The Impact of Marketing Mix on Consumers’ Buying Behavior in Supermarkets of Meerut City, India

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of marketing mix elements on consumer buying behavior of supermarket consumers in Meerut city. Empirical evidence from 150 participants shopping at five supermarkets validates a theoretical model, indicating a significant positive relationship between marketing mix variables and consumer purchasing behavior. Factors or the marketing mix elements examined are product, price, shopping convenience, promotion, store atmosphere and personnel. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, comparing mean analysis  (i.e. one-way ANOVA) and other analysis (correlation and multiple linear regression)  Results reveal that personnel, promotion and price factors exerts greatest influence on  consumer buying decision, followed by shopping convenience, store atmosphere, and product  respectively. The finding of the study also shows that there is a significant difference between supermarkets product consumers who belongs to different age group, educational background and Income level with regard to product, shopping convenience, promotion, price and store atmosphere and personnel. These findings contribute to the literature relating to retail marketing and have marketing implications for bringing traffic into supermarkets and increasing sales. Supermarkets should set up a comfortable buying  atmosphere, drafting more influencing and informative promotion, give up to date training to  their employees, should consider level of competition, access to transportation, availability  of parking, easy accessibility and long opening hours while making store location decision,  should maintain the right pricing decision and carrying deep assortment of products lead  them to become super specialist.