FACTORS LEADING TO THE EMERGENCE OF DEPARTMENTAL STORES IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Purpose: The research is conducted to know the current shopping behavior and preferences of consumers. The market trend is changing; customers are becoming more aware; to know the inclination of customers toward a particular market and reasons which causing the inclination. Methodology/Sample: The research is descriptive and the data for this research is collected from different reliable sources. Survey conducted for the purpose of collection of primary data, cross sectional data is used in which research instruments are questionnaire. A random sample of 384 respondents is taken, out of which 202 returned questionnaire were interpretable. The software used for the treatment of data is SPSS and the tool used for the analysis of the collected data is Multiple Regression. Findings: The analysis demonstrates that Price, pleasant environment, modem machines and fixtures, shop converter presence and credit card facility have positive where as promotional activities has negative and statistically significant relationship with the dependent variable i.e. departmental store. Besides above, shop converter activity, and discount facility have positive, whereas, debt facility and ease of exchange have negative and statistically insignificant relationship with the departmental stores. Practical Implications: The survey facilitates marketers to know the present outlook of consumers and their preferences for products and services. The survey will tell marketers how to attract more and more buyers using various store facilities. Furthermore, it also reveals customer insight to local and small trader to work out on the factors to retain the existing customer and also to capture new customers for future purchase.