31 International Journal for Modern Trends in Science and Technology Volume: 2 | Issue: 08 | August 2016 | ISSN: 2455-3778 IJMTST An Investigation into Shopping Behavior of Customers towards Modern Retail Stores in Vijayawada Sandeep Kumar Machavolu 1 | Dr. M. Srinivasa Narayana 2 1 Department of Business Studies, Geethanjali Institute of PG Studies, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India 2 Department of Business Studies, Narasaropet Engg. College, Narasaraopet, Andhr Pradesh, India Paper Setup must be in A4 size with Margin: Top 1.1 inch, Bottom 1 inch, Left 0.5 inch, Right 0.5 inch, "A man without a smiling face must not open a shop" - Chinese proverb The study is intended to analyze the general shopping habits and behaviors of customers towards modern retail stores. The objective of the study is to understand the factors affecting the shopping behavior of customers towards modern retail stores. The research is aimed at exploring the reasons for preferring modern retail stores to traditional kirana store, their usual preferences in purchasing various items, their behavior in planning the visits to these stores, the benefits sought by them shopping at these stores and their overall opinion towards these modern retail stores. A survey with a sample size of 120 from Vijayawada city was conducted using a structured questionnaire. The data so collected was analyzed using statistical tools and the results were presented. The findings of the study prove that there is a long way for modern retailers to go. There is ample scope for these modern retailers to capture the market, as a majority of the middle-class just started shifting their preference from kirana stores to modern retail formats. Stores also require introducing in-store sales promotions to turn casual shoppers into serious buyers. Stores may also require luring window-shoppers. Stores also require offering value-added services such as order-by-phone, mail orders and home-delivery to mitigate the image that stores are not conveniently located. Providing improved training for the staff proves to be very effective in serving shoppers better. KEYWORDS: Modern retail, shopper habits, preferences, buying behavior, merchandise category, Copyright © 2015 International Journal for Modern Trends in Science and Technology All rights reserved. I. INTRODUCTION In this era of hyper competition, understanding the consumer is a necessity for marketers. Studying the shopping habits and behavior of the customers helps marketers serve them better and in turn scale up their business. Consumer behavior has been defined as “the acquisition, consumption and disposition of products, services, time and ideas by decision-making units" (J. Jacoby, G.V. Johar, and M. Morrin, 1998). The study of consumer behavior is not just limited to just individual consumers; it also includes other decision-making units such as families and organizations. In recent times, consumer behavior has changed tremendously in India. Internet shopping has become a reality. Small stores are increasingly giving way to large format stores. The number of luxury brands has been continuously increasing over the last decade. II. LITERATURE REVIEW Mathew and Gupta (2008), in their study on impact of organized retailing on traditional retailing found that, the Indian consumer’s preferences are changing towards modern retail stores these, with the rise in number of various modern formats of shopping such as like departmental stores, supermarkets, specialty stores, hypermarkets, malls, etc. A very similar observation was also made by Urvashi Gupta (2012) in her study in Jammu. Sandeep Kumar ABSTRACT