CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT …ijaema.com/gallery/192-november-2890.pdf · The implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has gained ground

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

MANAGEMENT (CRM) PRACTICES IN SELECTED RETAIL STORES

AT TRICHY CITY

Author 1: Dr.V. Palanisamy, Research Advisor, Research Department of Commerce,

Jairams Arts and Science College, Karur, Affiliated to Bharathidasan University,

Tiruchirappalli – 24.

Author 2: C. Thilagavathi, Research Scholar in Commerce, Jairams Arts and Science

College, Karur, Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli – 24.

ABSTRACT

Retailing is evolving into a global, high tech business. Retailing occupies a pivotal

role in the world economy. Retailing is the largest private industry in the world. The Indian

retail industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast – paced industries due to the

entry of several new players. In recent days, customers are regarded as an article of trade. In

the global business world, customers have become an important aspect of success for

companies and their management is core to the fundamentals that drive the organization

forward. The ability of consumers to influence the policies and strategies of companies make

them the key kink for the successful management of the business. It is important that an ideal

solution be delivered to counter any unexpected changes in trends and the environment of

retail industry. The implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has

gained ground in recent years in the retail industry and is became popular in India. CRM is

potentially a useful concept in the marketing and customer service areas of a retail sector.

CRM practices are important variable in the success of retail stores. CRM can help

organizations to manage customer interactions more effectively to maintain competitiveness

in the economy. CRM provides long –term relationship buildings with customers at an

enterprise – wide level. This research paper attempts to evaluate the customer satisfaction on

CRM practices in selected retail stores at Trichy city. The present study finds out the

customer relation management and its implementation and consumer level of satisfaction on

CRM practices while shopping in retail stores at Trichy city.

Key words: Customer Relationship Management, Retail stores, Customer Loyalty,

Customer Satisfaction, consumer behavior, Implementation

The International journal of analytical and experimental modal analysis

Volume XI, Issue XI, November/2019

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INTRODUCTION

Retail Sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in India over the last few years. In

recent days, customers are regarded as an article of trade. Customers are the primary source

that businesses exist; marketing has become the core component for successful management

of the organization. For most businesses, marketing can account for almost of the product

sale price, provided services such as distribution and promotion are accounted for this. For

any business to succeed with its customers, they need to understand the customers. Hence,

implementation of CRM is essential to understand the customers. The term CRM is used to

define the tools and technologies used b y an enterprise to manage the relationships with its

customers. CRM is a process of learning by which organizations can develop stronger

relationships with customers having gained information on their needs and behaviours.

Retail Industry Scenario in India

Retailing is the most active and attractive sector of last decade. While the retailing

industry itself has been present since ages in our country, it is only the recent past that it has

witnessed so much dynamism. The emergence of retailing in India has more to do with the

increased purchasing power of buyers, especially post – liberalization, increase in product

variety, and increase in economies of scale, with the aid of modern supply and distributions

solution. The overall retail market in India 2018 stood at Rs 43,251 billion and is forecast

to grow by 6.4 percent CAGR in 2018-2023.

Indian retailing today is at an interesting crossroads. The retail sales are at the highest

point in history and new technologies are improving retail productivity. The Indian retail

industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast – paced industries due to the entry

of several new players. The retail sector in India is dominated by the unorganized retail

trade, where unorganised trade forms around 93% of the overall trade. This is in contrast

with the developed countries where the organised retail industry accounts for almost an

average of more than 80% of the total retail trade. This highlights a lot of scope for further

penetration of organized retail in India. The overall retail market in India is expected to

grow at 12% growth rate per annum, driven by growing urbanization, rising income,

demographics and rising aspirations of the middle class. Modern trade is going to expand as

twice as fast at 20% per annum and traditional trade is expected to grow at 10%.



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Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the combination of practices, strategies

and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data

throughout the customer lifecycle, with the goal of improving customer service relationships

and assisting in customer retention and driving sales growth. CRM systems compile

customer data across different channels. CRM system can also give customer facing staff

detailed information on customers’ personal information, purchase history, buying

preferences and concerns.

Benefits of CRM

The primary benefits of CRM include significant improvement to the marketing

techniques, as well as better chances of customer satisfaction and retention and growth in

market share for the business. By ensuring that the system targets customers with high value

propositions that satisfy their needs. CRM improves marketing tools used by and

organisation. Upon improving its product offerings, a business gains the ability to retain its

customers and establish a sense of loyalty between each other. It is important for better

services to be maintained over time, which generated enough positive marketing from word

of mouth to help establish a significant level of growth in the market.

Key principle of Customer Relationship Management

Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is defined as a measurement that determines how

happy customers are with a company's products, services, and capabilities. Customer

satisfaction information, including surveys and ratings, can help a company determine how

Institutional Memory

collaboration

Touch point alignment

one and doneReal time

information Manager

Listening & Learning

posts

Value Segmentation



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to best improve or changes its products and services. Satisfaction means the contentment one

feels when one has fulfilled a desire, need or expectation. Furthermore, Customer satisfaction

can be a measure of how happy customers are with the services and products of a retail

stores. Keeping customers happy is of tremendous benefit to companies. Satisfied customers

are more likely to stay loyal, consume more and are more likely to recommend their friends

to the business.

Customer satisfaction occurs when the value and customer service provided through a

retailing experience meet or exceed consumer expectations. If the expectations of value and

customer service are not met, the consumer will be dissatisfied. Only very satisfied customers

are likely to remain loyal in the long run. (Levy, Michael, Weiz, Barton A,Retailing

management 2004,2) Customer satisfaction in a retailing should be a long-term aim and

concentrate into an existing customer rather than replace dissatisfied customers with new

ones. It is extremely important to satisfy customers because a retailer’s sale comes from two

groups of customers: new customers and repeat customers. In retailing, attracting new

customers is likely to cost company five times as much as pleasing an existing customer.

Customer retention is more important than customer attraction, and a key to customer

retention is customer satisfaction.

Review of Literature

According to Chen and Popovich(2003), CRM is not a concept that is really new but

rather due to current development and advances in information and enterprise software

technology, it has assumed practical importance.The root of CRM is relationship marketing,

which has the objective of improving the long-term profitability of customers by moving

away from product-centric marketing.

Bose (2002) noted that CRM was invented because the customers differ in their

preferences and purchasing habits. If all customers were alike, there will be little need for

CRM. As a result, understanding customer drivers and customer profitability, firms can better

tailor their offerings to maximize the overall value of their customer portfolio.

According to Greenberg (2004), CRM generally is an enterprise-focused endeavor

encompassing all departments in a business . He further explains that, in addition to customer

service, CRM would also include, manufacturing, product testing, assembling as well as

purchasing, and billing, and human resource, marketing, sales and engineering.



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Darshan Desai, Sabrat Sahu and Piyush Kumar Sinha (2007) on the basis

of analytical and empirical or case research conducted a random sample study of 334

executives was selected from 29 firms in the following industries: retail (n=60), telecom

(n=80) and banking (n=183) in India. They also concluded that. Impact of market

orientation on dynamic capability of CRM and competitive CRM performance may be the

result and shaping the organizational resources that no longer match the environment. These

include processes like analysis customers, developing and delivering tailored offering,

providing customer service, orchestrating linkages, assigning accountability and evaluating

performance.

Yuen & Chan (2010) assert that in today‟s competitive grocery store sector,

customer demands are bound to increase from time to time due to the improvement of service

quality in parallel with product variety. Due to the tremendous growth of service industry in

which retailing sector plays an important role, it is vital for retailers to understand the degree

of importance of listening to the inner voice of customers´ needs to create, increase level of

satisfaction.

Objectives of the study

To analyse CRM practices followed by retail stores in Trichy city.

To evaluate the relationship between CRM and customer satisfaction.

To study the benefits of CRM to the customers.

To understand the impact of CRM in retail stores

To find out the factors determining purchase decision

Methodology

The study was conducted through questionnaire method.

Sample Size

The sample size taken up for this study is 100 respondents from retail shops in Trichy

city.

Primary Data and Secondary Data

Primary data is collected through questionnaire. Secondary data has been collected

from Journals, Websites, Magazines and News Papers.

Table No. 1

Types of retail stores like to purchase

OPTIONS FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Hypermarkets 18 18



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Departmental stores 36 36

Convenience stores 14 14

Super markets 32 32

Total 100 100

Source: Primary Data

From the above table depicts that, the majority (36%) of the respondents purchased

goods from departmental stores, 32% of them are purchased goods from super markets, 18%

of them prefer hypermarkets and 14% of them preferred convenience stores to purchase

products.

Table No. 2

Types of products like to purchase in retail stores


Electronics goods 22 22

Cloth 30 30

Food items &Grocery 38 38

Others 20 20

Total 100 100


From the above table, it is inferred that the majority (38%) of the respondents

purchase food items and grocery, 22% of them purchased electronic goods, 30% of them are

purchased cloth and 20% of them purchased other products from retail stores.

Table No. 3

Opinion about the services offered by retail stores to its customers


Good 22 22

Satisfactory 58 58

Average 14 14

Poor 6 6

Total 100 100


The analysis of the above table shows that, the majority 58% of the respondents are

opined that they are satisfied with the services offered by retail stores, 22% are feel the

services are good, 14% are opined that the services are average and only 6% of the

respondents opined that the services offered by retail stores is poor.



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Chart No. 1

Opinion about the services offered by retail stores to its customers

Table No. 4

Retail stores collecting customer database


Yes 92 92

No 8 8

Total 100 100


From the above table, it is clearly indicates that Majority (92%) of the retailers

collecting the customer data base. Only 8% of the retailer’s does not collecting customer data

base. Customer database helps the retailer to identify the loyal customers.

Table No. 5

Techniques / Methods used to collect customer information


Entry forms 40 40

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

FREQUENCY

PERCENTAGE



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Feedback forms 32 32

Bill records 18 18

Others 10 10

Total 100 100


From the above table, it is inferred that the majority of the Retailers used entry forms

to collect the information about the customers. 32% of the retail stores collect customer’s

details through feedback forms. 18% of retail stores collect customer data and information

through bill records and 10% belongs to other forms.

Table No. 6

Different types of information collected by retailers from respondents


Personal information 24 24

Family information 12 12

Feed back 22 22

Income 12 12

Address 10 10

All type of information 20 20

Total 100 100


From the above table shows that, Majority 24% of the retailers collected personal

information from the customers, 12% are collected family information, 22% are collected

feedback, 12% are collected income details, 10% are collected address and 20% of the

retailers collected all type of above information from the customers of retail stores.

Table No. 7

Factors determining purchase decision


Quality products 42 42

Door delivery 16 16

Membership card 8 8

Sitting facility 6 6

Billing facility 10 10

Child play area 6 6



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Promotional schemes 12 12

Total 100 100


From the above table, it clearly shows that the majority (42%) of the respondents

determine to purchase for the reason of quality products. 16% door delivery, 8% membership

card, 6% sitting facility, 10% quick billing facility, 6% child play area and 12% of the

respondents are influenced to determine to take purchase decision for promotional schemes.

Chart No. 2

Factors determining purchase decision

*Table No. 8

Loyalty card provided by retailers


Yes 86 86

No 14 14

Total 100 100


From the above table, it is inferred that majority (86%) of the retailers provide

loyalty card to its customers. Only 14% of them are not provided loyalty cards.

2258

14 6

10022

58

146

100

Good Satisfactory Average Poor Total

FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE



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Table No. 9

Methods followed by a retailer to maintain customer loyalty


Accepting credit / debit cards 46 46

Loyalty cards 22 22

Accepting mail orders 12 12

Credit sales 14 14

Others 6 6

Total 100 100


From the above table, it is clearly shows that the various methods followed by a

retailer to maintain customer loyalty. Majority (46%) of the retailers focused on accepting

credit cards and debit cards to make purchase. 22% of the retailers used to provide loyalty

cards to its customers to maintain customer loyalty. 12% of the retailers accepting mail

orders, 14% of them are providing credit sales facilities to its customers and 6% of them are

given guarantee and response forms to maintain customer loyalty.

Table No. 10

Opinion about the promotional schemes delight the customer


Strongly agree 44 44

Agree 20 20

Neutral 11 11

Disagree 13 13

Strongly disagree 12 12

Total 100 100


From the above table, it clearly indicates 44% of the respondents opined that they feel

delighted about the promotion schemes offered by retail stores. 20% are agreed, 11% opined

that they feel neutral about the promotional schemes. 13% of them disagreed and 12% of

them strongly disagree the statement.



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Table No. 11

Various schemes offered by retailers to maintain good relationship with customer


Discount offers 36 36

Gift coupons 18 18

Membership card 10 10

Free door delivery 16 16

Regular feedback 12 12

Others 8 8

Total 100 100


From the above table, it inferred that the various schemes offered by a retailer to

attract consumers and maintain a good relationship with the customers. Majority (36%) of

the retailers offered discount offers in festival seasons to attract the customers. 18% of the

retailers offered gift coupons, 10% are offered membership card, 16% are provided free door

delivery service, 12% are getting regular feedback from customers and remaining 8% of the

retailers are offered some other schemes to maintain good relationship with their customers.

Chart No.3

Various schemes offered by retailers to maintain good relationship with customer

Table No. 12

Greetings send by retailers


Yes 90 90

No 10 10

11%

29%

7%

3%

50%

Good

Satisfactory

Average

Poor

Total



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Total 100 100


From the above table, it clearly indicates the opinion about the retailers sending

birthday / anniversary / festival greetings to their customers. Majority (90%) of the retailers

are sending greeting to their customers for their birthday / anniversary / festival. Only 10%

of the respondents are not sending any greeting to their customers.

Table No. 13

Feedback collected by retailers


Yes 80 80

No 20 20

Total 100 100


From the above table, it is interprets that, Majority (80%) of the respondents opined

that the retailers are collecting feedback about their service from customers. Only 20% of

them are says that the retailers are not collected any feedback from customers.

Table No. 14

Methods to collect feedback about level of satisfaction from customers


Feedback forms 40 40

Suggestion box 24 24

Sending SMS 12 12

Follow up telephone calls 16 16

Others 8 8

Total 100 100


It is inferred that, the various methods followed by the retailers to collect feedback

from customers. 40% of the retailers used feedback forms to collect feedback from

customers. 24% of them followed suggestion box method, 12% of them sending SMS to

their customers and enquired about their level of satisfaction, 16% of the retailers tracking the

customer satisfaction through follow up telephone calls and 8% of the retailers used other

methods to tracking the customer satisfaction.



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Table No. 15

Overall satisfaction regarding the retail stores


Excellent 18 18

Satisfactory 41 41

Good 30 30

Average 7 7

Poor 4 4

Total 100 100


From the above table clearly shows the overall level of satisfaction regarding the

retail stores. Majority 41% of the respondents are satisfied with retail outlets. 18% of them

opined that they feel excellent, 30% of the respondents are opined that they feel good, 7%

feels average and only 4% of them opined that their satisfaction level is poor.

Chart No. 4

Overall satisfaction regarding the retail stores

Findings

Majority (36%) of the respondents purchased goods from departmental stores.

Majority (38%) of the respondents purchase food items and grocery.

18

41

30

7 4 Excellent

Satisfactory

Good

Average

Poor



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Majority 58% of the respondents are opined that they are satisfied with the services

offered by retail stores.

Majority (92%) of the retailers collecting the customer data base.

Majority 24% of the retailers collected personal information from the customers.

Majority (42%) of the respondents determine to purchase for the reason of quality

products.

Majority (36%) of the retailers offered discount offers in festival seasons to attract the

customers.

Majority 41% of the respondents are satisfied with retail outlets.

Conclusion

CRM practices play an essential role in the success of the business. This study helps

to identify the customer satisfaction on CRM practices followed by retailers in retail stores at

Trichy city. This study has identified the various factors determining the purchase decision of

the customer. CRM techniques and methods used by a retailer will helps to maintain

customer loyalty. Timely feedback from the customers should be taken by the retail store it

would make the customers realize that they are important for the growth of the organisation.

CRM is highly exercised in all the industries but it is having importance in retail industry for

its growth. Every firm is striving to establish and maintain customer relationship in order to

sustain its business and profitability.

References

Bose, R. (2002). Customer Relationship Management; Key Components for IT

Success Industrial Management and Data Systems, 102(2), 89-97.

Darvish, H., Kafashzadeh, A. R., & Ahmadnia, H. (2012). Studying the customer

relationship management: A case study at Persian technology firm. Economic Insights

– Trends and Challenges, 64, 1-18.

Levy, Michael, Weiz, Barton A 2004 Retailing management.5th international edition.

Boston,McGraw-Hill.

Gee, R., Coates, G. & Nicholson, M. (2008). Understanding and profitably managing

customer trust. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 26(4), 359 - 374. DOI:

10.1108/02634500810879278

Benjamin Appiah - Kubi & Andrews, K. D (2010): “Towards a successful customer

relationship management: A conceptual framework” African Journal of Marketing

Management ,Vol. 2(3) pp.037-043.



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Warrington P, Gansted E, Feinberg R & de Ruyter K (2007), Multi – channel retailing

and customer satisfaction: implications for e- CRM. International Journal of E-

Business Research 3(2),p 57 – 69.



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CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT …ijaema.com/gallery/192-november-2890.pdf · The implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has gained ground