BANE IN RETAIL!

The retail industry in India is growing rapidly. From a country which only had the mom and pop stores, we now have the option to visit spanking malls, shops, supermarkets, stores to purchase almost anything and everything.
The organized retail story in India has a rosy picture but no rose plant exists without thorns. The thorn in Indian’s organized retail sector is customer dissatisfaction.
The advantage of organized retail is more about the convenience and the quality of service extended towards the customer than it is about the uniformity and reasonability of prices.
We all have visited such retail formats at some point of our lives or rather we visit them every now and then. Let us ASK ourselves a question….
How happy is the customer at the end of the day (in terms of service provided)..?? The answers would be that the customer is partially satisfied or not satisfied. It is true that the Indian customer is price sensitive.
But isn’t he paying a price for its reputation? The Indian customer is not only price sensitive but also demands better quality of service. That is the area where most of the companies have failed and are failing. That is the reason for the dissatisfaction.
There can be many causes for this problem: for example,
Inexperience of retail companies.
Not so well trained staff.
Rigidity of the retail companies.
Over confidence.
Lack of funds.
Lack of competition (FDI cap on foreign companies on multi brand formats).
Lack of training institutes.

All these causes are nothing but carelessness on the part of the retail companies. It is time that these companies move up the ladder from “transaction based selling to relationship based selling”.
It is true that customers want value for money products (VFM), but companies which provide customers with superior experience stand out from the crowd. It has been forgotten that customer experience and quality service is also part of the “VALUE” in VFM than just providing moderately priced products and services.
Attracting customers is important but retaining them is even more important!!! Selling the products becomes easier as you already have a relationship with them. A high rate of Customer retention assures sustainable growth in the top-line and it also helps the other brands/businesses of the same company thereby increasing the BRAND VALUE of the company.
“CUSTOMER IS THE KING” and the most important part of each and every business. The retail companies in India should realize the importance of customer experience and provide the customer with quality service. Please learn the best practices from the hospitality industry. Implement the necessary processes and take the retail story of India to the next level. All these steps are important as

“A HAPPY CUSTOMER MEANS ASSURED RETURNS!!!”

Shikhar Vaid