PurposeOrganic food market has grown rapidly on a global level and so is the interest of customers. The present paper ranks the factors and sub-criteria which are taken into consideration while making organic purchase decisions resulting in understanding the behaviour of consumers.Design/methodology/approachThe present paper considered a sample of 550 respondents in the area of Punjab. Fuzzy AHP technique was applied to understand the key factors and sub-criteria which play a major role in organic food purchase decisions. The paper is empirical and descriptive in nature. The factors considered for the study include price, consumer knowledge, trust, attitude, behavioural intentions, subjective norms, perceived personal relevance and perceived consumer effectiveness.FindingsThe three major influential factors include price, trust and attitude ranked in the same order of preference which majorly affects the purchase decisions and talking about sub-criteria the three major criteria to purchase organic food include: “Price plays a significant role in purchase decisions (P2)”, “Organic food keeps me fit and healthy (A1)” and “Organic food intake makes me feel energetic (A2)”.Research limitations/implicationsThe present paper is limited to the area of Punjab and majorly eight factors have been taken into consideration. Further research can be explored on broader geographical and cultural areas with new dimensions in criteria and sub-criteria.Practical implicationsThe findings of this paper will surely help the marketers to understand the behavioural intentions and preferences of the customers. Accordingly, they will strategize the policies to convert organic food market into a niche market with a high growth rate.Originality/valueThe existing literature explored various key factors. However, the present study comes up with ranking to the factors according to their priority in purchase decisions. This will definitely help marketers, business houses, practitioners and academicians about the key factors which affect purchase decisions, and it will surely add incredible knowledge into the existing database.

The present empirical research paper analyses the consumers' buying pattern of fresh produce at organized retail stores from demographic perspective. The Indian retail sector is predominantly unorganized. However, organized retail units are fast emerging and becoming the preferred choice of consumers, especially in urban areas. The present research involved ample literature review pertaining to organized retailing of fresh produce, consumer perception regarding factors such as product attributes, price, discounts, promotion, parking, accessibility, ambience and the like and the role of various demographic attributes on consumer perception. The framework of analysis is twofold ; one-the impact of demographic attributes such as age, gender, income, education and marital status on purchase value and preference to visit organized retail stores and two-the association between consumers' demographic attributes, and perception regarding organized retailing of fresh produce in 7 P's services marketing mix framework. Statistical tools such as Mean scores, Standard Deviation, Chi-square and Anova were used for data analyses. Significant difference has been found across the demographic attributes considered for study with respect to purchase value, preference to visit organized retail stores for buying fresh produce, and consumer perception regarding almost all the attributes of services marketing mix.

As India witnessed surge of modern retail format over the last decade, significant developments have taken place in its retail landscape. The authors felt it appropriate to check the reality at ground level to ascertain the truth in earlier projections or perceptions towards the modern vis a vis traditional grocery retailing. Hence a study was undertaken, largely relying on secondary data, to identify key trends which in turn would provide critical insights to the academicians, researchers and policy makers. The analysis was done for a review period from 2008-13 and forecast period from 2013-18. Key findings include a robust growth in terms of number of outlets and turnover of both modern and traditional formats during review period. The forecast seems to be more promising for modern retailers than it is for the traditional players. As the customer are getting more discerning, and strive to get value for money, convenience and product variety, the modern retailer should leave no room for complacency to meet the growing and varying needs of the consumers. The traditional mom and pop stores need to go for substantial makeover to remain relevant and a reckoning force in the booming sphere.

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