Retail Organizations Research Articles

Measurement of Consumer's Perception of Service Quality in Organized Retail Using Servqual Instrument

Retail sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world today. India is seeing a growth of about 15-25 percent per annum in its retail business. The government is also looking forward to open up foreign direct investment in the Indian retail industry. The paradigm shift in Indian retail industry can be accounted to many factors; the growth of Indian economy, the change in consumer's attitude, the increase in per capita income and overall household income, and the influence of western culture, being a few of them. These factors have led to a major change in the buying habits and purchasing behavior of the Indian consumers and thus the retail industry has become one of the key industries to look forward to in the coming years. Many corporates are looking forward to enter the organized retail segment, seeing the enormous growth potential there. But despite the big players entering the retail sector, and the boom in retail industry, organized retailing in India can be still said to be in a very nascent state. People still do not find it very convenient to go to a mall to shop for their daily needs and the local general store or kirana shop is preferred for daily shopping. This paper tries to analyze the service quality gap between the expected and delivered service of the organized retail stores in Lucknow. The aim of this paper is to find out whether the organized retail stores are actually performing according to customers expectations or are there any gaps between the expected and perceived service quality. This assessment of difference between expected and perceived service quality would be done with the help of the SER VQUAL instrument.

Factors Enabling the Shift from Unorganized to Organized Retail Sector through Mobile Payments

In the 21st century, smartphones and the internet have become an integral part of life. It is noteworthy that the future is full of technologydriven payment systems; therefore, the mobile payment system is the next big thing in this arena. This study highlights the factors influencing the consumers to accept or adopt the mobile payments system. This study attempts to study elements having a role in shifting consumers from unorganized to organized retail sector through the Mobile Payment System (MPS). A questionnaire was prepared using Google forms to collect data, and it was shared using WhatsApp and e-mail with the target respondents. In this study, 103 responses were analyzed and collected before India’s first lockdown. The confirmatory factor analysis was used, and various factors were identified. It is found that trust, privacy and security issues are still restricting the user to adopt the online mode of payment; hence TAM model stands valid. This study attempts to examine the influence of MPS on unorganized retailing.

Supply chain management practices, retail outlets attributes and organisational performance: a case of organised food retailers in India

PurposeThe aim of this study is to examine the impact of supply chain management (SCM) practices and retail outlet attributes on the performance of organised food retailers in India during COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachAuthors conducted empirical research with SCM practices and retail outlet attributes to evaluate the retailers’ performance. The authors present the results from 321 valid responses from the Indian food retailers. The study used structured equation modeling to present the analysis and the results.FindingsThe findings of this study reveal that most of the SCM practices (i.e. information technology, level of information sharing, customer relationship, supplier relationship and goal congruence) have a positive impact on performance except the quality of information sharing. The results show that in the time of the pandemic, the retail outlet attributes (image, service quality and convenience) have no significant relationship with the food retailer’s performance while SCM practices are necessary to achieve better performance of the food retailers.Research limitations/implicationsA proactive approach is needed from retailers at the time of pandemic situations to manage the supply chains. The retailers must be extra careful in screening the suppliers for the short and long run. The reason being that in the situation of pandemic, customers might be more demanding and hence, food retailers need to pay special attention to gain growth. It is also required that the policymakers should give importance to the implementation of these SCM practices to be positioned differently.Originality/valueThe research can be valued in terms of its original contribution towards companies in overcoming the disruption caused by COVID-19 to maintain a balance between demand and supply and proposes a completely new theoretical framework. The proposed theoretical model would add value to the existing literature to help the retailers in process of their performance improvement. The study has provided insights for retail organisations, suppliers and government departments to manage their SCs more effectively and efficiently during the pandemic.

A Study on Customer Preference and Problems on Retailing with Special Reference to Chennai City

India is set for high growth in consumer expenditure. With India's large ‘young’ population and high domestic consumption, the macro trends for the sector look favorable. Within retail, the emerging sectors would be food and grocery, apparel, electronics, e-commerce, fashion and lifestyle. Incorporation of technology in the organized retail segment has been something to reckon with in the past few years. Use of computers for merchandise planning and management, control of inventory costs and supplies and replenishment of goods done electronically, internal store billing, etc. has changed the face of product retailing

Important factors drive to brand image of superstore retail organization: an empirical study on shwapno

Super store retail organization is the popular in the world as well as Bangladesh. High and mid classes’ citizen in urban area are preferred for shopping any groceries products from superstore. Shwapno is the largest growing super chain shop in Bangladesh that provides all necessary commodities to the customers. This study is identified the factors which influence to the brand image and it drives to corporate image by providing perceived quality of products and services.The study has suggested top-level managers and authorities of Shwapno retail organization to consider these vital factors while enhancing brand image and leads to corporate image and aid to design the policies for retaining and satisfying their customers.

The Effects of Omni-Channel Retailing on Promotional Strategy

The objective of this study is to ascertain the effects of omni-channel retailing on the promotional strategy of retail organisations in order to better understand how to alter the promotional strategy in accordance with the ever-changing needs of customers and ultimately provide the customer with a seamless experience. This research is based on a critical systematic literature review of articles related to the topics of ‘omni-channel retailing’ and ‘promotional strategy’. The analysis made evident that most literature is focused on developing an understanding of omni-channel retailing; uncovering consumer behaviours in omni-channel retailing; and ways to adapt promotional strategies related to merchandising, sales promotion, selling, and word of mouth. Past research is quite fractured and does not represent a holistic picture of the implications of omni-channel retailing for promotional strategy. The analysis provided in this paper provides a general guideline for researchers and practitioners concerning promotional strategies that can be adopted in omni-channel retailing.

Gender Impact on buying behavior in organized retail outlets with reference to Hyderabad City

The increased globalization and purchasing power of people led an increase in organized retail outlets across the country. India, is now, one among the largest retail outlets shopping places in Asia. More consumers are buying the products through these outlets to get brand value, discounts, quality and also a matter of social status. The products are available to all levels of consumers at moderate rates and sometimes the companies are giving additional benefits or discounts to attract more consumers from unorganized to organized retail outlets. No doubt, the unorganized retail outlets are the most preferred shops for most of the consumers but yet, the organized outlets want to diversify them towards their shopping culture by incentivizing various schemes, policies. Consumer buying behavior is something which is not constant and one can not predict the same at all times. It will change based on various factors which are internal, external, psychological and emotional. One of the basic factors that will impact buying behavior is Gender. It is quite evident and natural that the buying habits of women are entirely different from men. Men, mostly not interested to spend more time shopping. They make decisions quickly. In contrast, women have more patience and relative judgment in buying the products in shopping. The tendency of these behaviors has been probed for research on gender based study on organized retail outlets shopping. This paper throws light on the impact of gender on buying behavior by analyzing the primary data obtained from a sample survey. The study reveals some interesting facts and also establishes the close association among the different variables in the study.

Exploring digitalisation at IKEA

PurposeThe paper aims to clarify how an incumbent retail organisation explores digitalisation for its existing business.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws from an in-depth case study of home-furnishing retail giant, IKEA conducted with semi-structured interviews, participant observations and document analyses.FindingsIn the exploration phase of digitalisation, three major activities – interpreting, interrelating and integrating – illuminate how the exploration process can be organised in practice.Originality/valueAlthough digitalisation ranks amongst the most significant ongoing transformations in retail businesses, research on how incumbent retail organisations have engaged in exploring digitalisation in practice has remained scarce. The paper contributes insights into digitalisation processes in retail businesses that may also apply to other trends affecting the retail industry.

Unfair, uncertain, and unwilling: How decision-making unfairness and unclear job tasks reduce problem-focused voice behavior, unless there is task conflict

In an attempt to expand extant literature devoted to employees' voice behavior, the current research unpacks the connection between their experience of procedural unfairness, such that organizational decision-making lacks transparency, and their problem-focused voice behavior. In this link, the authors predict that job ambiguity functions as a mediator, and coworker task conflict takes a moderating role. Survey data, collected among employees in a large Portuguese retail organization, affirm that perceptions about unfair decision policies can curtail employees’ propensities to raise their voice about organizational failures, because they develop the belief that their employer is failing to provide sufficient job-related information. If they can exchange conflicting viewpoints with others though, this detrimental process might not proceed. Organizations should take care to avoid accusations of unclear job roles, because they create a route by which frustrations about opaque decision-making can escalate into employee complacency; they also should encourage productive idea clashes within their ranks to help block that route.

Enablers and barriers of harnessing food waste to address food insecurity: a scoping review.

Despite producing sufficient food for the global population, the growing prevalence of food insecurity in developed countries is cause for concern. The millions of metric tons of food wasted each year could be used instead to drastically lower rates of food insecurity and address food sustainability. In this scoping review, we aimed to identify barriers to and enablers of harnessing food waste across food sectors, including food retail, households, and food rescue organizations, to address food insecurity in a developed country, Australia. The findings demonstrate that research on and responsibility for harnessing food waste for food insecurity has predominantly fallen on ill-equipped food rescue organizations. Three primary policy advancements paramount to harnessing food waste to address food insecurity include (1) improving partnerships and subsidies to minimize transportation costs for redistributing imperfect or surplus food from farmers and retailers to those who with food insecurity; (2) enhancing existing partnerships and subsidies to stably involve more nutrition experts in food rescue organizations to improve the quality of foods being redistributed to those facing food insecurity; and (3) initiating interventions and campaigns that combine the following 5 characteristics: free to the participants; address food literacy; use multiple mass-media tools; are age tailored; and frame messages within personal values.

Modernizing Retailers in an Emerging Market: Investigating Externally Focused and Internally Focused Approaches

This article studies the impact of business modernization on the sales performance of traditional retailers in an emerging market. The authors define modernization as the adoption of physical structures and tangible practices of organized retail chains (e.g., exterior signage with store name and logo, a database to record product-level information). To address this research question, they implement a randomized field experiment in Mexico City with 1,148 retailers. The sample is randomized as follows: 385 firms are externally modernized in ways that are visible to customers, 383 firms are internally modernized in ways that are not visible to customers, and 380 firms form a control group. The authors find a significant and persistent main effect of modernization on sales. Firms in both treatment groups increase monthly sales by 15%–19% 24 months after study recruitment. In terms of novel mechanism evidence, externally modernized firms improve their store-level branding, while internally modernized firms strengthen their product management. This article also provides an exploratory analysis to guide policy makers, managerial stakeholders, and retailers on how to modernize for the highest returns. This analysis suggests that it is most useful to modernize a firm’s exterior appearance, customer engagement methods, demand analysis, and stock-ordering processes. Finally, the largest improvements come from the initial few modernizing changes, after which returns are diminishing.

Adoption of Technology Applications in Organized Retail Outlets in India:A TOE Model

Purpose: The major intent of this study is to empirically explore the technology–organization–environment (TOE) factors that influence retail outlets’ adoption of technology applications in India. Methodology: In line with the objectives of the study, a conceptual model based on the TOE framework was proposed. A quantitative survey was conducted with organized retail outlets in Madhya Pradesh, India to validate the proposed model. The survey generated 134 valid responses. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to assess the research model. Findings: The findings elucidated that factors of the TOE framework significantly influence the technology adoption intention in the organized retail sector. It could be recommended that this framework is a robust instrument to envisage the adoption of technology applications in the retail sector. Research implications: The conceptual framework can be used by the retail sector in framing strategies for marketing that can enhance their potential customer base. It can also help to formulate policies which can act as a catalyst in adopting the technology applications. Practical implications: Retail vendors can use this model to increase their prospective customer base. Originality: The research contributes to the diversifying academic literature on technology application adoption by using factors within the TOE framework to explain organized retail outlets’ intention to adopt such technologies.

Future of Private Labels in India - Challenges Ahead

Emergence of private labels in India is due to immense growth of organized retail. Lower prices and consequentially higher profit margins are the major benefits of private labels. The competition and challenges faced by private labels in changing retail scenario are discussed in the paper below. Private labels should be treated at par with national brands. And the efforts to be taken by retailers in terms of branding, packaging and promotion are crucial and vital. The share of private labels in the success of retail sector should be structured.

Studying Consumer Motivation Towards De-shopping While Purchasing High-end Luxury and Fashionable Apparel

Consumption of organized retail services is not only limited to buying apparel but to the overall customer experience of visiting the shop, interactions with executives, offers, hospitality, and the freedom to view and try a range of products uninterruptedly. The unorganized fashion retail in rural markets provides home delivery of a range of products to help female consumers choose, try, pick one, and return the rest so that only picked items can be billed. It is an unspoken communication that the buyer is sometimes permitted to consume the product without paying for it. This act, though, cannot be accommodated in the definition of de-shopping but establishes the argument that de-shopping can be part of the services offered by the organization retailers. There are organizations which accept the de-shopping behaviours of their selected customers to enhance customer loyalty. In this paper, exploratory research has been conducted in the NCR region of India, in which customers of high-end luxury and fashionable apparel respond to the questionnaire which recorded the impulsiveness, intention, satisfaction and urge of returning the used apparel either for an exchange or simply complete financial waiver. A total of 170 respondents were approached to answer 17 questions asking the various emotional arguments consumers put forward while de-shopping. This helped the study to develop a scale which showed all four factors that have a significant impact on product return.

Consumer Expectations on Supermarkets in Organized Retailing

The study emphasise on the consumer expectations on supermarkets in organised retailing and factors which acts as driving force for consumers to opt for the same, with reference to Chennai city. The sample size is 120 respondents who were retail customers of Supermarkets under Non- Probability Judgment Sampling method. The growth of Supermarkets of India in recent years has been witnessed due to increased consumer expectations. As most of the retail segments try to find their way to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, it must be noticed that the consumers are already evolving at great speed in their expectations in all fields. At the pandemic situations, people try to venture out most importantly for essential items with the available outlets, taking care of all safety measures. The immediate next option available for consumers is online shopping. The blowout of virus has not only changed the way how consumers shop, but also their buyer behaviour pattern and what they actually expect from retailers. By 2025, India is expected to become the world’s third largest economy as it is experiencing the world’s fastest growing economies. According to various reports, it is known that these new spending and shopping patterns is expected to continue even after the crisis comes down. With more developments as well as challenges in the field of organized retailing, consumer preferences are changing from region to region.

Perceived idle wait and associated emotional discomfort: An analysis of retail waiting experience

Waiting involves both cognition and emotions. It has a bearing on the overall perception of retail service quality. The advancement in retailing has triggered scholarly conversations on the psychological impact of waiting at the retail checkout. Prior studies confirm customers being deeply involved in the passage of time and time estimation during the entire waiting period. This study investigates the customer idle time and its implication on emotional discomfort resulting from crowding stress. The study employed confirmatory sampling wherein specific sample elements are chosen since they are the key respondents to confirm hypotheses being tested. Accordingly, 385 respondents (shoppers) visiting the leading organized retailers located in major localities in Bengaluru were approached. The responses were analyzed using a Chi-squared test and Pearson correlation. The outcome reveals that irrespective of age and gender, customers visiting the offline retail outlets experience emotional discomfort. The young customers aged 18-30 dislike waiting in the queue at the checkout compared to older customers. In contrast, gender did not affect the inclination to wait. The idleness during the checkout waits causes emotional discomfort on most occasions. The findings supplement the growing research in psychology on the actual and perceived consumption of time, focusing on idleness. The study concludes that customers desire to avert an unproductive use of time, thus lowering their emotional discomfort.

Important Factors Drive to Brand Image of Superstore Retail Organization: An Empirical Study on Shwapno

Superstore retail organization is the popular in the world as well as Bangladesh. High and mid classes’ citizen in urban area are preferred for shopping any groceries products from superstore. Shwapno is the largest growing super chain shop in Bangladesh that provides all necessary commodities to the customers. This study is identified the factors which influence to the brand image and it drives to corporate image by providing perceived quality of products and services. The study has suggested top-level managers and authorities of Shwapno retail organization to consider these vital factors while enhancing brand image and leads to corporate image and aid to design the policies for retaining and satisfying their customers. Keywords: Brand Image; Shwapno; Superstore; Corporate Image; Customers Attitude DOI: 10.7176/JPID/61-02 Publication date: January 31 st 2022

The specifics of the service marketing concept of retail organizations in the post pandemic environment

The specifics of the service marketing concept of retail organizations in the post pandemic environment

An Empirical Study of Socio-economic Dimensions of Working Women and its Significant Impact on Sustainable Women Empowerment of Organised Retail Sector

In this Descriptive and explorative research paper, we focused on the significant research issues on the socio-economic dimensions of working women and their significant impact on sustainable women empowerment. The researchers formulated the research objectives and hypothesis based on current research issues of working women’s problem and their empowerment in retail sectors. The researchers collected primary data through the structured questionnaire and collected 400 data samples in different regions of Mumbai retail sectors. For data analysis and interpretation, the researchers used the SPSS software to test and generate the inferences at a 0.05 significant level. During the research study, the research found that 68.2% are in favour of socio-economic dimensions of working women having a significant impact on sustainable women empowerment of the organised retail sector in Mumbai whereas 15.7% are not in favour. The factors socioeconomic dimensions of working women such as Income of Head, Total Family Member, Education of women, Education of Husband, Total Assets and Livestock, Marital status and Responsibilities, Loan, Health and Beauty and Physical Appearance have a significant impact on economic issues and challenges towards sustainable women empowerment of organised retail sector in Mumbai.

A Study on Location Strategy and Trade Area Analysis of Top 10 Malls of Western Suburbs of Mumbai

Mumbai is the financial capital of the country and home to important financial institutions and Multinational companies. The City has a rich cosmopolitan culture. it is also the capital of entertainment industry and city of dreams. These are enough reasons for the growth of organized retail and real estate development here. It is the capital of Maharashtra & the commercial capital of India & is one of the most populous cities of the world. It has a per capita income of more than 2 lakh which is over three times the rest of India. It homes a large middle class, upper middle class, and the rich class of the country. Retail sector is one of the booming sectors of the city in last 20 years a lot of Mall have come up and the people of Mumbai are adapting to the mall culture. Mall is usually a large, enclosed area, a mercantile establishment consisting of a carefully landscaped complex of shops representing leading merchandisers; usually includes restaurants and a convenient parking area. The word shopping mall is made up of two words: shopping and mall. Shopping can be defined as the activity that involves the exchange of goods and services for money. According to Kuria (1975). Lousberg (2009) defines shopping malls as “premises selling general merchandise or fashion related goods. They are enclosed inward facing stores, connected by a common walkway. Parking surrounds the outside perimeters.” A shopping mall can therefore be defined as a complex that encompasses several retail stores, restaurants and other businesses with a common interest in soliciting sales. The complex is put up and managed as a single unit. Shopping malls offer private, off-street parking facilities