Introduction

As customers tastes and preferences are changing according to the scenario day to day . Todays market environment is very different as compare to past (before 1990). There have been many factors responsible for the changing market scenario. It is the changing tastes and preference of customer which has bought in a change in the market. Income level of the people has changed; life styles and social class of people have completely changed now than that of olden days. There has been a shift in the market demand in todays world. Technology is one of the major factors which is responsible for this paradigm shift in the mark. New generation people are no more dependent on haat market and far off departmental stores. Today we can see a new era in market with the opening up of many departmental stores, hyper market, shoppers stop, malls, branded retail outlets and specialty stores. In todays world shopping is not any more tiresome work rather its a pleasant outing phenomenon now. My study is based on a survey done on customers of a hypermarket named big bazaar. Big bazaar is a new type of market which came into existence in India since 1994. It is a type of market where various kinds of products are available under one roof. My study is on determining the customers buying behavior of customers in big bazaar and the satisfaction level of customers in big bazaar. My study will find out the current status of big bazaar and determine where it stands in the current market.

This market field survey will help in knowing the present customers tastes and preferences. It will help me in estimating the customers future needs , wants & demands.

The Retail Industry in India

India's vast middle class and its almost untapped retail industry are key attractions for global retail giants wanting to enter newer markets. Driven by changing lifestyles, strong income growth and favorable demographic patterns, Indian retail is expected to grow 25 per cent annually. Modern retail in India could be worth US$ 175-200 billion by 2016. With the economy booming, competition in the marketplace is fierce. According to 'Retail in India Getting Organized to Drive Growth', a report by AT Kearney and the Confederation of Indian Industry, retail is one of India's fastest growing industries with a 5 per cent compounded

annual growth rate and expected revenues of US$ 320 billion in 2007. Rising incomes, increasing consumerism in urban areas and an upswing in rural consumption will fuel this growth to around 7-8 per cent. KSA-Technopak, a retail consulting and research agency, predicts that by 2010, organized retailing in India will cross the US$ 21.5-billion mark from the current size of US$ 7.5 billion.

Retail space
Retailers in India are the most aggressive in Asia in expanding their businesses, thus creating a huge demand for real estate. Their preferred means of expansion is to increase the number of their outlets in a city, and also expand to other regions, revealed the Jones Lang LaSalle third annual Retailer Sentiment Survey-Asia. Deutsche Bank's research report on 'Building up India' says India's burgeoning middle class will drive up nominal retail sales through 2010 by 10 per cent per annum. The country may have 600 new shopping centers by 2010.

Food retail
Food dominates the shopping basket in India. The US$ 6.1 billion Indian foods industry, which forms 44 per cent of the entire FMCG sales, is growing at 9 per cent and has set the growth agenda for modern trade formats. Since nearly 60 per cent of the average Indian grocery basket comprises non-branded items, the branded food industry is homing in on converting Indian consumers to branded food.

Future Group Manifesto

Future the word which signifies optimism, growth, achievement, strength, beauty, rewards and perfection. Future encourages us to explore areas yet unexplored, write

rules yet unwritten; create new opportunities and new successes. To strive for a glorious future brings to us our strength, our ability to learn, unlearn and re-learn our ability to evolve. We, in Future Group, will not wait for the Future to unfold itself but create future scenarios in the consumer space and facilitate consumption because consumption is development. Thereby, we will effect socio-economic development for our customers, employees, shareholders, associates and partners. Our customers will not just get what they need, But also get them where, how and when they need. We will not just post satisfactory results, we will write success stories. We will not just operate efficiently in the Indian economy, we will evolve it. We will not just spot trends; we will set trends by marrying our understanding of the Indian consumer to their needs of tomorrow. It is this understanding that has helped us succeed. And it is this that will help us succeed in the Future. We shall keep relearning. And in this process, do just one thing. Rewrite Rules. Retain Values.

HISTORY:
Big Bazaar was launched in September, 2001 with the opening of its first four stores in Calcutta, Indore, Bangalore and Hyderabad in 22 days. Within a span of ten years, there are now 150 Big Bazaar stores in 80 cities and towns across India. Big Bazaar was started by Kishore Biyani, the Group CEO and Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail. Though Big Bazaar was launched purely as a fashion format including apparel, cosmetics, accessory and general merchandise, over the years Big Bazaar has included a wide range of products and service offerings under their retail chain. The current formats includes Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Electronic Bazaar and Furniture Bazaar.

Big Bazaar - Isse sasta aur accha kahin nahi

Big Bazaar, one of the biggest retail format of Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, has democratized shopping in India and is much more than a hypermarket. Here, one finds over 170,000 products under one roof that cater to every need of a family, making Big Bazaar Indias favorite shopping destination. Where Big Bazaar scores over other stores is its value for money proposition for the Indian customers. Spread across 45000 sq.ft. With the ever increasing array of private labels, it has opened the doors into the world of fashion and general merchandise including home furnishings, utensils, crockery, cutlery, sports goods and much more at surprisingly low prices. In recent years, Big Bazaar has adopted value pricing in which they win loyal customers by charging a fairly low price for a high quality offering. However, consistent low price for the products is not only the universally desired characteristic; it is also a surrogate for different offers provided by these stores at different intervals of time.

The variety of product range in Big Bazaar :

This large format store comprise of almost everything required by people from different income groups. It varies from clothing and accessories for all genders like men, women and children, playthings, stationary and toys, footwear, plastics, home utility products, cosmetics, crockery, home textiles, luggage gift items, other novelties, and also food products and grocery. The added advantage for the customers shopping in Big Bazaar is that there are all time discounts and promotional offers going on in the Big Bazaar on its salable products.

HYPOTHESIS AND TESTING: Hypothesis testing for this report has evolved around formulating a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis as regards to the percentage of population availing the loyalty programs _ H(o) Null Hypothesis :- Mostly 70% of the population would be availing the loyalty programs carried out by Big bazaar. _ H(T) Alternative Hypothesis:- Less than 70% of the population would be availing the loyalty programs carried out by Big Bazaar At 5% level of significance we test the above mentioned hypothesis as per the results obtained. The Chi-Square test has been taken up as the selection criteria for the above mentioned data. The Chi-Square test which shows the

magnitude of discrepancy between observed and expected frequency can be expressed symbolically as X2= Summation of (O-E)2 E Where, O= Observed set of frequencies E= Expected set of frequencies

BIVARIATE ANALYSIS CHI-SQUARE TESTS Test I Null hypothesis: There is no relation between the variables locating product \relevant section and movement between the sections is easy Null hypothesis is checked using SPSS and the output sheet is given under as follows
Case Processing Summary Cases Valid N locating the product\relevant section * movement between shelves\sections is easy 95 Percent 100.0% N 0 Missing Percent .0% N 95 Total Percent 100.0%

Chi-Square Tests Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) .000 .000 .000

Pearson Chi-Square Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases

Value 131.645(a) 41.593 22.881 95

Df 16 16 1

a 20 cells (80.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .01.

Symmetric Measures Asymp. Std. Error(a) .093 .096

Interval by Interval Ordinal by Ordinal N of Valid Cases

Pearson's R Spearman Correlation

Value .493 .435

Approx. T(b) 5.470 4.655

Approx. Sig. .000(c) .000(c)

95 a Not assuming the null hypothesis. b Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis. c Based on normal approximation.

Null hypothesis is rejected as the chi-square value is coming out to be greater than the table value and also the asymptotic significance is less than .05. Looking at the chi-square value we conclude that there is a significant relation between the ease with which the customer can locate the relevant section and the ease of movement between the shelves.

Table 2: Independent t-test for customer satisfaction and loyalty aspects Descriptive Pooled estimate Estimated standard t-value Critical value variables of sigma square of Mean1-Mean2 Customer 1 0.89 0.723 -0.193 1.699 satisfaction Brand 2 0.89 0.723 -0.304 1.699 loyalty By establishing the relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty by calculating regression analysis of mean values of the both variables it is clear that there is positive correlation between the predictor and the outcome. It is resultant into the acceptance of H1 i.e. Customer Satisfaction is positively related to brand loyalty. Regression Summary (with coefficient) of Customer Satisfaction as Predictors of Brand Loyalty (Dependent Variable) using simple regression method R 1 2 Customer satisfaction and Brand Loyalty (VISHAL MEGAMART) Customer satisfaction and Brand Loyalty (BIG BAZAAR) 0.85 0.79 R 0.663 0.601 Adj R 0.64 0.59 Observations 30 30

Table reveals the results of simple regression analysis using mean values of 08 items of customer satisfaction to predict the dependent variable of brand loyalty using 8 items (towards brand loyalty). The value of R as 0.79 signifies positive correlation between predictor (customer

satisfaction) and the outcome (brand loyalty). The total variability in customer satisfaction accounted for by independent variable of brand loyalty is 60.1% . Therefore, Hypothesis (H1) is also partially true in respect of VISHAL MEGAMART customers. Similarly, Table 1 also shows the results of simple regression analysis using mean values of 08 items of customer satisfaction to predict the dependent variable of brand loyalty using 14 items. The value of R as 0.85 signifies positive correlation between predictor (customer satisfaction) and the outcome (brand loyalty). The total variability in customer satisfaction accounted for by independent variable of brand loyalty is 66.3%. Therefore, Hypothesis (H1) is true in respect of BIG BAZAAR it has accepted. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: DATA COLLECTION DESIGN: PRIMARY DATA: Primary data has been collected through field survey with the help of a questionnaire (hypothesis) and competitive strategy . SECONDARY DATA: Secondary data is the data which has already been collected through books , internet and news paper.it used secondary data for the purpose of preparing questionnaires, industry & company profiles.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

2. To determine the current status of Big Bazaar. 3. To find out the customers response towards Big Bazaar. 4. To study the satisfaction level of customers in different attributes of Big Bazaar. 5. To identify main competitors of Big Bazaar.

FINDINGS
1. Most of the customers buy their requirement in Big Bazaar on the basis of Weekly and monthly basis. Customers realized that Big Bazaar stores provide qualitative products/service with reasonable price. 2. At present time Big Bazaar provide different types of product assortments to the customers. 3. Continuously opening of Big Bazaar chains in different major cities, increasing quantities of the customers & profit show that Big Bazaar most accepted name in organized retail chain in India. 4. Big Bazaar mainly deal with middle income group people who want qualitative product with reasonable cost. 5. Big bazaar has a good reputation of itself in the market. 6. Big bazaar has positioned itself in the market as a discounted store. 7. Big bazaar holds a huge customer base. The majority of customers belong to middle class family. 8. Impulse buying behavior of customers comes in to play most of the times in big bazaar. 9. There are more than 50 big bazaars in different cities of India, it seems that there is a vast growth of big bazaar lying as customers demand is increasing for big bazaars. 10. Big bazaar is a hypermarket as it provides various kinds of goods like apparels, grocery, stationary, food items, electronic items, leather items, watches, jewellery, crockery, decorative items, sport items, chocolates and many more. It competes with all the specialty stores of different products which provide goods at a discounted rate all through the year. 11. The major players in retail industries are Big bazaar, The Tata Groups (Croma), Vishal Retail Group, Reliance Retail, Kirana stores & Sabka Bazaar etc.