A Bazaar stores marketing mix and store image attributes is positive.
Table: 2- Descriptive statistics showing the mean values of responses (Higher is better)
Attributes Mean
Statistic*
Attributes Mean
Statistic
Quality of products 4.2500 Fixed rate 3.3333
Availability of products 4.1800 Range of fresh stock 3.0833
Range of products 4.1667 Range of local items 2.8333
Store ambience 4.0833 Price of products 2.7500
Parking facility 4.0000 Convenient location 2.5000
Staff attitude 3.9167 Scheme and offers 2.4167
Ease of locating things 3.7500 Return/Exchange 2.3333
Time taken in billing 3.7500 Ability to bargain 2.2500
Operating time 3.5833 Credit facility 1.9933
Range of branded items 3.5833
Note: *Mean value of responses (in descending order) on a Likert-type scale varying from 1
to 5 (1 = poor degree and 5 = excellent degree).
One samplet test was conducted and the hypothesis that consumers overall perception of
3A Bazaar is positive (with test value=3, the midpoint of the scale) for selected stores
marketing mix and store image attributes was found to be statistically significant (p<.05).
Table:3 One Sample t test
Test Value = 3 *
95% Confidence Interval of
the Difference
t Df Sig. (1-tailed) Mean Difference Lower Upper
5.032 80 .000 .22500 .1351 .3149
Note: *Statistically significant at p<0.05, mean value compared with the midpoint of the
scale, ie., 3
In the One-Sample Test output, we see that t = 5.032 with a p-value of 0.00. Thus, at the
= .05 level of significance, null hypothesis is rejected in favour of the positive perception of
Consumers towards 3A Bazaars selected stores marketing mix and store image attributes.
For the individual components, only in the case of range of local items (p=.209>0.05), range
of fresh stocks (p=.455>0.05) & price of the products (p=.070>0.05), the perception was not
found to be positive.
H02: There is no significant difference in the perception of different income-group
consumers in terms of individual components of marketing mix and store image attributes.
Ha2: There is significant difference in the perception of different income-group consumers in
terms of individual components of marketing mix and store image attributes.
The significance value of t test in independent samples t test is 0.05. When the value of
the statistic is greater than 0.05, the groups have equal variance. An independent-samples t-
test was conducted to compare the perception scores for the two income groups (low income
group-up to Rs. 10,000 per month and high income Group- above Rs 10,000 per month).
There was no significant difference in scores for low income group (M = 3.23, SD =.327) and
high income group (M = 3.20, SD = .280); t (79) = -.392, p = .697 (two-tailed).

Table:4 Independent Samples- t Test for Income groups
Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means*
F Sig. t df Sig. (2tailed)
Equal variances
assumed
.097 .757 .392 79 .697
Equal variances not
assumed
.413 34.588 .682
Note: *Statistically significant at p<0.05

The second hypothesis that there is significant difference in the perception of different
income-group consumers in terms of individual components of marketing mix and store
image attributes was not found to be statistically significant. The null hypothesis thus is not
rejected against the alternative hypothesis. The study found no significant difference in the
perception of different income groups (p>.05) except for the following attributes,
Table:5 Independent Samples- t Test for Income groups, significant*
Attributes F Sig.(2-
tailed)
Low income group High income group
Range of branded items 1.053 .002 3.87 3.00
Range of Local items 1.179 .000 2.50 3.50
Ability to bargain .357 .040 2.12 2.50
Return/Exchange 1.022 .029 2.50 2.00
Note: *Statistically significant at p<0.05
H03: There is no significant difference in the perception of different age-group consumers in
terms of individual components of marketing mix and store image attributes.
Ha3: There is significant difference in the perception of different age-group consumers in
terms of individual components of marketing mix and store image attributes.
An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the perception scores for the two
age groups (Gr-1-up to 35 years ie. younger generation & Gr-2 above 35 years of age). There
was no significant difference in scores for Gr-1 (M = 3.22, SD =.310) and Gr-2 age groups
(M = 3.12, SD = .320); t (79) = -.106, p = .916 (two-tailed). The third hypothesis that there is
significant difference in the perception of different age-group consumers in terms of
individual components of marketing mix and store image attributes was also not found to be
statistically significant. The null hypothesis thus is not rejected against the alternative
hypothesis.
Table:6 Independent Samples- t Test for Age groups
Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means*
F Sig. t df Sig. (2tailed)
Equal variances
assumed
.083 .774 -.106 79 .916
Equal variances not
assumed
-.105 18.434 .918
Note: *Statistically significant at p<0.05

The study found no significant difference in the perception of different age groups (p>.05)
except for the following attributes,
Table:7 Independent Samples- t Test for Age groups, significant
Attributes F Sig.(2-tailed) Mean (Gr-1)* Mean (Gr-2)*
Range of fresh stocks .578 .028 3.22 2.66
Ability to bargain .162 .004 2.11 2.76
Fixed rate 1.822 .004 3.12 3.76
Note: * Gr-1= up to 35 years of age group, Gr-2= above 35 years of age group

Conclusion: As per the results of the study, the overall perception of rural consumers
regarding the selected stores marketing mix and store image attributes of 3A bazaar is
positive. However, even then the rural consumers dont make a regular purchase at such
stores. As the rural consumers have limited ability to pay, it is quite obvious from the analysis
that their perception regarding the price of the goods of 3A bazaar is not positive. Apart from
this the rural consumers search for local goods which are quit cheaper as compared to
branded items. The study also indicates that the perception of rural consumers towards the
product component of marketing mix is highly positive, with most of the product variables
receiving a mean response of more than four. The study also found that there is no significant
difference in the perception of different income-group/age-group consumers in terms of
individual components of marketing mix and store image attributes except for certain
variables. Range of branded items received low mean scores by high income group while
range of local items received low mean scores by low income group. For these two variables
there was a significant difference in the perception. To improve the flow of consumers to the
store the range of local items needs to be increased without compromising with the range of
branded items. The reason for not making a regular purchase at 3A bazaar can be attributed to
these factors. A detailed investigation in this area is needed.
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DECLARATION

This is to declare that the paper entitled- An Analysis of Perception of Rural Consumers
towards Organised Retail: A Case Study of 3A Bazaar is the original work of the
author(s)- Dr. S.K.Dubey, Vivek Kumar Pathak & Rajeev Kumar Malik and that
the paper has not been submitted for publication anywhere else.
Dr. S.K. Dubey
Associate Professor
Faculty of Management Studies
Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi

Vivek Kumar Pathak Rajeev Kumar Malik
Research Scholar Research Scholar
Faculty of Management Studies Faculty of Management Studies
Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi Varanasi