Customer Services Management in Small Scale Retailing ? An Empirical Study

The retail sector has played a phenomenal role throughout the world in increasing productivity of consumer goods and services. The retail industry in India has come forth as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the market. The Indian retail industry is the largest among all the industries, accounting for over 10 percent of the country’s GDP and around 8 percent of the employment. Though the organized sector occupied only 5 percent share in the total retailing, the main challenge facing the organized sector is the competition from unorganized sector. Small scale retailing is one of the key sectors of Indian economy. This service is providing employment and livelihood to millions of people since ages. The emergence of organized retailing in a big way in recent years brought in revolutionary changes in the business environment. The small scale retailers are challenged on many fronts. Indian Retail sector is dominated by small scale retails. The presence of millions of small scale retails in different product categories makes to realize that the large number of people is depending on this activity. In the light of severe competition threats from the fast growing and more challenging big retailers in the fast changing scenario, the survival and growth of small scale retailing depends upon their customer services management. This paper examines the customer services provided by the small scale retailers. The findings of the empirical study are tabulated and analyzed to draw conclusions.