Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize, develop and validate the measurement of impulse buying tendency India, an emerging market in Asia. Design/methodology/approach The conceptualization of India’s impulse buying tendency (IBT) has been based on a review of academic literature and an analysis of qualitative data from 30 observations at retail stores and 25 in-depth consumer interviews. The scale’s reliability and validity were assessed by content, convergent, discriminant, nomological and predictive validity using statistical techniques such as exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Findings A two-dimensional measure for IBT was developed for the Indian market, and then tested and validated using appropriate statistical measures. Research limitations/implications The study was skewed towards offline retail with both observations and interviews focusing on the bricks-and-mortar model. With e-retailing in India growing at a rapid rate, future research should extend the study and verify the IBT instrument’s validity specifically for impulse buying behaviour online. Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first to bridge the gap in the existing research of impulse buying in context of emerging markets like India that are culturally, unlike both the western/developed and other Asian/emerging markets; and socio-economically, facing an interplay of variety of factors that are in a state of flux. The developed IBT scale would help by providing academics and practitioners with means of broadening their perspectives and understanding of retail behaviours in a context that is characterized by unprecedented consumer spending, increasing proliferation of modern retail and influence of a culture traditionally been given to simplicity and frugality.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for the purchase of organic food products amongst urban Indian consumers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a sample of 618 urban Indian consumers. The study questionnaire was developed to measure food-related lifestyle and attitudinal variables. The respondents were also questioned regarding their grocery purchase behaviour; awareness and purchase intentions regarding organic food. The data collected were analysed using SPSS 20.0 using factor, cluster and χ2 analysis to identify and profile the health-conscious segments and profile them based on their organic purchase intentions. Findings – In total, 33 lifestyle variables were reduced to five food-related attitudinal factors. Based on the five factors three potential clusters were identified. The urban Indian consumer was found to be environment, health and safety conscious. Sensitized and cautious segment of young, women living in nuclear families were more open to an organic alternative. The main barriers to successful adoption were premium pricing, doubtful certification and sporadic availability of organic food. Research limitations/implications – The urban Indian is ready to shift to a healthier option. However, the awareness, availability and price need to be managed more aggressively. A larger pan-India study to identify the high-potential belts and the domestic organic distribution and certification practices need to be assessed to formulate a focused marketing strategy. Originality/value – Paucity of literature exists about the potential organic consumers. Such studies are extremely meaningful for an organic marketer to design effective communication and distribution strategies in order to accelerate the adoption and preference for an organic purchase.

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While emerging markets like India present a highly conducive environment for impulse buying behaviour, they also represent a conundrum due to their cultural and contextual distinctiveness from Western/developed markets. Most existing research in the domain in these markets aims to either (dis)affirm the causal relationships identified in the Western markets or validate the frameworks developed there. This article is an exploratory study that aims to identify the latent factors that restrain, influence or comprise impulse buying process in the Indian context and describes an impulse buying episode in its entirety. This would help to not only highlight similarities or differences from the developed world but, more importantly, also broaden the impulse buying perspective in the emerging markets and allow future research to build upon it empirically.

The ever-evolving fashion industry is a clear reflection of the changing patterns in the social, political, technological and economic environment of a society. The past few decades have seen significant and diverse changes in consumer habits and lifestyles. At long last, garment purchase has come of age, with both male and female consumers becoming increasingly brand and fashion conscious. With the emergence of a contemporary social structure, garment purchase is no longer the forte of women alone. Research, national and international, expounds on the purchase decisions of the New Man who is becoming more fashion conscious and trend savvy when it comes to apparel. This article is an attempt to identify certain gender-based antecedents of garment purchase involvement. An attempt has also been made to identify the key drivers that influence the decision making process for garment purchase, separately for male and female customers. The findings demonstrate a paradigm shift in attitudes and purchase patterns, which can have important implications for the marketer.