Changing Buying Patterns and the Rise of Mall Culture in Semi-Urban Vidarbha

Abstract

It is also the high rate of organized retail in India that has transformed the old trend of consumption particularly in the semi-urban areas in a tremendous effect. The present paper entitled Changing Buying Patterns and the Rise of Mall culture in Semi-Urban Vidarbha is examining the socio-economic, psychological and lifestyle factor of the growing superiority of the shopping malls within the semi-urban area of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra. Purchasing behaviour and haphazard ideas of retailing, historically semi-urban regions are moving gradually in the direction of an organized retail space of brand stores, entertainment spots, food court, and experience shopping. The research design adopted is research design exploratory and descriptive research design because of the use of primary data in form of structured questionnaires that will be distributed to consumers in the selected semi-urban cities of Vidarbha. The research examines the changes in consumer preferences, brand knowledge, consumption habits, recreational perspective, influence of the internet, the relevance of age, income, professions, and education. The findings indicate that increasing disposable income, exposure to digital media, need to have global brands, emergence of lifestyle awareness and the malls being viewed as safe and convenient social spaces are some of the distinguishing factors behind this cultural change. The study also reveals that the malls are not treated as shopping places as they have been considered as integrated lifestyle and leisure spots. The coming families are the young and middle generations that end up making the best fodder of the mall footfall as they strive to adapt to consumption aspirations and experience imperatives. However, mall culture is a threat to the traditional retailers besides the sustainability question and eviction of local markets. The research contributes toward what has already been known about the transformation of retail in semi urban India and it provides inputs to the policy developers, the retail developers and marketers on how to re-orient the retail strategies towards the emerging trends in consumer behaviour within the developing economical regions.