AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON FACTORS INFLUENCING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN RETAIL SECTOR WITH REFERENCE TO RELIANCE SMART STORES IN NCR

Abstract

The retail sector has always been an important component in all developing economies across the world. After liberalization policy and due to changed global scenario Indian retail industry has undergone tremendous positive qualitative changes. There has been a change in every traditional retail function and concept of quality in retail marketing has gathered attention of all customers. To meet the new challenges because of these changes, many of the retailers have formulated strategies to survive and thrive in this cut-throat competitive environment by focusing on changing market trends, usage of new technology and adapting to changing preferences and expectations of customers.

The present study was taken up with an objective to measure customer’s opinions on the antecedents of retail stores and to assess the customer satisfaction towards new “RELIANCE SMART”. The main aim of this work was to evaluate the impact of demographic variables on customer satisfaction in retail sector. The study was an attempt to examine the store attributes involved in purchase decisions and their role in customer satisfaction. The findings of this research paper revealed that customer’s demographics especially gender, has a significance role in influencing their buying decisions.  The results further indicted that store’s attributes play an important role in customer’s satisfaction. This paper is based on primary data collected through a questionnaire. The samples were drawn from the population of 150 respondents. The study was carried out at “RELIANCE SMART” stores located at Ghaziabad city and data was analyzed using Chi-square test, ANOVA and weighted score method using SPSS.

Key Words: Retail, Customer, Demographic, Customer Satisfaction