Retail has been one of the growth areas in the global economy. It has witnessed a High growth rate in the developed countries and is poised for an exponential growth in the emerging economies. Along with the rapid growth, retailing scenario has also been characterized by increasing competition and emergence of increasingly new retailing Formats. With an overlap of Merchandise being offered across different formats, the competition has become intense and unpredictable in terms of the direction where it is coming from.
Driven by changing lifestyles, strong income growth and favourable demographic patterns, Indian retail is expanding at a rapid pace.
This research extends the consumer-based brand equity measurement approach to the measurement of the equity associated with retailers. The information that a retailer's name communicates to consumers can be a source of competitive advantage for many retailers. Indeed, retailers develop a kind of brand equity, which we refer to as "retailer equity." The lack of a universal definition and lack of empirical evidence for the structural similarity between brand and retailer equity of consumer based retailer equity guided the aims for this research.
We conceptualise retailer equity as a four-dimensional construct comprising retailer awareness, retailer associations, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty. In order to properly structure the research, it is felt that greater understanding of Indian consumer attitudes towards specific retail formats (Hypermarket stores) is necessary, and that qualitative and study would be the most effective way of gaining this knowledge. For conducting this research secondary source as well the primary sources are utilized to maximum extent through available published and online data bases. The paper reports the result of a pilot study of a hypermarket store sample of 61 shopping mall consumers at Pune city.