TITLE:- Strategies for customer retention and satisfaction- a study a local business

provisional store.

INTRODUCTION:Gone are the days were the consumer went in search of materials from shop to shop. Today, things are made available in one shop, one place. These days, consumer buying is not mere transfer of item from seller to buyer. Consumer wants buying to become a happy affair. They would like to see, touch and feel the commodities that they buy. Understanding this psychology for the consumer many organizations have come to make purchase of happy affair. Marketing is more important as it relates to consumer and their needs, whatever may be the objectives of business, the main in which it has to concentrate will be marketing. Business today, concentrating on marketing is found to be fairly successful though success depends on many other factors. Consumers are liable or influence under different environment. Under these circumstances a study has been conducted to analysis the preference of consciences towards departmental stores. Channel of distribution is also called marketing channel or trade channel, are used to provide consumer with a convenient means of obtaining the products and services they desire. Thus, the route or path through which goods more from the place of production to the place of consumption is called channel to distribution. There are various persons or business consumer such as middle men consisting of wholesalers and retailers. A provisional store, a retail trade shop, was started at strategic place to please the customer by giving him the choice of selecting all that he wants. There are number of departmental stores like Hazarilal & sons provisional stores, Smag & sons, Spencers, More for U, etc. Every business is based on understanding the consumer and providing the kind of products that the consumer want every businessman today makes some effort to convince the consumer for buying a product in a particular shop and for this reason, the researcher has under taken a survey as to why they prefer provisional store? What are the reasons for their purchase at a provisional store? What makes them to select provisional stores? That other forms of retail outlet in Kanpur city.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH:- The objectives of the study are:

To study the factor influencing the customers to purchase household articles from provisional store. To study the needs of the customers at the place of purchase. To study the consumers opinion and ideas about the price, quality and services rendered by the provision stores. To study the sales services provided by the provision stores. To suggest, improve in sales and functions in the provision stores based on results.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:

The area of study is restricted to Kanpur city. For convenience purpose, the population taken for the study refers to the customers of Hazarilal & Sons provisional stores, Smag & sons, Spencers. The data was collected for the month of February 2012 to March 2012. In order to complete the study within the time frame, the no. of respondents had been restricted to 100.

METHODOLOGY:The primary methods of data collection that is questionnaire technique was used to collect the data required. Respondents include both male and female. Convenience sampling method has been adopted under the non-probability sampling technique and about 100 samples have been collected for study. The questionnaire consists of four parts namely, personal information, purchasing pattern, details about products and customers services provided at the store. The questionnaire was designed in such a way that the respondents were able to express their opinions and ideas freely and frankly.

SAMPLE AREA OF THE STUDY:The area covered under the study is in Kanpur city.

PERIOD OF THE STUDY:The study was conducted during the period February 2012 to march 2012. STATISTICAL TOOL FOR ANALYSIS:The collected data has been analyzed using percentage analysis and diagrams.

QUESTIONNAIRE:1. Name : 2. Age : c) 31-40 yeas d)Above 40 years

a) Below 20 years b) 21- 30 years 3. Sex : Male / Female 4. Marital status : Married / Unmarried 5. Educational qualification a) School level b) Degree /Diploma 6. Occupational status a) Student b) House wife 7. Monthly income of the family a) Up to Rs.3,000 b) Rs. 3,000 to 6,000 8. No. of members in the family a) Up to 2 b) 2 to 4

c) PG d) professional

c) Employed d) Business

c) Rs. 6,000 to Rs.9,000 d) Above Rs. 9,000

c) 4 to 6 d) Above 6

9. Normally you buy products at a) Departmental stores b) Shops / markets c) From sales representatives d) Exhibition 10. Have you purchased any product from departmental stores ? a) Yes b) No 11. Which media insist you to purchase in departmental stores ? a) Advertisement through television b) Advertisement through news paper c) Advertisement through pamphlets d) Word of mouth advertisement 12. Which departmental stores is most favorable to you ? a) Kannan c)Subhiksha b) Food World d)Others____________ 13. Reason for purchasing through departmental stores. a) Convenient d) More quality b) Prestige e) Time saving c) Less cost 14. How many years are you purchased from departmental stores? a) Less than a year c) 2 to 3 b) 1 to 2 d) Above 3 years 15. State which type of product you purchase through departmental stores? a) Fruits & vegetables d) Health care product b) Provisions & groceries e) Stationery products c) Cosmetic product f) all the above 16. If there is any damage in the products, how will thep handle? a) Immediate rectification c) No exchange b) Delay in rectification d) No reaponse

17. Are they provide free door delivery service? a) Always c) Some times b) Often d) No 18. Are they provide parking facility? a) Only two wheeler c) Both two wheeler & four wheeler

b) Only four wheeler d) No parking facility.

19. Are they provide discount & benefits? a) Always c) Some times b) Often d) No 20. Are you satisfied with the product you purchased through Departmental stores? a) Yes c) No