CB-4-0006 | January 19th 2015

Case Flyers are classroom discussion boards prepared

from articles that featured in The Economic Times.

CHANDNI CHOWK AND CONSUMER

PERSONALITY

by Kumar Gambhiraopet and Dr. Nagendra V. Chowdary

Expected Learning Outcomes

• The relevance of Freudian, Neo-Freudian, and Trait Theories for understanding consumer
behavior. How personality traits influence consumers' responses to product and marketing
messages. How marketers seek to create brand personalities-like traits?
• How consumers would create their own identities reflecting a particular set of personality
traits and its influence on their buying behavior?
• The reasons behind the presence of old marketplaces across the centuries. Their historical
and familial connect with the consumers from all walks of life. What drives consumers
to frequent the oldest marketplaces? What kind of personality traits do straddling
consumers exhibit?

This Case Flyer was prepared by Kumar Gambhiraopet and Dr. Nagendra V. Chowdary, ET CASES. It is intended to be used as the basis for
classroom discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. The case flyer was compiled from
published sources.
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No part of this publication may be copied, stored, transmitted, reproduced or distributed in any form or medium whatsoever without the
permission of the copyright owner.

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 Source
THE ECONOMIC TIMES, October 19th 2014
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CHANDNI CHOWK AND CONSUMER PERSONALITY

I. Consumer Personality and Behavior Analysis: The Marketing Connotations

1. What do you understand by the Freudian theory of psychoanalysis, id, ego and super ego?
Do these interacting systems (instincts) reflect the consumer personality? How do they
influence consumers to buy a specific product or buy from a specific market?
2. According to Neo-Freudian philosophy the main element which defines personality is social
relationships – Compliant (C), Aggressive (A) and Detached (D). What kind of personality
type (C, A or D), do you think would the frequent customer at the oldest marketplaces
exhibit?
3. What can describe the retailing consumers’ (consumers shopping at the old marketplaces,
conventional brick-and-mortar stores, high-street shops and high-end shopping malls)
behavior from the stand point of view of:
a. Consumer Innovativeness
b. Their Social Character
c. Their Optimum Stimulation Level
d. Variety & Novelty Seeking
4. How do you relate Consumer Personality to Brand Personality (not product-based brand
but place-based brand) in the context of consumers:
a. who frequent only oldest marketplaces
b. who frequent both oldest marketplaces as well as high-end malls/high-street stores
c. who frequent only high-end malls/high-street stores
II. Legacy, Traditional and Common-street Shopping Destinations: The Consumer Connect
1. Can you name few oldest marketplaces? Can you identify a few marketplaces which are
very famous across India that have historical connotations and also resonate high with
customers for their product price performance?
2. Have you shopped at one of the oldest marketplaces like Chandni Chowk in Delhi, T
Nagar in Chennai, Sultan Bazaar in Hyderabad or any other similar old marketplaces? If
yes, can you describe your shopping experience?

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3. Have you shopped at the market (as stated above) with a specific product in mind or for a
specific purpose like marriage, festival or birthday or for any other reason like price, variety,
ethnicism, etc.? Or was it either to explore or entertain yourself/ accompanying your family/
friends/relatives?
4. List the contributing factors which drive you to visit the marketplaces once in a while or
quite often (Exhibit I)? Rank accordingly on the basis of the driving intensity of specific
factors i.e.,
a. Always
b. Often
c. Sometimes
d. Rarely
e. Never

Exhibit I: Factors which Influence to Visit the Old Marketplaces

Factor Always Often Sometimes Rare Never
Product Variety
Ethnic Goods
Best Bargains
Knock-Off Products
Latest Fashions
Bulk Buying
Food
Branded Products
Smuggled Goods
Antiques, Handicrafts, Artefacts
One-Stop Shopping Destination
Imitation Jewellery
Shopping Experience

Prepared by the authors for classroom discussion

5. The base article points out that, Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi, hosts Ghantewala
Confectioners, a traditional mithai (sweet) outlet started in 1780. Does this stand as a
testimony for the long time existence of marketplaces and a statement that they were there
yesterday, today and will be present tomorrow, despite the growth of high street and high-
end shopping malls as well as e-commerce? What according to you are the reasons for their
continued existence and continued patronage?

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6. In the base article, a LED shop owner at one of the market centres of India’s oldest
marketplaces at Chandni Chowk says, “Chinese LED lights are the hottest selling items
this year” and draws a politically incorrect parallel between the Chinese lights and the three
Japanese scientists who won the Nobel Prize in physics for LED technology. Do such
kinds of references taken by the vendors have a placebo effect on the consumers? If yes,
what kind of consumer personality does it reflect?
7. Do you think these oldest marketplaces would continue to exist in the years and decades to
come with burgeoning growth of deep discount stores online/offline?
III. Consumer Behavior at Common-street, Traditional Brick-and-mortar Shopping
Destinations
1. What according to you are the similarities and dissimilarities between old marketplaces,
common-street shopping centre and a high-street shop or a high-end shopping mall?
2. Do you think customers ‘straddle’ between common street marketplaces and high street
stores or high-end shopping malls? If yes, what traits do such customers exhibit?
3. Were there any situations when you had to shop at an old market but you skipped it and
went to one of the high-end shopping malls? List the factors which drove you to skip
conventional marketplaces and reach out for high-end shopping malls. Is there any covert
significance of Consumer Ethnocentrism? Or behavioral traits like Compliant, Aggressive
and Detached?
4. How would you describe a typical customer’s personality who had been frequenting an old
market?
5. While high-street shops or high-end malls have enough and more ways to attract and engage
customers with their appealing visual merchandizing, extensive price promotions/price
discounts, snobbish value, etc., the common street marketplaces seem to be deprived of all
these. Yet, they do thrive on their terms. What do you think that these old marketplaces
use to attract and engage customers?
6. What is consumer personality? Does a thorough understanding personality and the
underlying traits of the same help the marketers to analyse consumer preferences, buying
motives and their buying behavior better? Are the behavioral traits of the consumers the
same at common-street markets as well as high-end shopping malls?

Mandatory Readings/Exercise for the Case Flyer

Participants should read the following concepts/chapter from the suggested book and must visit any
of the suggested top ten places for experiencing the shopping behavior or any other oldest marketplaces
for effective learning outcomes:
• Leon G. Schiffman, et al., “Chapter 5: Personality and Consumer “Behavior”, Consumer Behavior,
10th Edition, Pearson Publications, 2010 – (i)What is personality (ii) Theories of Personality
(iii) Personality and understanding Consumer Behavior, (iv) Brand Personality

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• Sumitra Nair, “Top 10 Places for Street Shopping in India”, http://idiva.com/photogallery-

style-beauty/top-10-places-for-street-shopping-in-india/15951/11, September 19th 2012 (accessed
date: November 4th 2014) – To have an overview of some of the top 10 oldest marketplaces in
India and why they’ve acquired the ‘Must Visit’ status
• Visiting an old market place as well as high-end shopping mall and high-street store is mandatory
to understand the differences between these two kinds of shopping centres and most importantly
to delve into the underlying motives of the same

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