ABSTRACT
The present empirical research paper analyses the
consumers’ buying pattern of fresh produce at organized retail stores from demographic perspective. The Indian retail sector is
predominantly unorganized. However, organized retail units are fast emerging
and becoming the preferred choice of consumers, especially in urban areas. The
present research involved ample literature review pertaining to organized
retailing of fresh produce, consumer perception regarding factors such as
product attributes, price, discounts, promotion, parking, accessibility, ambience and the like and the role of various
demographic attributes on consumer perception. The framework of analysis is
two-fold; one—the impact of demographic attributes such as
age, gender, income, education and marital status on purchase value and
preference to visit organized retail stores and two—the association between consumers’ demographic attributes, and perception
regarding organized retailing of fresh produce in 7 P’s services marketing mix
framework. Statistical tools such as Mean scores, Standard Deviation,
Chi-square and Anova were used for data analyses. Significant difference has been found across the demographic attributes considered for
study with respect to purchase value,
preference to visit organized retail stores for buying fresh produce, and
consumer perception regarding almost all the attributes of services marketing mix.