PROJECT REPORT

ON

CUSTOMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS

RELIANCE DIGITAL

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award

of the degree of

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

to

Chhatrapati Sahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur

Under the Guidance of Submitted by

Dr. NAMRATA SINGH AMAN PANDEY
Assistant professor Roll No: 0302417
BBA-VI Sem

Session 2020 – 21

PSIT College of Higher Education,Kanpur

Bhauti Kanpur
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the Project Report entitled “CUSTOMER BUYING

BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS RELIANCE DIGITAL” submitted to PSIT
College of Higher Education, Kanpur in partial fulfillment of Degree of Bachelor of
Business Administration is the original work conducted by me. The information and
data given in the report is authentic to the best of my knowledge.

This Project Report is not being submitted to any other University for award of any
other Degree, Diploma and Fellowship.

Name of Student: Aman Pandey

Roll No: 0302417

Date:07/08/2021

Place: KANPUR
CERTIFICATE

PREFACE
In the prevalent retail environment where foreign direct investment is
welcomed and online marketing is in hype, competition for retail outlets
in any product category is increasing. Survival for them becomes difficult
in such scenarios. Hence, these retailers need to think on the strategy not
only to survive in this competitive market but to grow as well. As the
retailers have all the merchandise almost similar, visual merchandising is
one strategy that can be utilized to differentiate the retail outlet from

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others. The purpose of this study is to find out the relationship of visual
merchandising on purchase behaviour of customers. Three product
categories i.e. apparel, furniture and electronics, of retail were taken to
study the impact of various dimensions of visual merchandising on
purchase behaviour of consumers. In order to accomplish the objectives
of research, exploratory and descriptive studies were conducted at the
retail outlets of these categories. For exploratory research, in-depth
interviews were conducted of marketing managers, store visual
merchandisers and faculty of eminent college of design teaching visual
merchandising. Here, the various aspects of visual merchandising were
understood from experts of this field. Dimensions of visual
merchandising in each category were also understood along with the
importance and future growth of this technique in the retail industry. In
the descriptive part of study, a set of three structured questionnaire was
prepared for each product category based on literature review and
exploratory study. Sample of 385 respondents was taken for this research
consisting customers of the store. The respondents were selected with a
non-probability purposive sampling method using mall intercept
technique. For apparel stores that were studied include Ahmedabad
Central, Pantaloons, Westside, Shoppers Stop and Brand Factory. For
furniture stores that were studied are @ Home, Home Town, Housefull,a
Godrej Interio and Durian. While for electronics Sales India, Vijay Sales,
Croma, NEXT and Reliance Digital are the retail outlets where study was
undertaken. The dependent variable of this study was consumer’s impulse
buying tendency in apparel category and purchase behavior in furniture
and electronics. Responses were measured using a five-point Likert scale,
which ranged from never=1 to frequently=5. The independent variables

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for the study varies for three product categories, for apparel window
display, in-store form/mannequin display, floor merchandising and
promotional signage, for furniture they are window display, store front,
merchandise display, store layout and organization, iii creative style and
trend co-ordination,
signage’s/graphics and store environment, while for electronics
window display, store front, merchandise display, store layout and
organization, shelf display, floor merchandising, wall mount display,
signage’s/graphics and store.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Research project report is one of the important part of the BBA
program which has helped me to gain a lot of experience, which will be
beneficial in my succeeding career.

For this with an ineffable sense of gratitude, I take this opportunity

to express my deep indebtedness and gratitude to Dr. Shivani Kapoor,
Director of PSIT College of Higher Education and Dr. A.P.S.
Bhadouria,Dean of PSIT College of Higher education for their
encouragement, support and guidance.

I am very thankful to my supervisor Ms. Namrata Singh Maam for

his interest, encouragement and untiring guidance throughout the
development of the project. It has been my great privilege to work under
his inspiring guidance. I am also thankful to my parents and my friends
for their indelible co- operation for achieving the goal of the study.

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 Table of Contents
Sr.No. TITLE page
no.
1 Title Page/ Cover Page 1
2 Student’s Declaration 2
3 Certificate from Institute 3

4 Preface 4

5 Acknowledgements 5

6 Table of contents 6
Introduction
7
Company Profile
8
Literature Review
9
Objective of Study
10
Significance of Study
11
Research Methodology
12
Data Analysis
13
Findings
14
Recommendation
15
Limitation
16
Conclusion
17
Recommendation
18
Annexure
19

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 Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Page | 8
 Reliance Digital is a consumer electronics company in India. The first
Reliance Digital Store was opened on 24 April 2007 in Delhi. Currently
there are around 400+ Reliance Digital and Reliance Digital Xpress Mini
Stores in around 20+ cities in India.

Reliance Digital, an electronic arm of Reliance Retail Ltd is one of the

largest chain of stores for consumer electronic appliances. Every
Reliance Digital Store provides a wide range of 150 brands for its
customers to choose from.

Reliance Digital was established in 2007. Over the years Reliance Digital
has expanded and has opened many outlets in different parts of the
country.

Reliance Digital stores are located in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi,
Chennai, Bangalore etc. The stores are spread out over large areas and
hence customers have an ease of access while searching for their desired
product. The stores provide special experience zones which allow
customers to have a look and feel of the actual products before buying
Reliance Digital, an electronic arm of Reliance Retail Ltd is one of the
largest chain of stores for consumer electronic appliances. Every
Reliance Digital Store provides a wide range of 150 brands for its
customers to choose from.

The ambience of these stores and the existing range of products make
shopping at Reliance Digital an experience in itself. Reliance Digital
provides its customers with the best deals at the best price. Reliance
ResQ, the technical support arm of Reliance Digital provides an end to
end solution and technical support for leading brands.

Reliance ResQ, the service arm of Reliance Digital is India's only ISO
9001 certified electronics service brand. ResQ takes care of post-
purchase needs including maintenance, repairs and replacements.
Our extended warranty programme, ResQ Care covers part replacements
and includes a buyback option in case repair is not possible.
We offer home pickup/drop-offs, stand-in product support and more
depending on a customer's needs. ResQ services are available 7 days a
week, from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M.

Page | 9
.

Company
Page | 10
 Profile
COMPANY PROFILE

India has an increasingly affluent middle class population that, on the

back of rapid economic growth, has made the country’s consumer
electronics industry highly dynamic. The industry has been witnessing
significant growth in recent years due to several factors, such as retail
boom, growing disposable income and availability of easy finance
schemes. But still, the consumer electronics goods, like refrigerators,
televisions and air conditioners, have low penetration in the country,
leaving vast room for future growth. This is attracting many foreign
majors to the country, says our report “Booming Consumer Electronics
Market in India”.

The Indian consumer electronics market stood at an estimated US$ 5

Billion as of the end of 2009, and is further projected to grow at a CAGR
of around 15% during our forecast period (2010-2013).

Page | 11
 Classification of Consumer Electronics Goods
Consumer electronics can be classified into personal computers,
telephones, calculators, playback, digital video disk (DVD), video
compact disc (VCD), video home systems (VHS), home theatre, music
players, color televisions (CTVs), cameras, camcorders, portable audio,
Hi-Fi, etc.

Demand Drivers in Consumer Electronics Sector

Increase in disposable income, changing tastes of consumers,

increase in nuclear families, increasing number of workingwomen,
growth in per capita income, greater variety of choices, growth in
entertainment sectors, increasing consumerism, etc.

Before the liberalization of the Indian economy, only a few companies

like Kelvinator, Godrej, Allwyn, and Voltas were the major players in the
consumer durables market, accounting for no less than 90% of the market.
Then, after the liberalization, foreign players like LG, Sony, Samsung,
Whirlpool, Daewoo, Aiwa came into the picture. Today, these players
control the major share of the consumer durables market.
Consumer durables market grew at 10-15% in 2007-2008. It is
growing very fast because of the rise in living standards, easy access to
consumer finance, and wide range of choice, as many foreign players are
entering the market.

Page | 12
 Reliance
Industries
Limited

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is an Indian conglomerate

holding company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Reliance owns businesses across India engaged in energy,

Page | 13
petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, retail, and
telecommunications. Reliance is the most profitable company in India
The largest publicly traded company in India by market capitalization,
and the second largest company in India as measured by revenue after
the government- controlled Indian Oil Corporation. The company is
ranked 203th on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest
corporations as of 2017. It is ranked 8th among the Top 250 Global
Energy Companies by Plats as of 2016. Reliance continues to be India’s
largest exporter accounting for 8% of India’s total merchandise exports
with a value of Rs 147,755 crore and access to markets in 108 countries.
Reliance is responsible for almost 5% of The Government of India’s total
revenues from customs and excise duty and is also the highest Income
taxpayer in the private sector in India.

Page | 14
 Reliance Digital, an electronic arm of Reliance Retail Ltd is one of the
largest chain of stores for consumer electronic appliances. Every Reliance
Digital Store provides a wide range of 150 brands for its customers to
choose from.

The ambience of these stores and the exiting range of products make
shopping at Reliance Digital an experience in itself. Reliance Digital
provides its
customers with the best
deals at the best price.
Reliance ResQ, the
technical support
arm of Reliance Digital
provides an end to end
solution and
technical support
for leading brands.
Reliance Digital
was established in 2006.
Over the years Reliance
Digital has
expanded and has
opened many outlets in different parts of the country.

Reliance Digital stores are located in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi,
Chennai, Bangalore etc. The stores are spread out over large areas and
hence customers have an ease of access while searching for their desired

Page | 15
product. The stores provide special experience zones which allow
customers to have a look and feel of the actual products before buying it.
Reliance Digital is a consumer durables and information technology
concept from Reliance Retail. It is a subsidiary of Reliance Retail, which
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries.

Reliance Digital is a consumer electronics company in India. The first

Reliance Digital Store was opened on 24 April 2007 in Delhi. Currently
there are around 2000 Reliance Digital & Reliance Digital Xpress Mini
Stores in around 600 cities in India.
The stores are spread across the states
Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune), Gujarat (Ahmedabad), Delhi NCR,
Karnataka (Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli), Kerala(Kochi),
TamilNadu (Chennai, Madurai, Salem, Coimbatore) and Telangana
(Hyderabad). Reliance Digital Stores are bigger in size than the other
format Digital Xpress Mini stores. The company plans to ramp up its
current store count of 1200 stores to 2500 by the end of 2017.

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 PRODUCTS IN RELIANCE DIGITAL

AC Types: Split AC, Window AC

Brands: Microsoft, Sensei, Sony

Whirlpool: Refrigerator, Washing Machine

Accessories & Parts: Yes

Used Laptops: No
Blu-ray Players, Colour Television, DVD Player,
Home
Philips:
Theatre System, LCD TV, MP3 & MP4 Player,
Portable

TV & DVD Players

Prestige: Chimney, Dry Iron, Gas Stove

Sanyo: Washing Machine

Videocon: Colour Television

Repairs & Services: Yes
Hitachi: Refrigerator
Koryo, Apple, Cowon, Mitashi, Creative,
Brands: Logitech

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 Conventional TV, Flat Screen TV, Home Theatre

Sansui: System, Slim TV, Ultraslim TV

Automatic Cooker, Ceiling Fan, Coffee Maker, Disney

Fan, Electric Kettle, Electric Tea Maker, Food

Processor, Hand Blenders And Hand Mixers, Irons Dry

Bajaj: And Steam, Microwave Oven, Mixer Grinder, Oven

Toaster Griller, Pedestal Fan, Pressure Cooker, Table

Fan, Toasters Pop up And Sandwich, Wall Fan, Wet

Grinder

Installation: Yes

Onkyo: Home Style Systems

Blu-ray Players, DVD Player, Home Theater System,

Samsung: LCD TV, LED TV, Multi-media Players, Plasma TV,

Refrigerator, Ultra Slimfit TV, Washing Machine

Products: Desktop, Laptop

Segment: Residential

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 Blu-ray Players, CD Radio Cassette Recorder, DVD

Player, Flat Screen TV, Home Audio, IC & Cassette

Panasonic:
Recorder, LCD TV, Mini Hi-Fi System, MP3 CD

Receivers, Plasma TV, Portable Audio, Slim TV

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 Audio Accessories, Blu-ray Players, CD / Radio /

Cassette Player, Compact Flash, DVD/HDD Players,

DVD Home Theatre System, Hi-Fi System,

Home Audio Sony:
Accessories, Home Theatre Component
System, Home

Theatre System Accessories, LCD TV,

Portable

Playstation, Radio, Walkman MP3

Consumer Durables: Yes

Services: Yes
Black & Decker: Iron

Chopper, Coffee Maker, Dry Iron, Electric Cooker,

Morphy Food Processor, Hand Blender, Kettle, Mixer Grinder,

Richards:
OTG, Sandwich Maker, Steam Iron, Tea Maker,
Toaster
Sales: Yes
Usha Lexus: Air Cooler

Convection Microwave, Direct Cool Refrigerator,

Dishwasher, DVD Player, Flat Screen TV, Front Load

Washing Machine, Frost Free Refrigerator, Grill

LG:
Microwave, Home Theater System, LCD TV,
Music

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 System, Plasma TV, Side by Side
Refrigerator, Solardom

Microwave, Ultraslim TV, Vacuum Cleaner

Accessories: Yes

Onida: Colour Television, DVD Player

Products Other: Ipod

Electrolux: Refrigerator

Inalsa: Food Processor, Hand Blender, Mixer Grinder

Maharaja Whiteline:Electric Iron

Haier: Colour Television, LCD TV

Page | 21
Literature
Review

Page | 22
 Literature Review

According to Engel, Blackwell and Miniard (1995), consumer

behavior is defined as the study if individuals or groups in obtaining,
using and disposing of products and services, including the decision
making process and the processes preceding the behaviors following it.
Consumer behavior can be explained on a macro level and the micro
level views. The consumer behavior involves in examining the reasons
for the behaviors of the customers more than the examination of the
consumer actions. Considering the macro level, the interests of the
marketers lie on the demographic changes, society's values, beliefs and
practices that affect the way the customers interact in the marketplace. In
the micro level view, consumer behavior concentrates the human
behavior and the reasons behind the behavior. The application of these
concepts to developing and increasing the understanding of the consumer
buying behavior in context to the real estate industry are explained in the
following sections.

Consumer Choice and Decision-Making

Consumer choice is one of the key and important aspects of consumer

behavior. The relevance between consumer choice and the decision
making process is also depicted in the theory of utility in Economics. In
general terms a customer buys a product or service to enjoy the benefits
derived from their usage. The theory of utility as described before
focuses mainly on the results and outcomes whereas the consumer
behavior aspect emphasizes on the process of consumer purchase. The
impact of the situational factors on consumer behavior and the variance
among the individuals faced with the same conditions are explicitly
explained in the theories and researches of consumer behavior.

Considering the real estate industry, the type of purchase and leases
are said to be of high involvement goods. This type of high involvement
goods demand a complex decision making process during the purchase
time. In accordance with the consumer buying behavior, decision making
process and the real estate industry, the three important conceptual
models of the decision making process are suggested by Nicosa (1966),
Kollat and Blackell (1968) and Howard and Sheth (1969). These models
of consumer decision making process are in direct relation with the
situations of the real estate industry in Chennai. It is important to note

Page | 23
 that these models provide a trace of the psychological state and the
behavior of the customer from the initial stage of the customer's
conception of the idea of the purchase of the land or house through the
entire purchasing process of the product to satisfy the demands of the
consumer. A detailed explanation of some of the key elements of the
above mentioned conceptual models and provided in the next section.
The key elements are listed as information search, evaluation of
alternatives and decision rules.

The Cultural Factors are the factors that an individual learns at a very early stage of life
due to socialization within the family and other key institutions, such as the set of values,
preferences, behavior patterns, and perceptions are learned as the individual grows.
Some of the important cultural factors are:

1. Culture: The culture refers to the beliefs, customs, rituals and

practice that a particular group of people follows. As a child grows, he
inculcates the buying and decision-making patterns through his family
and the key institutions. The culture varies from region to region and
even from country to country. Such as the sale of “sarees” and
“Lungis” is more in South than the North India. Therefore, the
marketer should carefully study all the different cultures and frame the
marketing strategies accordingly.
2. Subculture: The culture can be further divided into subculture
wherein the people are classified more specifically on the basis of

Page | 24
 their shared customs and beliefs, including religions, geographic
regions, nationalities, etc. The different sub-cultures forms several
market segments whose needs can be carefully studied by the
marketer, and the strategic marketing decisions can be taken
accordingly. Such as the needs of the people living in metro cities and
the ones living in B-grade cities must be identified before the launch
of the marketing campaign.
3. Social Class: The social class to which an individual belongs
influences the buying decision. Generally, the people belonging to the
same class are said to be sharing similar interests, values and
behavior. Our society is classified into three social classes: upper
class, middle class, and the lower class. The consumers belonging to
these classes possess different buying behaviors. Such as an individual
belonging to the upper class buying those products or services that
advocate his status while the lower class people buy those products
which satisfy their basic needs.

The academic literature on services marketing has

developed from a number of sources (e.g. Bateson, 1977;
Eiglier and Langeard, 1977; Gummesson, 1979; Lovelock,
1981; Shostack, 1977) and was described by Zeithaml et
al. (1985) as being based on three assumptions: first, that
factors existed which distinguished services from goods;
second, that these factors posed special problems for
service marketers not faced by goods marketers; and
third, that services marketing required services marketing
solutions. Services are typically distinguished from goods
on the grounds of intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity
and perishability, and while goods and services are not
polar extremes, these characteristics tend to dominate
in services and create problems for services marketing.
Although less explicitly recognized in the literature, the
characteristics of services, including financial services, will
also have an important impact on buyer behaviour. Thus
any attempt to understand the purchase decision-making
process must recognize the ways in which buyer behaviour
can be affected by these characteristics.
Intangibility is the main distinguishing feature, since

Page | 25
services are processes or experiences rather than physical
objects and therefore cannot be possessed (Bowen and
Schneider, 1988; Lovelock, 1981; Shostack, 1977).
Furthermore intangibility can be double-edged in the sense
that services are not only impalpable but also difficult for
consumers to grasp mentally (Bateson, 1977). Consequently
at the pre-purchase stage services are more
CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR IN FINANCIAL SERVICES: AN
OVERVIEW 5
difficult for consumers to evaluate than goods, since any
evaluation will be low in search qualities, which are tangible
attributes and can be considered in advance. Conversely,
services are high in experience qualities, which refer to
attributes which can only be assessed after purchase or
during consumption. Furthermore, many professional or
specialist services will also be high in credence qualities,
which are attributes which cannot even be assessed after
purchase and consumption (Zeithaml, 1981). Thus for
many consumers, for example, any evaluation of financial
advice given or product recommendations made must be
based on trust in the financial adviser. As a consequence
of intangibility, the ways in which services are evaluated,
particularly at the pre-purchase stage, are likely to differ
from goods, and this area needs further consideration in
understanding buyer behaviour for services.
The second factor distinguishing services from goods is
inseparability. The fact that services are processes or
experiences means that essentially they must be produced
and consumed simultaneously. This leads to a third
distinctive feature, namely perishability: services cannot
be stored for some future time period, hence the need
for short distribution channels so that they can be
produced on demand (Bateson, 1977). The inseparability
of production and consumption in services make
production and marketing interactive processes (Gronroos,
1978). The front-line service employees play an important

Page | 26
"boundary spanning role" in the production of services,
as do the consumers themselves in their capacity as
"partial employees" (Bowen and Schneider, 1988).
Therefore in understanding buyer behaviour it will be
important to consider the interaction between buyer and
supplier. Since services depend on input from both service
employees and consumers for their production, the quality
of the service output very much depends on the nature
of the personal interactions of these parties. This makes
the potential for variability in the service performance high,
which leads to the final distinctive characteristic of
services, namely heterogeneity.
In addition to these distinguishing features of services
there are two more which are present in financial services,
namely fiduciary responsibility and two-way information
flows between buyer and seller. Fiduciary responsibility
refers to the implicit responsibility of financial services
organizations for the management of their customers'
funds and the nature of the financial advice supplied to
their customers. In financial services transactions a set
of promises is essentially being exchanged between the
buyer and the seller. From the buyer's point of view much
depends on what exactly is being promised and the
likelihood of such promises being delivered (Lewis and
Chiplin, 1986). In the case of long-term savings plans, for
example, it is often difficult for consumers to evaluate these
promises that are given in the absence of full information.
Decisions on whether to purchase such services are more
likely to be based on experience and credence qualities
as there are fewer search qualities (Zeithaml, 1981). Before
any financial resources change hands consumers must have
confidence and trust not only in the financial institution
concerned but also in its personnel. Apart from relying
more on information from personal sources, consumers
are likely to consider factors such as the size, longevity
and image of the financial services organization as

Page | 27
indicators of whether any promises made are sound and
likely to be fulfilled. The establishment of trust can also
bring about a degree of inertia in buyer-seller relationships.
Since an irreversible amount of time and effort is required
by an individual in order to acquire the necessary
experience and information on which to assess an
institution's reliability, it is usually the case that once
satisfied, a consumer is more likely to remain with that
institution than incur the costs of searching for and vetting
alternative suppliers.
As far as two-way information flows are concerned, what
is unique about financial services, is that rather than being
concerned with one-off purchases, they involve a series
of regular two-way transactions between buyer and seller
usually over an extended period of time (for example
through the issue of account statements or customer visits
to branches or ATM usage). As a by-product of the normal
operation of these transactions a great deal of up-to-date
private and confidential customer information is captured,
which can subsequently be used to maintain and develop
relationships with existing customers as well as attracting
new ones.
Understanding Consumer Buying Behaviour
Understanding the nature of consumer buying behaviour
has been a key component of research in marketing for
some considerable time. If organizations are to be able
to anticipate likely customer reactions to their marketing
strategies and influence them where appropriate, it is
crucial that they understand the needs and motivations
of their customers and prospects.
Most of the literature on services marketing has, however,
focused on the development of taxonomies of services
and the unique characteristics of services when compared
with goods. Murray (1991) pointed out that in spite of the
recent attention which had been paid to the field of
services marketing and the ensuing efforts to develop

Page | 28
conceptual models and managerial paradigms, relatively
less attention was being given to developing an
understanding of consumer buying behaviour for services,
particularly search behaviour in the purchase decision
process. Although there is a substantial body of literature
on buyer behaviour, the focus of attention in this literature
is on consumer and industrial products. The key task is
therefore to identify whether the main buying behaviour
theories that already exist, can also be applied to financial
services.
6 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BANK MARKETING 10,5
Much of the conceptual work has centred around the view
of consumer buying behaviour as a decision process
consisting of a number of discrete but interlinked stages.
Probably the best example of this is the Engel-Kollat-
Blackwell model (Engel et al., 1991) which breaks the
decision-making process into five stages: problem
recognition; information search; evaluation of alternatives;
purchase decision; and post-purchase behaviour. A similar
approach was adopted by Nicosia's (1966) model of
consumer decision making and also the Howard-Sheth
(1969) model. In essence these models were built around
the decision-making process succinctly summarized by
Strong's (1925) mnemonic AIDA, standing for awareness,
interest, desire and action. This model is one of a group
of response hierarchy models, which appears in the
adoption and diffusion literature. These models are based
on the assumption that buyers will pass through a
cognitive, affective and behavioural stage when there is
a high degree of involvement with a product category which
is perceived to have a high degree of differentiation of
products within it (Kotler, 1991). There is also some
evidence of similar approaches being used in organizational
buying behaviour: for example, the Robinson et al. (1967)
"Buy Grid" model which analyses buying decisions across
a series of sequential "buy phases" for different types

Page | 29
of buying situation; as well as the models by Webster and
Wind (1972) and Sheth (1973).
However this general type of approach has been subject
to criticism. The consumer buying behaviour models
mentioned above were criticized by Tuck (1976) on the
grounds that they could not be tested and lacked specificity
of variables. Foxall (1991) noted that they were all founded
on a rational decision sequence which assumed too rational
a consumer and did not offer any empirically testable
hypotheses. Similarly organizational buying behaviour
models were criticized by Turnbull (1991) for assuming
a discrete and ordered process, since there was evidence
to suggest that stages in the process could occur
simultaneously or out-of-sequence depending on the
buying situation. A further problem with these models
is that they are all typically concerned with one-off
purchases rather than recurrent ones.
An alternative conceptual framework was suggested by
Baker (1983). His composite model of buyer behaviour
is based on Kotler's (1972) framework of four major
motivation models (namely Marshallian, Pavlovian,
Freudian and Veblenian), which comprise four different
disciplinary explanations of choice behaviour, together with
six key concepts which were considered to be most helpful
in understanding influences which affect choice (namely
selective perception; hierarchy of needs; hierarchy of
effects; post-purchase dissonance; buy tasks and buy
phases; and characteristics of goods). While this model
still has the underlying notion of the decision to buy as
the outcome of a discrete and sequential process, it
endeavours to synthesize key variables in order to provide
a useful framework for marketers and academics alike to
structure their thoughts and actions around a particular
problem so that successful strategies can be developed.
Baker (1983) recognized, however, that it would be
unrealistic to expect any model to encapsulate completely

Page | 30
the complexity and dynamic nature of the buying process,
and stated that an additional variable was required to act
as a catalyst for the model to work: the specialized
knowledge and experience of persons familiar to the
specific product-market interface being studied.
The need to recognize explicitly the importance of the
buyer-seller interface was addressed by the IMP
(Industrial/International Marketing & Purchasing) group
of researchers. Their model of organizational buying
behaviour represented a major departure from the
approaches made to date. This model sets out to
conceptualize industrial marketing and purchasing as an
interactive process which takes place within the context
of long-term relationships between buyers and sellers. It
was because of the centrality of this relationship to the
buying process that it was necessary to study the two
activities jointly rather than simply look at each aspect
separately. The underlying rationale of the model
represents a significant shift from the more traditional view
of marketing which considers a marketer actively managing
a marketing mix to match the needs of passive customers
in an atomistic market (Ford, 1990). Such a view was
considered by Ford (1980) as being unrealistic in industrial
markets, since buyers and sellers formed interactive
relationships with each other which developed as a process
over time.
The interaction model is built on four factors: first, both
buyer and seller being active participants in the market;
second, the buyer-seller relationship being frequently long
term, close and involving a complex pattern of interaction
between and within each company; third, links between
both parties often becoming institutionalized into a set of
roles that each party expects the other to perform; and,
finally, close relationships often being considered in the
context of continuous raw materials or component supply.
In essence it considers the role of marketing to be the

Page | 31
establishment, development and maintenance of
relationships between buyer and seller companies
(Hakansson, 1982). The constituent components of the
model are the interactive process, the participants involved,
the environment within which the interaction takes place
and the atmosphere affecting or affected by the interaction.
As a conceptual framework it enables deeper insight not
only into the components of the organizational buying
decision-making process, but also the ways in which these
components interact with one another.
In his recent review of organizational buying behaviour
literature Turnbull (1991) pointed out that although the IMP
model portrayed the complex nature of the organizational
CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR IN FINANCIAL SERVICES:
AN OVERVIEW 7
buying process, "no single model adequately explained
all the complexities of this process; a universal pattern
of relationships had yet to be found in order to build a
comprehensive model".
Consumer Buying Behaviour in Financial
Services
As the previous section shows there is a wealth of
conceptual material concerned with how buyers make
decisions. This is supported by a large volume of empirical
work, most of which was developed in the context of
studying the purchases of physical goods rather than
services. By contrast in the services marketing and
financial services marketing literature the conceptual and
empirical work is not as well developed. The reasons for
this may be three-fold: first, this may be due to a problem
with the conceptual models themselves in that they do
not lend themselves to empirical testing (see Tuck, 1976;
Foxall, 1991); second, it is not clear whether these models
are necessarily the most appropriate conceptual
frameworks to use in any case; and third, there has been
a lack of appropriate measures of salient dimensions for

Page | 32
testing concepts in services marketing situations (Teas
et al., 1988). There is little, if any, theoretical work on
how consumers buy services. Although Zeithaml (1981)
examined how consumer evaluation processes differed
between goods and services, this was not done in the
context of a general model.
The lack of an acceptable theoretical framework has not
inhibited empirical work and there has been a variety of
studies of buying behaviour for both personal and
corporate financial services. The results of the main
studies are summarized in Tables I and II.
It is apparent from Table I that empirical work has tended
to shy away on the whole from testing conceptual
frameworks. Instead, the focus has been on specific issues
in relation to buying behaviour such as factors affecting
the choice of bank and usage of financial services,
customer loyalty, customer expectations and perceptions
and service quality.
Financial services marketers need to understand how
consumers decide on which suppliers to deal with and
which brands to select. In their study of how consumers
categorized banks and the effect demographic differences
had on this process, Laroche and Manning (1984) found
that although banks tended to be recognized by name,
there was no clear association of brand concept with this,
and that a correlation existed between demographic
differences and this process. The study of the relationship
of ethnicity and consumer behaviour by Joy et al. (1991)
was significant in that it extended previous work on
consumer goods to financial services and recognized the
importance of the construct of ethnicity in this context.
On the whole these empirical studies highlight the
importance of factors such as confidence, trust and
customer loyalty. Some of the common choice criteria in
bank selection are dependability and size of the institution,
location, convenience and ease of transactions,

Page | 33
professionalism of bank personnel and availability of loans.
It would appear from this that the personal consumer is
more interested in the functional quality dimension of
financial services (i.e. how the service is delivered) rather
than the technical quality dimension (i.e. what is actually
received as the outcome of the production process) (see
Gronroos, 1984). This is not surprising given the
difficulties consumers have in evaluating services
(Zeithaml, 1981): because of the intangibility, inseparability
and heterogeneity of services, there are fewer tangible
cues to base decisions on prior to purchase and therefore
greater reliance is placed on experience qualities after
purchase or during consumption, and even credence
qualities since consumers may find it extremely difficult
to assess in hindsight whether they entrusted the right
organization with the management of their financial
resources.
The main areas covered by the publications summarized
in Table II are the commercial bank/commercial customer
interface in terms of the interaction process, mutual
perceptions held, long-term relationships, factors affecting
choice of bank and usage of international financial services
and the need for customer orientation.
The application of some organizational buying behaviour
models to the purchasing of international financial services
was attempted by Turnbull (1982a), who concluded that
no single model adequately explained all the complexities
of these purchases. Nevertheless he pointed out that
certain aspects of these theories seemed to lend
themselves well in this respect. First, the application of
the interaction model by the IMP group seemed to be
particularly appropriate. Although this model is concerned
with the sale and purchase of industrial goods, it may have
been the case that it was considered to be appropriate
to the sale and purchase of corporate financial services
on the grounds that the latter also involved organizational

Page | 34
buying behaviour, rather than because of any adaptability
the model might have for services of any kind. Addressing
the importance and nature of relationships between
companies and banks, the interaction model examines
factors which influence search and decision processes, in
particular the "atmosphere" in which these relationships
are conducted. Second, consideration was given to the
application of the stages of the purchase process put
forward by Robinson et al. (1967) and Brand (1972), which
led to the conclusion that the financial purchasing process
largely followed these sequences. Finally, it was observed
that the organizational factors in the Webster and Wind
(1972) model also seemed to be appropriate. The buying
centre concept from this model was also applied in another

OBJECTIVS
Page | 35
 OF THE
STUDY

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

OBJECTIVE

The primary objective was to study the buying behaviour of customers

towards the RELIANCE DIGITAL Electronics.

The secondary objectives were:

Page | 36
• To find the perception of customers towards reliance digital in the
Kanpur area.
• To find the expectation of customers from reliance digital.
• To know the influencing factor for buying the products from reliance
digital.
• To find the problems faced by the customers while purchasing products
from reliance digital.

Page | 37
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It includes the
various steps that are generally adopted by the researcher in studying the
research problem along with the logic behind them.
The Market Research Process involves:

DEFINING THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

Page | 38
 SPECIFYING THE INFORMATION
REQUIREMENT

DEVELOPING THE RESEARCH DESIGN AND

PROCEDURE

GATHERING THE DATA

ANALYSING THE INFORMATION

SUMMARISING THE FINDINGS

PREPARING THE RESEARCH REPORT

PROJECT OBJECTIVE:

The project is carried out to understand the consumer buying

behaviour. The study discusses feedback for the company from the market,
which overall helps the company in formulating its future plans and policies
and enhancing the good will level of the company. The project objectives
are discussed in the previous chapter.
DATA SOURCES:

Page | 39
 The data taken or collected from different sources to carry out
the research is called data sources.
There are two types of data sources:-

• Primary Data:-
The primary data for the project was collected from the samples
visiting various offices, shops, houses etc

• Secondary Data:-
Secondary data was collected through phone directory, yellow
pages and references of policyholders.
RESEARCH APPROACH

The research approach used is Descriptive Research. It includes

survey and fact finding enquiries of different kinds.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The data collection was through a questionnaire that was a tool

for the research. The survey comprised questionnaires (open and
close ended). A structured questionnaire is a formal list of
questions framed so as to get the facts. The interviewer asks the
question strictly in accordance with the pre-arranged order this
method being the best and most effective method of collecting the
primary data.

Page | 40
 PARAMETERS CONSIDERED FOR DESIGNING THE
QUESTIONNAIRE:

✓ The questionnaire design took into consideration the

characteristics of the respondent, the situation in which the
questions were administered and the method of contacting
the respondent.
✓ The objective of the survey was always focused.
✓ The questions had clear wordings.
✓ The questions were of simple words and not barreled ones.
✓ The wordings of the questionnaire were easy to understand
for the respondent.
✓ The framing of the question was such that all the possible
responses were incurred that might be given by the
respondents.
✓ The questionnaire had an appropriate length, considering
time

limitation.

✓ The overall printing of the questionnaire was neat and easy

to understand which facilitated easy assess and coding of

data

The copy of the blank and filled Questionnaire is attached in

Annexure.

Page | 41
 UNIVERSE

All items in any field of enquiry constitute a “Universe”. It can

be finite or

infinite. The universe in my project comprises KANPUR area in

UTTAR PRADESH

SAMPLE SIZE

A sample size of 100 was taken for the research purpose.

CONTACT METHOD

The methods available for data collection are Personal interview

and the Observation method. In direct interview method, where

face-to-face formal interview will be taken. Lastly, the observation

method was used continuously with the questionnaire method, as

Page | 42
 one continuously observes the surrounding environment he works

in.

FIELD WORK
Fieldwork, which constituted the main and important part of the project

work, interaction was the most important part in which I have to interact

with the company people and market people prior appointments to

contact with respondents. The project consisted of a survey in areas like

KANPUR .

Looking for potential customers is also part of my fieldwork.

Page | 43
ANALYSIS
OF DATA

Page | 44
1.) Which Electronic retail shop comes to mind when you think of
buying electronic products?

1.RELIANCE DIGITAL 32%

2. CHROMA 34%
3.NEXT 4%
4. Local shop 29%
5. The electronic store 3%
6. DASS electronics 9%
7.Big bazaar electronic section 7%
8.vijay sales 15%

2%

1%
RELIANCE DIGITAL
1
2% Chrom
5%
7 a
lo sho
8% ca ps store
Electronic
l
Da electronic
3%
ss s
B baza
ivij arsal
1% gay es
4 3% N
0 ex
t

Page | 45
 Along with the RELIANCE DIGITAL people prefer to buy from croma
as well as local electronic retail
2). Do you visit RELIANCE DIGITAL?

A. Yes B. No

Yes 78%
No 22%

2%
2

y
eN
so

7%
8

Page | 46
 Most of the people visit reliance digital and which shows the
perception about reliance digital in customer’s mind is good.

3) Brand and product availability at RELIANCE DIGITAL is?

Poor good very good excellent

Poor 29%
Good 36%
Very good 22%
Excellent 13%

Page | 47
 Brand and product availability in RELIANCE DIGITAL is poor for
29% while 36% says it is good

4) What factors influence you to shop from RELIANCE DIGITAL?

A. Low prices B. all products at one place

C. offers and discounts D. comfortable
E. offer days H. Genuine product

Page | 48
Low prices 40%
All products at one place 11%
Offers and discount 24%
Comfortable 4%
Offer days 18%
Genuine products 3%

Most of the customer come to RELIANCE DIGITAL because of low

prices of products while other major part of customers are influenced by
offers

5) From where did you get the information about RELIANCE DIGITAL
and its offers?
Print media Electronic media
Friends and relatives others

Page | 49
Print media 39%
Electronic media 31%
Friends and relatives 27%
Others 3%

3%

2%
7 3% Print media
9 Electronic media
Friends and relatives
othe
rs

3%
1

Print media and electronic media are most effective in spreading

information about RELIANCE DIGITAL and its offers.

6) Does a good advertisement affect your buying decision ?

Page | 50
 A. Yes B. No

Yes 64%
No 36%

The research shows that advertisement influences the buying decision of

customers
7) Your valuable suggestions for improvement of RELIANCE DIGITAL
electronic retail store?
Improve Delivery services
Customer handling/feature
explanation
Internal environment

Page | 51
 More billing counter
Better pricing and offers

Improve Delivery services 41%

customer handling/feature explanation 11%
internal environment 4%
More billing counter 28%
Better pricing and offers 16%

Few improvements for reliance digital are in delivery system,customer

handling,internal environment, billing counters and pricing out of which
customer most required improvements are billing counter and delivery
system.

8) Experience after buying products from RELIANCE DIGITAL.

Page | 52
satisfied unsatisfied delighted

if unsatisfied then mention the reason

Satisfied 66%
unsatisfied 24%
Delighted 10%

Page | 53
 9).At offer days shopping experience is
Poor good very good excel lent

Poor 44%
good 27%
Very good 19%
excellent 10%

Page | 54
 \
10) Do you find that their statement “365 days lowest pricing guarantee” is
true?
A. yes B. no

If no mention why

Yes 68%
No 32%

Page | 55
11) What are the problems that you face while shopping from RELIANCE
DIGITAL?

A. Long queue at cash counters

B. Bad delivery services
C. Outdated and less collection in few
brands
D. Promoters only focus on their own
brand E. No follow up

Page | 56
long queue at cash counters 34%
Bad delivery services 36%
outdated and less collection in few 17%
brands
Promoters only focus on their own 13%
brand

1%
3
long queue at cash counters
3%
4
Bad delivery services
1%
7
outdated and less collectioni
f bran n
ePromoters
ds only focus onthe
ow bra ir
w nd
n
3%
6

Page | 57
FINDINGS

Page | 58
▪ Brands and product availability is quite low specially brands like
Godrej and IFB and products like trimmer single door refrigerator
and semi automatic washing machine, cooler and ceiling fan.
▪ Customers are not happy with the delivery service.

▪ Customers also don’t find their claim “365 day lowest price
guarantee” to be true. Sometimes other retailers provide the same
product at lower price

▪ Low prices and offers and discounts influence most of the people to
buy products from RELIANCE DIGITAL.

▪ Print and electronic media plays a major role in creating awareness

about RELIANCE DIGITAL and its offers.

▪ Single billing counters creates the problem on offer days as well as

on weekends.
▪ Customer experience is good while purchasing products from
RELIANCE DIGITAL.
▪ Promoters focus on their own brand because they get incentive if
their product is sold out and this confuses the customer in choosing
the brand.

▪ Good advertisement influences the people to buy products from

RELIANCE DIGITAL.

Page | 59
RECOMMENDATIONS

Page | 60
RECOMMENDATIONS

▪ Brand and product availability should be increased.

▪ Separate department for quick delivery should be introduced.

▪ More cash counters should be there to avoid the queue problem.

▪ As they communicate that “365 days lowest price guarantee”

should be true by providing the products at lowest possible prices.

▪ Local warehouses should also be there along with central

warehouses which provide the facility of delivery on time.

▪ Advertisement should be encouraged or increased for offers as well

as for their own brand awareness.

Page | 61
CONCLUSIONS

Page | 62
 CONCLUSIONS

Change is very important and one whose goes where the changing

environment always succeeds, that is what I have learned from the study.

The competition has grown too much in the electronic retail sector with

the opening of the sector.

On the basis of the project I can conclude that the retail sector is one of

the oldest industries of India. It was under private control earlier but

nationalized after independence. For many years it was only LIC for life

and GIC for general insurance companies available. In 1991 when the

liberalization started, foreign investors became attracted towards the

country. In 1993 the government appointed Mr. R.N. Malhotra committee

to suggest reforms measures. In 1998 the New IRDA Bill was passed and

became a law for foreign insurance companies.

Private companies aligned with the Indian companies to step into this

sector. LIC has the largest network of operation with 2148 offices,

124,000 employees and 750000 agents. Out of the total population of 1

billion in the country only 22% have insurance cover. So we can say that

there is still large potential for both the public and private companies.

Private companies have to give varied customized products to compete

with the LIC, which holds about 97% of the total market.

Page | 63
REFERENCES

Page | 64
 REFERENCES

BOOKS

Marketing Management - Philip Kotler

Market Research - M. V. Kulkarni

Research Methodology - C. R. Kothari/ M. V. Kulkarni

QUESTIONNAIRE

NAME:

Page | 65
 ADDRESS:

CONTACT NUMBER:

1.) Which Electronic retail shop comes in your mind when you think of
buying

electronic products?

1.) RELIANCE DIGITAL

2. CHROMA
3.NEXT
4. Local shop
5. The electronic store
6. DASS electronics
7.Big bazaar electronic section

2). Do you visit RELIANCE DIGITAL?

A. Yes B. No
3) Brand and product availability at RELIANCE DIGITAL is ?

Poor good very good excellent

Page | 66
4) What factors influence you to shop from RELIANCE DIGITAL?

A. Low prices B. all products at one place

C. offers and discounts D. comfortable

E. offer days F. Genuine product

5).From where did you get the information about RELIANCE

DIGITAL and its offers?

Print media Electonic media

Friends and relatives others

6).Does a good advertisement affects your buying decision?

Page | 67
 A. Yes B. No Your valuable suggestions for
improvement
7)

of RELIANCE DIGITAL electronic retail store?

• Improve Delivery services

• Customer handling/feature explanation

• Internal environment

• More billing counter

• Better pricing and offers

8) Experience after buying products from RELIANCE DIGITAL

Satisfied Unsatisfied Delighted

If unsatisfied then mention the reason

Page | 68
 9). At offer days shopping experience is

Poor good very good excellent 10) Do

you find that their statement “365 days lowest pricing guarantee” is true?

A. yes B. no

If no mention why

11) What are the problems that you face while shop from RELIANCE
DIGITAL?

A. Long queue at cash counters

B. Bad delivery services

C. Outdated and less collection in few brands

D Promoters only focus on their own brand

Page | 69
Signature Thank You

Page | 70