Customers' Attitude Towards Unorganized Apparel Retailing in India: A Study in Tier I and Tier II Cities.

India has been projected as one of the most sought-after retail destinations by many national and international consultancy firms. In the whole retail sector, clothing has emerged as one of the leading segments in terms of growth and a frontrunner in terms of growth in output. Since the beginning of this century, India has witnessed an increase in the number of retail stores in different parts of the country. The emergence of apparel retail stores in smaller cities of the country is definitely an attempt to tap the potential in the market. With the emergence of organized apparel store, apprehensions about the closure of unorganized retail outlets have been expressed. However, the success or failure of any retail outlet depends on the attitude of customers towards it. Hence, this paper attempts to determine the differences in the attitude of consumers towards unorganized apparel retailers and predict the future of unorganized retailers in India by analyzing respondents from Tier I (Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune) and Tier II (Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana) cities of India. 720 respondents (120 from each city) were contacted using snowball sampling technique for filling the questionnaire. However, only 600 questionnaires were found suitable for the purpose of analysis. The study applies Fishbein's model, and the results reveal differences in the attitudes of respondents from both the categories of cities towards unorganized apparel stores. Furthermore, the effects of level of income and family size on buying behavior of the consumers are also determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]