Discovering service quality in retail grocery stores: A case study of Delhi

At present time retail industry is showing marvelous performance. It accounts for over 10 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and around 8 per cent of the employment. Retail is a strong pillar of Indian economy. Modern retail in India has experienced a significant transformation over the last two decades. India is the world’s fifth-largest global destination in the retail space. Overall Indian retail projected to double to$1 trillion by 2020 from $ 600 billion in 2015.In market potential, India ranks eleventh (after United States, China, Canada, UK, Brazil, Germany, Austria and Mexico). India's net retail sales are quite significant among emerging and developed nations; the country is ranked third (after China and Brazil). By 2018, the Indian retail sector is likely to grow at a CAGR of 13 per cent to reach US$ 950 billion. Indian retail industry is generally divided into organized and unorganized retailing. Organized retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers, those who have registered for sales tax and income tax. Unorganized retailing refers to the traditional forms for low cost retailing for example paan/beedi stores, mom and pop stores. Organized retail penetration is 92% and unorganized retail penetration is 8%. In retail sector food and grocery segment has the highest growth rate. Grocery retailers witnessed a shift towards modern grocery retailers during 2014. Urbanization, high income, less availability of time, one stop shopping are some factors which endorses the growth of organized retail grocery stores. Service quality offered by these modern retail grocery stores is an area of major concern. Purpose of the research: With the given backdrop it was decided to inquire about the service quality offered in organized retail grocery stores. The customers who visit the grocery stores with so much expectation; are they really satisfied with the service quality delivered tothem. This paper is an attempt to compare the service quality offered in different organized retail grocery stores. Research Methodology: Primary data has been collected by a sample survey of customers shopping at various grocery stores located at Delhi using convenient sampling technique. A sample of 300 respondents was approached. These respondents are from different categories of organized retail stores as Hypermarket, Supermarket and Convenience Stores. For the purpose of collecting the required data, the questionnaire method was used. A standardized questionnaire was used to solicit information on customers. To collect the primary data Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) developed by Dabohlkeret. al. (1996) was used. The Retail Service Quality Scale have “Physical Aspects”, “Reliability”, “Personal Interaction”, “Problem-Solving” and “Policy Making” as five different dimensions to measure service quality offered by retail stores. Data was interpreted by applying two ways ANOVA. Implications: The research will be helpful to gain an understanding of the whole scenario of service quality offered. It will also provide an insight to find the gap between the satisfaction levels of the customers with respect to different types of stores due to service quality.