International Journal of Commerce & Business Management

P. Balaji ¹, C. Karthikeyan ², D. Sureshkumar ³

Affiliations
1 Department of Agricultural and Rural Management, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, T.N., IN
2 Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, T.N., IN
3 Department of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, T.N., IN

Abstract

The organized fruits and vegetables retailing is gaining momentum in the country as a result of increased share of consumer expenditure on fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables form a major category of commodities in retail chains. Understanding the problems faced by the consumers in the modern retail outlets are the purchase of fruits and vegetables will provide a feed back to the retailers. This input provides an opportunity to enhance the performance of retail outlets by way of fixing the problems encountered. The objective of the stud is to find out the problems perceived by the consumers in the purchase of fruits and vegetables from both the modern and traditional mom and pop store. Total sample respondents selected from the retail stores for the study were 400. Primary data were collected with the aid of pre-tested interview schedule from consumer selected randomly by adopting "mall intercept survey method" (Phau and Teah, 2009) in the selected sample retail store outlets in Coimbatore. "Garrett's ranking technique"(Garrett, 1969) was adopted to analyze the problems faced by the consumers visiting different types of stores. The study has found that selling low quantity, poor refilling and slow checkouts are the major problems faced by the consumers in the modern fruits and vegetable retail store outlets. Whereas, narrow range of merchandise, limited quantity and high cost was identified as the major problem in the case of mom and pop stores. The importance of the study understands the problems faced by the consumers in the modern retail outlets are the purchase of fruits and vegetables will provide a feed back to the retailers. This input provides an opportunity to enhance the performance of retail outlets by way of fixing the problems encountered.

Keywords

Consumers, Fruits, Merchandise, Organized, Problems, Retailers

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P. Balaji ¹, K. R. Ashok ², S. D. Sivakumar ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Agricultural and Rural Management, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, T.N., IN
2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, T.N., IN

Abstract

This research paper is to examine the socio-economic and demographic variables and store attributes together influencing the retail store choice behaviour of fruits and vegetables consumers in urban area of Tamil Nadu. The primary data were collected through Mall intercept survey method in the selected fruits and vegetables retail store outlets in the city of Coimbatore. The consumers were approached randomly to participate in a survey questionnaire. The total sample respondents from the retail stores considered for the study was 400. The finding of the study will through light strength and weakness of the retailers viz., National Corporate Retail Chains (NCRC), Regional Corporate Retail Chains (RCRC), Private Sector Specialized Stores (PRSS), Public Sector Specialized Stores (PUSS) and Traditional Mom and Pop (M&P) Stores in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The key findings of the study would help the sample retailers to adopt innovative idea and new marketing strategies to get a strong foothold in the retail market. The originality/value of this paper is but most of the literature has focused neither store attribute nor shopper attribute in the evolving marketplace but this study was attempted to investigate both the retail store as well as shopper attributes in the case of fruits and vegetables.

Keywords

Store Choice, Fruits And Vegetables, Multinomial Logit, National Corporate And Retail Chain

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P. Balaji ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Agricultural and Rural Management, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (T.N.), IN

Abstract

Sunflower oil has a balanced and rich nutrients composition. A large amount of vitamin E and fatty acids (omega 6) makes the oil effective for both internal and external usage.This study aims to identify the factors that influenced the customer based brand equity of branded sunflower refined cooking oils in Tamil Nadu. Chennai and Coimbatore cities were considered for the study. The total sample size was 60 women respondents. Majority of the respondents were aged > 40 years, literate, employed and earned up to Rs.2500 per month about 95 per cent of the customers were willing to purchase the same brand XX. The perceived quality, brand awareness and brand loyalty were the factors influenced the customer based brand equity for the sunflower refined cooking oils in Tamil Nadu.

Keywords

Brand Equity, Brand Awareness, Sunflower Oil, Brand Loyalty, Willingness to Purchase.

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P. Balaji ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Agricultural and Rural Management, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (T.N.), IN

Abstract

Internet users in India have been increasing day by day. In 2014 there were about 243 million internet users. The main reasons for the high usage were affordable price of smart phones and internet tariff plans. Due to these reasons people started moving online for purchase of products and services. E-commerce is growing by 38 per cent per year. The total value of E-commerce was INR 90,000 crores during 2014. It was predicted that it will be about INR six lakh crores in next five years. It has been reported that about 70 per cent of internet users and the online shoppers were youth. Hence, a study was conducted to assess the internet usage behaviour of youth and factors that influenced them to shop online. The study was carried out with a sample size of 120 students from different colleges in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. About 80 per cent of them were using smart phones and all were using internet daily. Young female students were spent more money for online shopping than young male students. Main factors that influenced them to shop online were informed choice, loyalty, competitive pricing, accessibility, convenience, security issues, knowledge and window shopping.

Keywords

E-Commerce, Social Media Marketing, Accessibility.

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P. Balaji ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Forest Products and Utilization Forest Collage and Research Institute, METTUPALAYAM (T.N.), IN

Abstract

Organic food market of India is estimated of 1,000 crore which is growing 20-22 per cent, with about 95 per cent of the brands existing in top 10 metros and other tier II cities (Business Standard, 2012). There are variety of factors that can potentially influence consumers towards OFV consumption like concern for health, environmental protection and chemical residues in conventional food products, pesticides, nutritional concern, as well as improved taste and flavour in organic food products (Ngui et al., 2011). It is also important to understand how willing people are to pay premium price for organic products. The objective of the study is to identify the factors influence the consumer's Willingness to pay (WTP) premium price for Organic fruits and vegetables in Coimbatore city. Primary data were collected with the aid of pretested interview schedule from the selected 400 sample consumer by adopting "mall intercept survey method" (Phau and Teah, 2009). Percentage analysis and ordered logit model were used to analyze the data. Themajor share of the sample respondents were young, middle aged males, mostly educated and employed, with the annual income ranging from Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakhs. Income, awareness, knowledge and education had significantly influenced the consumers' willingness to pay more for organic fruits and vegetables.

Keywords

Consumers, Willingness to Pay, Fruits, Vegetables, Ordered Logit Model.

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P. Balaji ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Forest Products and Utilization, Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam (T.N.), IN

Abstract

Vegetable production in urban area and marketing could bring significant gain to farmers. However, when there are more intermediaries between the farmers and consumers the marketing efficiency is low. Since, the distance between peri-urban and urban markets is relatively less than long distance market. Framers can directly sell their products to the consumers through the institutional facilities. In Coimbatore district farmer's shandys facilitate direct sales for farmers to consumers. Periyanaickenpalayam block vegetables growers' society procures vegetables from the farmers and sells them directly to the consumers and other institution markets. A study was undertaken to study the factors influencing farmers' preferences for selling vegetables to society. Farmers got better price when produce was sold through the society the sales through the society is gaining momentum with the Compound Growth Rate (CGR) of 12 per cent. Strengthening the infrastructure facilities in terms of cleaning and grading, centres and modern retail outlets will further increase the performance of the society and provide improved gains to farmers and consumers.

Keywords

Retailing, Peri-Urban, Vegetable.

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