Waiting line issues in Organised Retail outlets in Bengaluru Karnatak

Abstract

Waiting is a ubiquitous constituent of many purchase situations. Customers visiting a newlineretail store encounter different wait duration based on the service capability of the firm. newlineThis, in turn, reflects the unmet customer needs and highlight the operational efficiency newlineof the firm. A waiting customer in the queue resembles an inventory piled up in a newlinefactory. newlineThe conventional approaches to queue management are either to add capacity in the newlineform of billing counters or invest in emerging technologies. Such approaches newlinenecessitate considerable investment in retail space or resources. Meanwhile, accepting newlinewait as inevitable during peak hours will aggregate negative emotional responses. newlineRetail managers in an endeavour to avoid unpleasant checkout experience and newlinedissatisfaction, seek ways to expedite the service process. The study investigates the newlinepossibilities of eliminating or reducing the perceived wait duration, managing wait newlineexpectations and enhancing the checkout experience. newlineThe study intends to measure the emotional discomfort experienced by the customers newlinevisiting a retail store checkout, explore the circumstance and factors responsible for newlineemotional discomfort, diagnose the impulse buying behaviour of customers waiting in newlinethe queue near the checkout, examine the customer perceived idle waiting time in the newlinequeue during checkout and propose practicable and cost-efficient measures of active newlinecustomer engagement. newlineThe study pursues a descriptive research design and is cross-sectional. Survey research newlinewas employed to ascertain customers perception of their wait experience. The newlinerespondents were reached after their in-store purchases. Sufficient care was taken to newlineconfirm that customers have followed the traditional checkout process, which consists newlineof pre-service wait and in-service participation. newlineThe research population is infinite and consists of all resident and tourist customers newlinevisiting the organised retail chain outlets in Bengaluru Urban. Confirmatory sampling newlineunder the purposive sampling techni