Dimensions Of Retail Service Convenience In Emerging Market Settings – A Qualitative Investigation | Shaphali Gupta & Dinesh Sharma

The existing measures of service convenience, developed and validated in context of developed service economies, do not adequately capture customers? perception of service convenience for retail stores (i.e., stores which offers both goods and services), especially in emerging markets. Current study examines perceptions of and identifies a comprehensive inventory of service convenience for retail stores in emerging market setting, India. Based on convenience literature and three separate qualitative studies, authors proposed retail store service convenience as a multidimensional construct consisting of six dimensions. Both retailers and shoppers were included in the study. Selection and assurance were found as novel dimensions for retail service convenience. Perceived risk of service fairness, resulting in exertion of cognitive energy, is seen as major concern among respondents. Study elucidates the critical role of store staff in building affirmative convenience perception. The present study enhances the understanding of retail service convenience in an emerging market (India) context. Thus, this study expands the domain of service convenience construct by further exploring the dimensions and measures set out by earlier researchers. This study explores new dimensions of convenience and proposes items for developing a measure for retail store service convenience. The implications of proposed dimensions are discussed, both for retailers and future research.