Title: Criteria for customer agglomeration for a new footwear retail: a case study of a regional footwear brand in India

Authors: Srabanti Mukherjee; Prasun Das

Addresses: Birla Institute of Management Technology, Bhubaneswar Campus, Gothapatna, Malipada, Bhubaneswar 751003, Odisha, India ' Indian Statistical Institute Calcutta, SQC and OR Unit (SQCOR), Kolkata, 203 Barrackpore Trunk Road, 700108, India

Abstract: A well-known regional footwear chain in India during its expansion wanted to identify the key parameters to ensure customer agglomeration in its new retails. Based on the survey data of the customers of existing retails of the said footwear chain, we have tested the association amongst the demographic attributes and a significant association amongst income and store selection and also residential location and store selection was observed. Finally, we have resorted to signal-to-noise ratio metrics to find out the relative importance of the attributes in terms of buyer's perception. Our study indicates that given the stores are going to be opened in hitherto untapped locations, therefore, rather than trust and patronage, focussing on the hedonic and utilitarian aspects of the concerned footwear retails may ensure customer agglomeration in new stores in the short run.

Keywords: regional footwear chain; retail industry; hedonic; utilitarian; trust; patronage; customer interface; pricing; discounts; signal-to-noise ratio; SNR; India; customer agglomeration; consumer perceptions; retailing; footwear brands; demographics; income; store selection; residential location.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2014.064560

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2014 Vol.7 No.5, pp.626 - 645

Published online: 06 Sep 2014 *

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