Patronage Behaviour of Customers towards Apparel Retail Stores

Abstract

Patronage behaviour of customers is vital for retailers in order to sustain in the competitive market. Patronage behaviour is conceptualised as a customer s choice of store or the frequency of visits to a store. Patronage behaviour basically focuses on studying the principal attributes that influence customer s shopping decisions. It involves a decision process as to where the customers shop, how they shop and what they purchase. Patronage behaviour reflects the reasons or considerations which makes a customer to prefer one particular retail stores and service provided over others. Hence a study has been carried out with the aim to analyse patronage behaviour on apparel retail store customers. The theoretical framework of the study is based on Patronage model of Consumer Behaviour propounded by Darden (1979). The research design adopted in the study is both descriptive and analytical in nature. The locale of the study is Coimbatore City. The study was conducted at selected multi-brand apparel retail stores in Coimbatore City. Multistage sampling method was employed to select the sample respondents. The sample size is defined from the Demorgan s table, with the proposed sample size of 663 shoppers. Due to partial response, the ultimate sample size resulted with 653 respondents. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were collected through interview scheduled. Secondary data were collected from published sources. Descriptive statistics, Chi-Square test, Analysis of Variance, Simple linear regression and Process Macros model were used for data analysis after ensuring the data reliability. The findings of the study states that, the family lifecycle, social class, lifestyle and culture (personal characteristics) of the respondents has significant positive influence on retail store patronage behaviour. Instrumental value has significant association with shopping orientation of the respondents and perception on store attributes. Shopping orientation of the respondents and their perception on store attri