Consumer Shopping Behavior in Rural and Urban Areas of India: A Study Report

A vast majority of Indians live in villages whose behavior as consumers is believed to be largely different from urbanites. Consumer is the pivot around which the entire business revolves and consumers differ in how they make purchase decision, owing to variables like type of family, income, occupation, status, etc. and the role the individual play in the decision process. Understanding of consumer behavior, which leads to purchase, is therefore, very important. From marketing point of view, investigating family as consumption unit becomes crucial as attitude towards saving and spending, and even brands and products are molded quite often by the family. Therefore, decision making in families are complex phenomena to understand and quality as a bulk of decision are made in a group in order to have a choice suitable to all. Families, rural and urban both are the most important organizations in the society that influences consumer buying behavior, and family members constitute the most influential primary reference group. Family as a unit has been researched extensively. We can distinguish between two types of families and their influence on buyer behavior: the family of orientation and the family procreation. The family of orientation consists of parents and siblings. A person acquires an orientation towards religion, politics, economics, and a sense of personal ambition, self-worth and love from his or her parents. Even if the buyer no longer interacts with his or her parents, their influence on the buyer’s behavior can be significant. In countries where parents live with their grown children, it is seen that their influence can be substantial. A more direct influence on everyday buying is from the family of procreation, namely, one’s spouse and children. This research paper is a comprehensive study that centers on differences in urban and rural families in the context of purchase decision making.