The fashion and lifestyle retail industry in India is one of the most speedily expanding businesses, with rapid fashion leading the way. Flexible supply chains for ultra-value brands, as well as brand loyalty for premium goods, are key growth drivers. As Indian marketers aim to make an item or brand appealing to consumers by stressing its better quality and uniqueness, the market is projected to see a significant infusion of both global and Indian fashion & lifestyle retail names. The growth of multichannel commerce, which combines online and physical experiences, is also altering the business, with 60-65% of Indian customers selecting integrated shopping experiences.

A "fashion & lifestyle retail outlet" is a business that offers a variety of apparel, accessories, and occasionally home goods and other things, all under one brand or with a specific lifestyle concept in mind. It seeks to communicate a sense of ambitious living by linking the product with a specific lifestyle.

Kolkata is currently the seventh most populated city of India with a population of 14,035,959 in 2011 census having average literacy rate of 86.31% . It is also the 14th city in India in terms of Local Purchasing Power Index with Local Purchasing Power Index of 67.1 as per Numbeo . The fashion and retail business in Kolkata has greatly increased as a consequence of the creation of fashion and retail outlet stores such as Pantaloons, Reliance Trends, Shoppers Stop, Westside, Max, and Zudio. The principal reasons behind the growth of retail & fashion outlets in India can be attributed to factors like Fashion and Apparel Dominance, Increased Consumer Spending, Rise of Online Shopping, Investment in Textile Parks, Growth in Kids' Garment Manufacturing, Growth in Retail Leasing, Direct Selling Opportunities etc

Objectives of the study:

This study is taken up with a view to accomplish the following objectives:

1. To find out how the customers rank the six large scale fashion & lifestyle retail outlets in Kolkata
2. To find out the perception of the respondents regarding the factors affecting the effectiveness of retail outlets

The present study is carried out using both Primary & Secondary data.

The Primary data is collected using a structured questionnaire having 4 demographic & 2 research oriented questions.

• Sampling methods: Convenience sampling.
• Data collection period: April & May 2025
• Sample Size: 268
• Data Collection area : Kolkata including greater Kolkata
• Data Analysis tools : Graphical Analysis using Excel & Garrett Ranking

The secondary data has been collected from books, journals, reports & related websites.

ANALYSIS OF DATA:

This study is carried out with the objective of finding out & ranking two aspects relating to fashion & lifestyle retail outlets in Kolkata.

These are

1. To find out how the customers rank the six large scale fashion & lifestyle retail outlets in Kolkata
2. To find out the perception of the respondents regarding the factors affecting the effectiveness of retail outlets

To find out the response to the two above, there were two Research Oriented questions in the questionnaire. The first question was “RANK THE FASHION & LIFESTYLE RETAIL OUTLETS IN KOLKATA FROM 1-6 WHERE 1 IS THE BEST & 6 IS THE LEAST GOOD IN TERMS OF YOUR OVERALL LIKING & CHOICE”

The response to this question is analysed for Garrett Ranking using the following steps

STEP 1:

A table is prepared to summarize how respondents have ranked their overall liking of six fashion & lifestyle retail outlets in Kolkata

(Table 1)

Here Option 1 - OP 1 is Pantaloons

OP 2 is Shoppers Stop

OP 3 is Westside

OP 4 is Reliance Trends

OP 5 is Max

OP 6 is Zudio

STEP 2:

The Percent positions are found out -

Using the formula:

100 (Rij–0.5)/ Nj,

Where Rij= Rank given to the ith factor by jth individual and

            Nj= Number of factors ranked by jth individual, the percent positions are found out.

For 1^st Rank =  100 (1 - 0.5) / 6 = 8.33

For 2nd Rank =  100 (2 - 0.5) / 6 = 25

For 3^rd Rank =  100 (3 - 0.5) / 6 = 41.67

For 4^th Rank =  100 (4 - 0.5) / 6 = 58.33

For 5^th Rank =  100 (5 - 0.5) / 6 = 75

For 6^th Rank =  100 (6 - 0.5) / 6 = 91.67

STEP 3:

The Garrett Score is found out using the Percent Position using the Garrett Conversion Table:

(Table2)

STEP 4:

Finally, the following table is used to find out the final rank of the six factors (Fashion & Lifestyle Retail outlets in Kolkata)

(Table 3)

So, we conclude that the survey has led to the following ranks for preference of Fashion & Lifestyle Retail outlets in Kolkata:

(Table 4)

The second question was “RANK THE FACTORS THAT IMPACT CUSTOMER PERCEPTION REGARDING RETAIL STORE EFFICIENCY ON A SCALE OF 1-6 WHERE 1 IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR ACCORDING TO YOU & 6 IS THE LEAST IMPORTANT FACTOR”

The response to this question is analysed using the following steps

STEP 1:

A table is prepared to summarize how respondents have ranked the factors that impact their perception regarding fashion & retail store efficiency in Kolkata.

(Table 5)

Here Option 1 – OP 1 is Product Availability

OP 2 is Price Range, Discounts & offers

OP 3 is Staff availability & staff knowledge

OP 4 is Store Layout & easiness of finding stock

OP 5 is queue management & billing

OP 6 is Use of technology in store

STEP 2:

The Percent positions are found out

Using the formula:

100 (Rij–0.5)/ Nj,

Where Rij= Rank given to the ith factor by jth individual and

            Nj= Number of factors ranked by jth individual, the percent positions are found out.

For 1^st Rank =  100 (1 - 0.5) / 6 = 8.33

For 2nd Rank =  100 (2 - 0.5) / 6 = 25

For 3^rd Rank =  100 (3 - 0.5) / 6 = 41.67

For 4^th Rank =  100 (4 - 0.5) / 6 = 58.33

For 5^th Rank =  100 (5 - 0.5) / 6 = 75

For 6^th Rank =  100 (6 - 0.5) / 6 = 91.67

STEP 3:

The Garrett Score is found out using the Percent Position using the Garrett Conversion Table:

 (Table 6)

STEP 4:

Finally, the following table is used to find out the final rank of the six factors that impact respondents’ perception regarding fashion & retail store efficiency in Kolkata

(Table 7)

So, we conclude that the survey has led to the following ranks of the six factors that impact respondents’ perception regarding fashion & retail store efficiency in Kolkata

(Table 8)

The study is carried out with two specific objectives relating to customer perception regarding fashion & lifestyle retail outlets in Kolkata. It is seen that majority of the customers have considered Pantaloons to be the best retail outlet in Kolkata region. However a growing retail outlet under the Tata Group – Zudio, has been found to have ranked last among the selected outlets. Very reasonably the cause behind this ranking of retail stores can be attributed to the second finding of the study where respondents have ranked Product availability to be the most important factor and Price, Discount & offers as the fourth factor only. Actually Pantaloons is greatly known for its variety and Zudio is more known for price reasonability & great offers. Furthermore, the respondents in Kolkata city with urban background and choice for latest trends & variety have ranked factors like Product availability, staff availability & staff knowledge & store layout & ease of finding stock over Pricing & discount related factors.

1. Berman, B. (2010), Competing in Tough Times: Business Lessons from L.L. Bean, Trader Joe's, Costco, and Other World-Class Retailers, FT Press, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
2. Berry (1996). “Retailers with a Future”, Marketing Management, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 36–46.
3. Basu,R., Kalyan K. Guin, Kalyan Sengupta, (2014) "Do apparel store formats matter to Indian shoppers?", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 42(8), pp.698 – 716
4. Khan, M. L. (2018). The impact of education level on sustainable fashion consumption. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 22(2), 157-172.
5. Kumar, V. &. (2000). The effects of store location on consumer choice. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 7(3), 167-176
6. Mccormick, Helen & Cartwright, Jo & Perry, Patsy & Barnes, Liz & Lynch, Sam & Ball, Gemma. (2014). Fashion retailing - Past, present and future. Textile Progress. 46.
7. McColl, J., & Moore, C. (2011). An exploration of fashion retailer own brand strategies. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 15(1), 91-107.
8. Memon (2006). “Garment Lifestyle Retailing Stores: Vis á Vis Impact of Private Labels: A Paradigm Shift”, The ICFAI Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 54–69.
9. Pani, A. and Sharma, M. (2012). Emerging trends in fashion marketing: a case study of apparel retailing in India. International Journal of Business and Management tomorrow, 2 (10).
10. Prasad, G. Hari Shankar (2014) Factors Influencing Buying Behavior of a Selected Apparel Retailer’s Customers, Annual Research Journal of Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies, Pune Vol. 1, Januray 2013 – January 2014, pp. 41–55.
11. Wagner, U. &. (2009). The impact of store location on fashion retail sales. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 16(2), 141-148.