Summary
The success of organized retailing in India mainly depends on delivery of services through quality improvements. In service organizations, customer-perceived service quality is considered one of the key determinants of business performance. This paper deals with the application of Dabholkar's (1996) retail service quality instrument in measuring the gap between the customers' expectations and their perceptions about the service quality of retail stores in India. Our analysis approved the reliability of the instrument under Indian Retail Environment. The analysis of the data indicates that the reliability (one of the five dimensions proposed) of retail stores is perceived to be the most important dimension among all the dimensions. Further, the analysis of gap scores indicates that highest perceived service gap lies in the policies of the retail stores particularly parking facilities provided by them. Apart from this, all other statements show a significant negative gap implying the need for considerable improvements in retail service quality.
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Extract
Measuring Retail Service Quality: An Empirical Study in a Developing Country
INTRODUCTION
Retailing in India is gradually inching its way toward becoming the next boom industry. ETIG (Economic Times Intelligence Group) estimated the size of the organized retail industry at about Rs. 16,000 cr in 2001-02 (Table 1) and estimates that the retailing industry will cross the Rs. 37,000 cr sales mark by year 2007. The industry is growing at the rate of about 18-20% per annum. The retail arena today is very different-the opportunities are incredible but exploiting them is extremely tough. A successful retail enterprise must have a vast network of people and error-free processes in place.Shoppers know all rules of the game. They can instantly sense a good buy and lap it up or sniff out a bad product and dismiss it. Their expectations are tough to meet but for retailers aiming to make a big sale, there is not much of a choice but to find ways to win customers over and keep them permanently happy. ETIG analysis of the NRS data over the last two years shows that the urban consumer is definitely becoming more discerning and demanding as far as lifestyle is concerned. Urban Indian household income is on the rise (Table 2). The graph clearly shows that the purchasing power of urban India is increasing. This would cre...See the full content of this document
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