Factors Influencing Lifestyle Retail Store Choice: A Qualitative Study on Lifestyle Entrepreneurs

Abstract

Lifestyle retail in India is a new concept and is growing at a dramatic rate and entrepreneurs are still working on understanding the factors that’s influence shoppers choosing a lifestyle store. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research can offer insights into the question of “why” people engage in particular actions or behaviors. This paper concentrates on the variables that significantly impact shopper’s choice. The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss how lifestyle entrepreneurs can emerge and sustain in the market. Data for the study were gathered through focus group interviews in Jammu. This study is purely qualitative in nature and content analysis is used to find out the conclusion and a conceptual model was prepared on the premise of the data analysis. Interviews and focus groups could be extremely helpful in lifestyle retailing and provide an in-depth understanding of participants’ experiences and perceptions. Survey findings indicate that there are certain factors apparent among the consumers which had an influence on their choice and these factors are prevalent for entrepreneurs to understand so as to successfully sustain in the market. The result indicates that there is a positive correlation between the lifestyle factors and store choice factors. The findings can provide some implications to lifestyle entrepreneurs who currently operate in or are planning to enter into local market in the near future. The study is a first step towards identifying a more holistic picture of factors that impacts lifestyle store choice. Quantitative methods can further used on the basis of the result of the qualitative research.