Determinants of Consumer Patronage for Retail Outlet Choice:An Empirical Evidence from the City of Visakhapatnam

Indian government recently opened gates for global retailers by increasing FDI from 26 percent to 51 percent in both single branded and multi branded retailing. Some of the global retail giants like Wal-Mart already started their operations with joint ventures with Indian corporates whereas others are in plans to enter into Indian retail sector with their brands. Here the biggest challenge is how Indian retailers can compete with international retailers in pulling the customers towards their retail outlets. With this recently changed scenario in Indian retail sector, an attempt has been made to provide assistance for the Indian retailers by informing them about the determinants of retail outlet choice that is being made by the customer to shop in a particular retail outlet. The study identifies some determinants of retail outlet selection and proposes the retailers for better business performance to concentrate on the most significant determinants identified after performing factor analysis for data reduction for better business performance.