
==== Front
Heliyon
Heliyon
Heliyon
2405-8440
Elsevier

S2405-8440(24)12426-7
10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36395
e36395
Research Article
Developing customer convenience and experience through increased competency and efficiency: A strategic approach to retail operations mastery
C V Sunil Kumar sunilkumar.cv@iimbg.ac.in

Agrawal Rohit mailerrohit@gmail.com
⁎
Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques, Indian Institute of Management, Bodhgaya, 824234, Bihar, India
⁎ Corresponding author. mailerrohit@gmail.com
18 8 2024
30 8 2024
18 8 2024
10 16 e363958 2 2024
14 8 2024
14 8 2024
© 2024 The Authors
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Retailers who are part of supply chains are crucial in attracting customers to physically visit their stores and thereby increase supply chain revenue. Retailers in supply chains are responsible for handling a high volume of transactions and high customer contact, thus better management of retail operations is necessary to provide greater convenience and experience for customers. In this regard, retail operations must be properly managed, particularly during times of crisis like COVID-19, to ensure that customers purchase their basic needs promptly and safely. Since customer contact is high, the retail operations can have a greater say in improving the customer convenience and experience but this perspective has not been specifically emphasized both in research and practice. Thus, the current study attempted to evaluate how well retail operations can improve customer convenience and experience so that retailers can do well even during times of uncertainty. The study, which is grounded in the resource-based view theory, thus looks at how well retailers' competency and efficiency in running the operations help in achieving better customer convenience and experience. In this regard, sample data from 416 practitioners belonging to the Indian retail industry has been selected to examine the mediating role of retailers' efficiency to retailers’ competence in achieving better customer convenience and experience. This study importantly confirms that while more competence can help retailers operate more efficiently, it cannot, by itself, provide customers with greater convenience or a better shopping experience. This study found that retailers concentrate on streamlining their operations in order to overcome capacity limits because it is expensive and limited. The empirical evidence shows that retail operations have significance say in offering better convenience and experience customers.

Keywords

Retail supply chains
Retail operations
Retailers
Customer convenience
Customer experience
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pmc1 Introduction

The supply chains have been conventionally relying on retailers to push their products to needy customers. Since customers are the source of revenue for supply chains, to better deal with customers in catering to their requirements, the retailers have been considered as reliable players [[1], [2], [3], [4]]. The retailers have been successfully managing the high volumes of customers' transactions and stocking optimal quantities of larger product varieties. Often customers also consider retailers as one of the potential avenues for buying as they can physically visit, see, touch, feel, and compare the products they are purchasing. Customers often being skeptical about the quality of the products prefer to physically visit the retail stores and see by themselves the products before they are purchasing [5]. Especially in the wake of increasing concern of adulteration, customers would want to ensure they purchase right quality products. So, compared to online buying, retail stores offer an advantage for customers where customers can better examine the products before purchasing. However, retailers are also opting for muti channel selling or being part of multiple distribution channels [6]. Having highlighted the role of retailers along supply chains, retailers thus have greater responsibility to ensure that the right products are made available on shelves for customers to choose at ease [7]. They must strive to offer right type of stock keeping units (SKUs) in right quantities and make them available at right time for the customers to purchase. The retail operations, thus, inside the retail stores must also be geared up in such a way that replenishment of shelves is run efficiently with no shelves going empty. This is one of the serious concerns for the customers during the times of crises [8]. However, there is a dearth of studies that focus on retail operations management in improving the customers’ convenience and experience.

Retail stores have been potential centers of attraction for customers, especially for the cost-conscious customers who are enticed by the discounts offered. The retailers indeed increasingly contend to attract more and more customers and retain their customers [9]. Also, specifically in developing economies, customers consider buying from retail stores rather than buying online is because of easy returns and warranty claims [10]. On the other hand, retailers also have improved customer relationship management mechanisms seeking feedback from the customers and improving their processes, whereby customers are influenced to purchase preferably from such retailers. Retailers also do target marketing to the customers based on the customers' past purchase history, this leading to more customers visiting the retailers [4]. Besides, customers also often prefer shopping at the retail stores for having a better socializing experience and derive recreation through retail shopping [9]. Customers no longer just evaluate the products their purchasing from the retailers rather they also consider how they are treated [11]. Retailers in this regard are also training their staff to offer better guided shopping and provide better socializing experience for their customers. The staff are also used for assisting and influencing the customers in purchasing which in turn can also make customers feel confident about the products they purchased. In offering better instore shopping experience staff play an important role and they must also be properly engaged [12]. The trained staff having better knowledge about the stocked products help retailers to properly market their products and customers on the other hand also feel eased in their shopping [6]. Many a time, retailers also create an ambience and offer space for recreation for their customers in an endeavor to offer more socialized retail shopping experience [13]. The retail stores also contend to retain their customers by offering certain incentives through several loyalty programs and because of which the customers are also inclined to visit the retail stores ([9]; and [14]). Thus far the discussion has been around the dynamics between retailers and customers where most of the past studies have focused on increasing customer attractiveness. Though the increased crowd densities certainly the good news for retailers but failing to manage them better can greatly compromise the promise of customer convenience and experience. Past studies have certainly studied the customer experience facet, but in-store shopping experience through retail operations management has not been thoroughly explored [11,15]. The current study thus focuses on the same by extending to examine the competency and efficacy of retail operations in achieving it. The retail operations play an important role in better managing the crowd densities at the retailers, controlling the service rate, queue lengths, and better matching the customers' arrival rate [16]. During several waves of COVID-19 spread, the retail stores had to respond by limiting the customers’ arrival rate and increasing the number of service stations. But many customers, due to virus scare and due to longer queues outside the retail outlets avoided retail shopping which was considered as a preferred avenue. So, in the wake of crises like COVID-19, retail stores often known for being overcrowded can negatively influence customers to not to visit. This is an interesting phenomenon where retailers expect increased number of customers visiting their outlets but the same during crisis times like COVID-19 works against the retailers. This perspective in research has not been addressed, specifically managing it through retail operations management. In practice, the response from the retailers has been to increase the resource capacity as a crisis management strategy which is expensive and unsustainable. Though the retail stores are more organized in terms of retail layout design and optimal assortment for customers to purchase from, the crowd densities happen to scare the customers. Hence, the current study is aimed at answering the following research questions.Research Question 1 Do retail operations management help retailers increase consumer convenience and experience, as well as handle customer issues during crisis situations?

Research Question 2 How retailers' competence and efficiency interplay in offering better customer convenience and experience?

In order to answer the research questions raised above, the study advocated using the resource-based view (RBV) as a theoretical framework. This is because RBV shows how organisations, such as retailers, can better use their capabilities to provide better service to their customers, so gaining a competitive advantage. It demonstrates how internal elements within firms can play a more important influence in value addition than external conditions. The current study also emphasizes the importance of in-store retail operations in terms of increasing customer value and gaining a competitive edge. The RBV theory emphasizes capabilities as an important construct, which states that firms must use capabilities to increase value for their consumers. In line with this, the current study discusses the competency and efficiency of retail operations in providing value to customers. Furthermore, the RBV theory states that businesses must build long-term competitive advantages that are difficult for competitors to replicate. The current research also advocates that retailers provide superior customer convenience and experience, which are sustainable.

Under the competitive advantage construct of the RBV customer experience and customer convenience are considered in the current study which can also be considered sustainable. Customer experience is an objective for retailers who have to interact directly with customers along the supply chains. If what it comprises is the inquiry, the response may be that customers value the availability of preferred branded products and personalized product options. Ease of shopping, the ability to use their time constructively, and the satisfaction of feeling they have enough time to make a purchasing decision without regret. Rather, buyers often evaluate the surplus acquired and want to walk out with satisfaction that they could receive better deals and regard the retailer as a preferred choice.

Customers often regard retail stores as centers of convenience where they can receive personalized guidance in making purchasing decisions. Customer convenience can be defined as the ability of customers to locate and select the things they require while moving around a retail store with ease. Customers regard it as convenient to be able to compare multiple alternatives and offers. They regard retail stores as those that are responsive to their needs and adaptable in providing services. They also appreciate it when retail outlets offer a welcoming atmosphere and helpful staff to assist them with guided purchases.

Under the capabilities construct of the RBV theoretical framework, the retail operations competence and retail operations efficiency are considered. In line with the RBV theory the considered factors are the conditions that are internal to the retailers. Retail operations competence is described as a retailer's ability to provide a retail environment and customer service interface that better captivates and engages customers. In order to improve customers' awareness of items and staff replenishment, retail operations should be able to arrange things in the best possible way. It is also regarded as the ability of the information infrastructure to manage data and enable evidence-based judgments in retail environments. Retail operations that are value-focused from customers' point of view can be interpreted as efficient retail operations. Reduced queue lengths and waiting times, as well as increasing floor space that frees up consumers and personnel, are indicators of efficient retail operations. Improved product availability and cycle service level, with optimally used shelf space also indicate the retail operations efficiency. In addition to adhering to safety regulations, the retail operations implemented that limit manual touchpoints specifically during crisis times like COVID 19 are perceived as efficient. Having defined the factors a conceptual model has been developed in the section drawing support from past studies. The paper is organized as follows to answer the aforementioned questions: Section 2 provides literature support and a review of the pertinent literature for the development of hypotheses. Section 3 presents the research methodology used to validate the formulated hypotheses; Section 4 presents the results obtained and highlights the study's findings; Section 5 presents the managerial implications; and Section 6 offers concluding thoughts and possible directions for future research.

2 Literature review and hypotheses development

Over the last decade, there has been a paradigm shift in the customers' preferences towards the avenues for purchasing and it is seen that customers have been increasingly inclined towards purchasing through organized retailing formats [17,18]. The well-established retail SCs are specialized and aggressively contend to have the customers more informed, attracted, and overall satisfied by offering better customer experience. Often customers are induced to look out for best of the trusted brands, quality, reliability, hygiene, safety, latest merchandise, and experience receptivity while purchasing through organized retailing. The aspects just mentioned are a few of many advantages that have been drawing customers' inclination towards organized retailing. The following sections would highlight how retailers along the SCs can align their efforts in competitively meeting the end customers’ requirements.

2.1 Retailers' initiatives aligned with customers’ requirements

Retailing is one of the very important SC processes wherein the end customers' contact and interaction are relatively very high [1]. Since customers are the sources of revenue for the SCs and often retailers being the direct points of contact with the customers, the onus is on the retailers to use competencies efficiently to facilitate the customers and offer greater customer experience. After reviewing the past literature specifically related to retail sector, it was found that the “Customer Experience” has been one of the widely emphasized differentiators in the latest research. Certainly, retailers must ensure that customer requirements are competitively met by offering better shopping experience. The customer experience in retail settings is often asserted as one meeting the cognitive, social, emotional, physical, and affective requirements of the customers [19]. Recent research that focused on the customer experience factor was taken into account and divided into two categories: positive and negative perspectives. From a positive perspective, Foroudi et al. [20] focused to study (innovation diffusion theory) the impact of smart technologies on customer dynamics and customer experience. Grewal et al. [21] also highlighted (attribution theory-related research) the revolutionary technologies that can be adopted by the retailers to redefine the customer experience offered and set new expectations. Betzing et al. [22] using customer experience theory and Kayhan [23] using descriptive research approach emphasized on factors for offering unified customer experience where customers are increasingly adopting the digital technologies. Jain et al. [24] highlighted customer experience theory and made an important observation that, in service based economies, companies will have to consider it as an experiential perspective to marketing. Balaji and Roy [25] under innovation theory have explored the efficacy of Internet of Things (IOT) in offering better value to the customers specifically in terms of offering better customer experience. Foroudi et al. [26] using socio technical system theory examined and confirmed the influence of customer experience on firm’s reputation and loyalty. Bustamante and Rubio [9] theoretical review of customer experience proposed a scale to measure in-store customer experience which can be used by retailers to create experiential shopping environment and offer differential value to the customers. On the other hand from a negative perspective, Jain et al. [24] have aptly posited that customer experience will also give rise to avoidance behavior which can be imprinted in the experiential memories. Lack of due diligence in offering better customer experience make the retail centers merely as avenues of free riding and channel hopping where customers may visit retail stores to get the feel of touch and inspect [27]. Kamaladevi [28] proposes possible future research around customer experience specifically on influence of negative impressions customer carry about the brands. Negative experiences as well as better deals are vigorously spread on social media can potentially comprise future demand for the products and services [29]. Hence, the retailers will have to focus on offering holistic customer experience rather than greatly relying on loyalty programmes [30]. Alieva [31], though focused on different retail setting, has rightly mentioned that likelihood of purchasing by the customers is greatly reduced under time pressure and anxieties while shopping. This is especially severe during the times of crises like COVID-19. Bustamante and Rubio [9] have claimed that the aspects of physical discomfort caused because of inconvenient environment which in turn creates negative impressions on the customers has been ignored. Tsai [32] investigates other factors that have had a profound impact on lifestyles over time, such as digitalization and COVID-19, which have made contactless engagement one of the most popular trends with resilient staying power. It looks at how the increasing involvement of retailers and marketing played through alliances and gamified marketing has affected online-merge-offline service behavior. The study by Chen et al. [33] explores the effect of passive information acquisition, referred to as “information encountering,” on online consumer behavior. The interaction between the salience of encountered information and the consumer’s goal state dictates purchase behavior, with customer inspiration as a mediator. Though past studies explored important aspects in retail settings, the studies focused on studying the influence of retail operations to reduce physical discomfort and thereby achieving better customer experience are scant. Having highlighted the necessity of aligning the retailers' efforts with customers' expectations, the following sections present the excerpts drawn from the literature to achieve the said alignment.

2.2 Customer experience - a sustainable competitive advantage from RBV perspective

The RBV lens is appropriate to highlight how retailers in general can sustainably use their resource capacities set up to responsively meet their customers' requirements. In line with the RBV, the retailers can pursue pathways that can sustainably offer better experience and convenience to the customers. How to offer such customer experience such that the retailers can use their distinctive business model even in uncertain times like COVID-19 crisis is one of the objectives of the current study. Often retailers configure their outlets to responsively meet the changing customers' preferences objectively to maximize product exposure; tailor to the demand seasonality; match implied demand uncertainties due to location, cultural constraints, and other special events; adapt to the uncertainties specifically in the context of crises like COVID-19; respond to the competition, and so on and so forth with an aim to convert most of the demand into sales [9,19,34,35]. On the other hand, from customers' perspective, few basic expectations which often attribute to the customer experience, such as, assortment, better price, specific layout, ambience, social environment, and service interface [9,19]. So, a possible posit can be to check whether ability in offering better retail operations can ensure improved customer experience. There are several aspects which retailers can consider fulfilling their customers' expectations. Retailers are required to optimally place the merchandise and maximize the likelihood of purchase rather than having customers becoming anxious with wasted efforts and time in searching, moving, and enquiring [27,35,36]. This is essential during COVID-19 crisis where customers would not wish to spend more time in the outlets. In cognizance to this, an approach the well-established retailers cultivate is the ability to capture multitude of information about the purchases, changing preferences, and mine data to offer better convenience and experience to the customers [21]. Instead of mere intuition, retailers are required to competitively use advanced information infrastructure to meet uncertain customers' purchase patterns and better align their retail operations [23,37,38]. Due to information asymmetry many retailers could not better respond to the COVID-19 crisis and had to face out-of-stock situations with empty shelves. This fear of empty shelves indeed has resulted in panic or impulse buying which further stressed the retail SCs [8,39]. Success depends on how retailers responsively stock the product offerings without compromising on the basic product offerings specifically during uncertain times. Thus, besides retailers' capability, it has to be checked how efficient execution of retail operations can influence customer experience. Another important research direction often cited by several researchers is about customer convenience extended in awing the customers. Unless retailers emphatically facilitate easing the purchasing, many researchers have highlighted that customers cannot be made more engaged and involved. In addition, Sarkar & Dey [40] emphasize the importance of customer satisfaction in retailing. The article analyses the effect of customer care services on an offline-to-online retailing strategy. The results indicate that, like advertising and home delivery strategies, customer care support considerably boosts profits. Thus, customer care activities are vital to the retail sector’s profitability. Parikh & Mowrey [37] also emphasized the role of importance a retail facility plays in engaging the customers traversing through the layout for having most of the demand converted into sales. Many customers primarily consider savings and resort to closely compare the product offerings and experience of earning more value for their money. So, retailers have their operations aimed at competitively offering savings in terms money, time, and overall better shopping experience for their customers [4]. Several mechanisms are used by the retailers for achieving the savings and realize better total cost of ownership. For instance, aggregation strategy is often widely used by the retailers to take the advantage of economies of scale whereby have reduced levels of inventory without compromising on the service levels [41,42]. Coordination strategies among multiple stakeholders along multiple channels are used to avail discounted services and efficiently and responsively manage SC flows [4,43,44]. Exercise better power equation and possibly achieve preferential treatment from the suppliers [20,45]. In the light of aforementioned aspects and practices, retailers balance their competencies in line with the customers' requirements but still it has been a challenge to achieve customer experience as a sustainable competitive advantage which the RBV propounds. The RBV lens is also appropriate when the facets under study are intangible [46]. The cost advantage offered to attract the customers is one of the must-be attributes viz. in the case of retailers [47]. Customers visiting the retail outlets are often cost conscious, being attracted to the discounts offered categorically on commodities. Beyond the cost aspect, customers are often delighted when the retailers can sense customers' choices, have right products stocked, and offer better shopping experience. However, studies focused on data driven retail operations to better serve the customers are still limited opening directions for future research. The following hypotheses are formulated to study what it takes retailers for offering better customer experience.H14: Competency in retail operations can influence customer experience offered by a retailer

H24: Efficiency in retail operations can influence customer experience offered by a retailer

H34: Retailers focused on extending convenience are offered with better customer experience

2.3 Retailers’ efforts in extending customer convenience

In the earlier section, the facets that lead to customer experience is explored, of which customer convenience and efficiency in retail operations are considered to have mediating effect in realizing the better customer experience. This section attempts to connect what other researchers have studied with regards to customer convenience. Many researchers actively pursued it as an as an important pathway for retailers both in research and practice that can sustainably offer better customer experience over others [29,48,49]. Roy et al. [49] has rightly demonstrated that convenience offered can make the customers more engaged and often it is one of the strong customer expectations. However, for better customer engagement, retailers will have to responsively anticipate needs of the customers and attract with desired product and service differentiation. This is because customers often compare the product offerings in order to exploit the discounts offered and gain better surplus [50,51]. Retailers' ability to facilitate and ease the customers to quickly compare can be crucial in making the purchase decisions whereby most of the demand is converted into sales. Customers with productive shopping will mostly have desired products purchased with better customer surplus and customers will also thereby have better sense of happiness and satisfaction derived. Contrarily on the other side of the coin, retailers will have to understand the pain points of customers in purchasing process so as to essentially create efficient processes [52]. Understanding this indeed would enable retailers to facilitate customers devoid of constrained movement, create more joyous, assisted, and socialized shopping experience [51,53]. Purohit et al. [54] demonstrated an interesting way to learn customers' movements inside retail outlets which can assist retailers for better product placement. This can be further complemented by considering the convenience extended from customer point of view which the current study is attempting to research. Further, Murray [55] also reiterates that customers' comfort and convenience are fundamental and can be better extended by responsively designing the retail layouts. With regards to customers' movement, onus is on the retailers to identify the standard (most purchased) and not so often purchased items so as to facilitate easy pickup as well as have reduced weighted distances to be moved by the customers. In this regard, the concepts of lean management applied in retail settings has been beneficial specifically by separating common from unique preferences and generate value both for retailers as well as customers [56,57]. By categorically (standard and customized purchases) fulfilling the customers' requirements, effectively retailers can facilitate the customers to carry fewer items. The COVID-19 crisis created panic among many customers to do purchasing and led to panic buying of essential products. Consequently, though there was enough demand, the retailers were not having slightest clue to ensure the timely flow of quantities of essential supplies to their customers leading to wastage of supplies and empty shelves [8,39]. Understanding the unique and generic requirements would have allowed the retailers to greatly facilitate the customers. Even in normal situations customers will have to be facilitated to effortlessly move around the retail outlet to purchase their desired preferences without failing to remember. Sachdeva and Goel [58] have rightly asserted that retail environment must consider physiological needs and assure better shopping experience. Further with increased ease of data analysis, retailers are capitalizing on the data driven capabilities, to optimally stock the right items, right quantities, at right place, and at right time to better meet the customers' preferences [59,60]. Information infrastructure has been advantageously used to assist the retailers for the better utilization of staff and extending customer care. Data driven decision making has undoubtedly made the retailers' ability to better match the supplies with demand uncertainties. Depending on the analysis of customer purchasing patterns retailers have better chance to categorically and responsively offer the product offerings [61]. Data driven retailing has become one of the strategic enablers that has been really transforming the conduct of retail operations towards offering better value to the customers [62]. It is inevitable for the retailers, with increased competition, to explore every possible way that facilitates customers to have better shopping experience. This is because customers often look for best of the deals offered and evaluate for maximum surplus offered along the standardized and customized requirements [55]. Mowrey [36] also emphasizes that retailers on priority must extend environment of convenience beyond the pricing and brand propositions. With more number of alternatives available, customers evaluate in terms of customer convenience offered and adjudge based on own experience as well as experiences of other customers [29]. Customers are so evaluative, if they perceive it is not convenient and better value is available elsewhere (most often online) then retail stores may just become as the centers good for physical visits to experience the products [27]. So focusing on extending convenience to offer better customer experience are not just a matter of choice rather it is imperative for the retailers to practice. Dey and Seok [63] propose this innovative inventory policy and autonomated inspection and service strategies to maximize profit under service-dependent demand. It stresses the importance of inspection on ensuring error-free products which are essential for customer satisfaction, and hence sales and profit. The study also considers three types of service types and finds that the most preferable service is the fully paid one and the role of efficient investment in inspection and service strategies to boost manufacturing performance. Adivar et al. [45] have asserted the need for offering seamless customer convenience while the industry is facing the important transitions to omnichannel retailing. Besides clear advantages of touch and feel with an opportunity to physically visit, retailers will have to focus on convenience is better offered for customers to return, replacements, and warranty claims [10]. Thus, based on the excerptions found from the past studies the following hypotheses are drawn to explore the pathways of retailers’ competence and efficiency in retail operations in better extending customer convenience.H13: Competency in retail operations can enable companies to extend better customer convenience

H23: Efficiency in retail operations can enable companies to extend better customer convenience

2.4 Retailers’ capability to achieve efficiency in retailers operations

In the previous sections, the role of efficient operations in achieving customer experience and extending customer convenience are explored. This section will highlight what several researchers have suggested in achieving that efficiency in retail operations from retailers' capability perspective. Datta et al. [64] stress the importance of sales efforts in dynamic retailing to generate revenue in uncertain demand. To this extent, the authors present a dynamic system of sales effort in the face of random stochastic demand with price elasticity. Notably, the analysis places more emphasis on the dual-channel system of operation in dynamic retail management to optimize the consumer experience. In terms of numerical analysis, the study confirms the dual-channel retail case and supports the fact that sales efforts play a major role in generating revenue and increasing profit. Retailers should have the capacity to deal with a large number of SC partners on one hand and also have to efficiently deal further with very large number of customers on the other hand [57,65]. Being at the end of the downstream of SCs, retailers have to deal with lower volumes compared to other stakeholders along the upstream SC processes [4]. But, despite the lower volumes, they must competitively offer larger product variety by efficiently leveraging supply and demand scenarios. Besides offering larger product variety, retailers will also have to ensure better product availability without losing efficiency (specifically high inventory costs) [42]. It is indeed very challenging for the retailers in responding to demand uncertainty as well as implied demand uncertainty and simultaneously be efficient in utilizing the resources [66]. However, well-established retailers can better respond to the uncertainties by capitalizing on the “information”, which has become a revolutionary SC driver in raising the levels of competition [42]. While with regards to efficiency (rated in terms of cost), retailers along the SCs have different cost structures compared to the other SC partners [42]. Much of the costs are incurred by the retailers because of inventories to be maintained across multiple products dealing with obsolescence and wastage [67]. However, retailers adept in coordinating and improving SC visibility with the SC partners can better manage the inventories and optimize the fulfillment [57]. Also, internally retailers' layout design plays an important role in maximizing the product exposure and managing the inventories besides reducing the shrinkage (difference between the booked inventory and physical inventory) costs [35,37]. Positively retailers are required to be capable in rightly identifying, arranging, and making the products and services available internally and externally (demographically as per the customers' requirements, timing and season), without compromising on the service levels [48,50,59]. Retailers have been a choice of convenience and trust centers for most of the customers to directly purchase and avail after sales services [50,51]. However, if the aforesaid benefits are compromised due to inefficient operations, retailers will be losing out on attracting the customers [4]. In view of this fact, without exception retailers are required to be dexterous in rapidly transforming their processes to develop efficiency in retail operations. Owing to the immense competition along the multiple channels, the attributes that can influence customers' preferences have been changing. Customers expect better product and service quality, highly impatient and anxious, less loyal, evaluate other alternatives, look for possible last mile delivery, faster delivery, easy returns, and so on so forth [68]. Hence, retail operations are required to continuously improve in compressing the percentage of non-value-added activities in meeting the customers' requirements. Specifically, in the light of uncertain situations (for instance the COVID-19), retailers will have to ensure optimal flow of customers and better manage the crowd density to ensure minimum manual touch points. Retailers proactive in anticipating the customers’ needs and devising mechanisms to attract and assist the customers in offering more surplus have been achieving greater success in customer relationship management [66]. Therefore, based on the directions from literature the following hypothesis is formulated for empirical validation.H12: Competency in retail operations enables companies to have better efficiency in retail operations

Based on the formulated hypotheses, a conceptual framework has been developed which resulted in a model with mediations. In the light of the afore discussed literature review and the framework, it is anticipated that the “customer convenience” will play a mediating role for competency in retail operations to offer better customer convenience. The “retail efficiency” can play mediating role for retailers to better use their competency to focus on extending customer convenience and offering customer experience. The same has been formulated as hypotheses to test the mediation effects.HM1: Retail efficiency partially mediates competency in retail operations to influence customer convenience extended

HM2: Customer convenience partially mediates competency in retail operations to influence the customer experience offered by a retailer

HM3: Retail efficiency partially mediates competency in retail operations to influence customer experience offered by a retailer

The conceptual model shown as Fig. 1 would better summarize and present the formulated hypotheses. The next section presents the necessity for mapping retail operations strategy with customer convenience and customer experience.Fig. 1 Conceptual framework.

Fig. 1

The contribution of existing literature and present study is summarized in Table 1.Table 1 Establishing connection with the salient contributions from literature.

Table 1Studies	Contributions	
Naeem [8]	Studied the impulse buying behavior of customers during the crisis times like COVID-19 which can be of use for the retailers.	
Bustamante and Rubio [9]	Examined the dimensions of customer experience specifically from a social perspective inside a store which is unique.	
Roggeveen et al. [13]	Explored on retail environment and in-store sensory experience which can greatly impact the customers' purchasing behavior	
Shamim et al. [15]	Studied in-store shopping experience along with service experience of the customers which can greatly impact customer satisfaction.	
Kokho Sit et al. [27]	Interestingly examined the phenomenon of showrooming from positive view and used picture stimuli to understand realistic perspectives during-shopping process.	
Lin and Bennett [30]	Examined about the customer loyalty programs in the retail settings. They asserted the it is important to design and deliver great customer experience rather than relying merely on loyalty programs.	
Present study	Influence of Retail operations and efficiency for offering better customer convenience and experience has been examined specifically to better handle crisis situations like COVID-19 crisis.	

3 Research methodology

The questionnaire for conducting the proposed empirical study was developed on the basis of literature review (see Appendix A). The questions framed were refined by conducting a preliminary test with a focused group of academicians and industry experts (of sample size 30) to improve readability and to avoid redundancy. This pilot study helped to assess whether the questionnaire framed was lengthy, and time taking for the respondents. The questionnaires were then shared with the practitioners from the retail industry in India for data collection. Authors did adopt possible multiple modes of communication such as direct visits, phone calls, and online for data collection. The authors identified 1800 professionals working in the retail industry viz. having experience in the retail industry. Though a sufficient number of data points were initially considered, the Authors had to convince the respondents to participate in the study stating the research study would be purely used for academic purposes. After regular follow-up, authors could collect 525 responses but, after data cleaning only 416 responses were found to be valid for the study. In total 416 responses, 68 were direct visits, 145 were through phone calls, and 203 were received through online. The average experience of the respondents is close to 12 years and with a range from 3 years to 21 years. The percentage wise breakup of the total collected responses along the designations is shown in Table 2. Further parametric tests (2 sample t-tests at 95 % level of confidence along the modes of data collection) were performed by randomly drawing subsamples of size 30 along the aforementioned modes of data collection and found that there were no significant differences in the responses collected. In order to ensure the appropriate sample is chosen for the study the common method bias by using Harmon’s single factor method was conducted in SPSS and has observed no problem (as common variance = 0.1436). Based on the data collected, the original variables were then tested for normality by determining the skewness and kurtosis indices. The skewness index obtained is in the range of −0.22 to −0.82 while the absolute threshold value has to be less than 3. The kurtosis index is in the range of −0.966 to 2.465 while the absolute value has to be less than 10. Thus, the descriptive stats of the variables fulfill the normality condition.Table 2 Sample description.

Table 2Designation	N	Percentage	
Retail Sales Manager	92	22.12 %	
Retail Operations Manager	40	9.62 %	
Manager Retail Marketing	42	10.10 %	
Retail Store Manager	71	17.07 %	
Franchise Manager	21	5.05 %	
Manager Retail Design	24	5.77 %	
Retail Process	26	6.25 %	
Retail Analyst	22	5.29 %	
Customer Service Executive	44	10.58 %	
Business Development Executive	19	4.57 %	
Other Retail Executives	15	3.61 %	
Total	416	100.00 %	

3.1 Data analysis

The objective of the empirical study is to examine evidence about the hypothesized relationships for retailers to achieve customer experience. Firstly, factor analysis was conducted based on the data collected to explore the underlying pattern. In order to validate whether it is workable to apply factor analysis the 1) Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy, 2) Bartlett’s test of sphericity, and 3) anti-image correlation matrix tests were conducted. The KMO measure obtained was 0.912 which indicates high correlation among the variables considered for study. In this regard the threshold value of KMO measure which warrants the application of factor analysis is 0.7. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity shown that the p-value is less than 0.05 which indicates that it is useful to conduct factor analysis on the data. After examining the anti-image correlation matrix, it was found that all the partial correlations are negative, and the diagonal values are greater than 0.5 and the lowest among all the diagonal values was 0.844. Since, the essential test requirements were passed, the data was further considered for factor analysis. The KMO and Bartlett’s test results are mentioned the Table 3 below.Table 3 KMO and Bartlett's test results.

Table 3KMO and Bartlett's Test	
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy.	0.912	
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity	Approx. Chi-Square	8468.392	
Df	190	
Sig.	0.000	

3.1.1 Exploratory factor analysis

In the previous section, it was found that the collected data was fit for conducting the factor analysis. Although, past studies explored about the constructs considered, in order to cross validate the factorial structure the collected data was divided in to two random samples. One random subsample of 208 data points was used to conduct the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and the remaining data points were used for conducting Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Further, the entire data points were then used to test the hypothesized relationships shown in the conceptual model. The EFA was conducted to explore the underlying pattern among the observed variables and thereby examine the factorial structure. The factors were extracted through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation. As considered, the EFA also grouped the observed variables under four fundamental constructs with 84.52 % of total variance explained in the conceptual model. The scree plot also showed four constructs having eigen values greater than ‘1’ which was set as Kaiser Criterion to filter the possible constructs. The variables are abbreviated as Customer Efficiency (CE: CE1, CE2, CE3, CE4, and CE5), Customer Convenience (CC: CC1, CC2, CC3, CC4¸ and CC5), Retail Efficiency (RE: RE1, RE2, RE3, RE4, and RE5), and Retail Competency (RC: RC1, RC2, RC3, RC4, and RC5). Though the observed variables are grouped under the four constructs there was a cross loading for the variables under CC and CE. Consequently, the cross loaded variable CC1 had to be dropped for further analysis. Also, the variable RE5 was not having sufficient loadings on the with any construct and hence it was dropped from the analysis. By dropping CC1, and RE5 the EFA was again conducted and found there were slight improvement in the measurements. The pattern matrix from the output of the EFA shown that the factor loadings are more than 0.5 satisfying the requirement for convergent validity. Since there are no strong cross loadings, the requirement of discriminant validity was fulfilled. Further, to verify the observed variables' strength of association with constructs, the reliability analysis was conducted to measure the Cronbach’s alpha. It was found that all the observed variables were consistent in defining the constructs as all the constructs had more than 0.9 i.e., RC (0.939), CE (0.964), CC (0.909), and RE (0.918).

3.1.2 Confirmatory factor analysis

The CFA was applied after cross validating the factorial structure through the EFA by considering the remaining 208 data points. The constructed model was promisingly fit with p-value 0.104 which indicates the assumption made that the covariance matrix generated by the model is equal to the actual/observed covariance matrix cannot be rejected. Also, the Chi-Square value/degrees of freedom obtained was 1.26 which indicates that the quality of the model is good. The model had Goodness of Fit Index (GFI): 0.978, Adjusted GFI: 0.961, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI): 0.995, Comparative Fit Index (CFI): 0.997, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA): 0.026 and the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR): 0.0216 which are all as per the recommended values (refer Table 4) of a good measurement model. The standardized regression weights of all the observed variable loadings on the respective latent variables were large and significant as the lowest of all was 0.711 while it has to be minimally 0.5. The values of residual covariance matrix obtained were all less than |2.58| which indicates that the estimated model was correctly specified. All the aforementioned model fit values were obtained after carefully refining the model with respect to modification indices. The AMOS output was further examined to ensure unidimensionality, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability. The requirement of unidimensionality was fulfilled as the observed variables were having higher loadings (the lowest was 0.8 while it has to be at least 0.5) on the latent variables/constructs of the factorial structure. The critical ratio i.e., t-value was sufficiently larger for all the observed variables with the lowest value being 14.38 while the value has to be at least 1.96. The convergent validity condition was also fulfilled as the Average Variance Explained (AVE) for all the latent variables was greater than 0.5 (see Table 5). The model is also considered to be reliable as all the Composite Reliability (CR) values obtained for the latent variables were greater than 0.7. Finally, the discriminant validity condition was also fulfilled as the square root of AVE is greater than the correlations between the corresponding constructs (see Table 5, ex: 0.780 is greater than all correlations under RE). Having ensured that the estimated model was fit, the path analysis for testing the hypotheses was conducted.Table 4 Permissible ranges for the model parameters that ensure high quality.

Table 4Model parameters	Citation	Permissible range	
χ2/df	[[69], [70], [71]]	≤3	
GFI	[72]	≥0.90	
AGFI	[69,73]	≥0.80	
RMSEA	[74]	≤0.10	
CFI	[75]	≥0.90	
RMR	[71,76]	≤0.14	

Table 5 Convergent validity and reliability values of the model.

Table 5	CR	AVE	MSV	MaxR(H)	RE	CE	RC	CC	
RE	0.823	0.609	0.410	0.831	0.780				
CE	0.934	0.825	0.188	0.970	0.410	0.909			
RC	0.903	0.757	0.410	0.913	0.640	0.353	0.870		
CC	0.889	0.729	0.306	0.896	0.553	0.434	0.543	0.854	

3.1.3 Path analysis

The proposed conceptual model along with the hypothesized relationships (both direct and indirect based) drawn based on the literature review was built in the AMOS for path analysis. The path analysis typically tests the assumption that the path coefficient along the hypothesized relationship is equal to zero. The path analysis was conducted by considering the entire set of 416 data points. The model was adequate to test the hypothesized relationships. The overall fit statistics obtained χ2/df: 1.28, GFI: 0.978, AGFI: 0.961, TLI: 0.995, CFI: 0.997, SRMR: 0.241, and RMSEA: 0.026 indicate that the model is adequate. The final empirically validated model along with the path coefficients is shown in Fig. 2. It shows the standardized estimates obtained after conducting the path analysis. The estimates and their significance along the hypothesized relationships are shown in Table 6. In order to test the mediating roles hypothesized as (HM1, HM2, and HM3) bootstrapping was performed at 2000 number of samples in the AMOS. The results obtained from the mediation analysis are also summarized in Table 6. The section 4 discusses about the results obtained from the empirical study.Fig. 2 Path diagram built in the AMOS to test the hypothesized relationships.

Fig. 2

Table 6 Hypotheses test results from path analysis.

Table 6Hypotheses	Direct Relationships	Estimate	S.E.	C.R.	P	
H12: Competency in retail operations enables companies to have better efficiency in retail operations	RE ← RC	0.640	0.037	11.205	***	
H13: Competency in retail operations can enable companies to extend better customer convenience	CC ← RC	0.321	0.051	4.852	***	
H23: Efficiency in retail operations can enable companies to extend better customer convenience	CC ← RE	0.348	0.085	4.950	***	
H34: Retailers focused on extending convenience are offered with better customer experience	CE ← CC	0.190	0.061	3.091	0.002	
H24: Efficiency in retail operations can influence customer experience offered by a retailer	CE ← RE	0.249	0.088	3.329	***	
H14: Competency in retail operations can influence customer experience offered by a retailer	CE ← RC	0.046	0.052	0.674	0.501	
Hypotheses	Indirect Relationships	Estimate	Lower	Upper	P	
HM1: Retail efficiency mediates competency in retail operations to influence customer convenience extended	CC ← RE ← RC	0.172	0.105	0.249	0.001	
HM2: Customer convenience mediates efficiency in retail operations to influence the customer experience offered by a retailer	CE ← CC ← RE	0.078	0.028	0.150	0.007	
HM3: Retail efficiency mediates competency in retail operations to influence the customer experience offered by a retailer	CE ← RE ← RC	0.120	0.048	0.203	0.007	

4 Results and discussions

The path analysis conducted has offered evidence about the hypothesized relationships in the conceptual model. The hypothesis H13: Competency in retail operations can enable companies to extend better customer convenience cannot be rejected (as p < 0.001, and CR = 4.852). It was observed that retailers' competency has a positive influence on extending convenience to the customers. The observed variables (viz. service interface, responsive retail layout, and leverage supply and demand) indeed clearly show that retailers having better ability in catering to the needs of customers leads to better customer convenience extended. So, it is not mere wishful thinking rather retailers must have to have the capabilities before thinking of extending convenience to the customers. The hypothesis H12: Competency in retail operations enables companies to have better efficiency in retail operations is also not rejected as competency has higher positive influence on retailers' efficiency (p-value<0.001, CR = 11.205). It is confirmed that retailers having better ability to responsively match customers' preferences will mostly have processes that add value and be more efficient in fulfilling the customers' requirements. It is also evident that many retailers believe that going forward, efficiency also encompasses reduced manual touch points and ability of the retailers to offer safety environment for purchasing. This is true in view of increased safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis who would need essential food supplies which are perishable in nature. This indeed highlights the retail operational adjustments businesses must have to be better prepared to face a crisis like COVID-19. The hypothesis H14: Competency in retail operations can influence customer experience offered by a retailer is rejected since the p-value: 0.501 and CR = 0.674. This can be because having competency alone is not sufficient as it may attract but may not offer a better customer experience. This is an important takeaway, where usually businesses focus on increasing the capabilities or complain about lack of capabilities without efficiently using the existing resources. Further, the indirect effect HM3: Retail efficiency mediates competency in retail operations to influence customer experience offered by a retailer is found to be significant with p-value: 0.007. There was evidence that retail efficiency plays a mediating role for retailers to use competency to achieve better customer experience. Besides the hypothesis HM2: Customer convenience partially mediates competency in retail operations to influence customer experience offered by a retailer was also found to be significant with p-value: 0.007. Thus, customer convenience positively influenced by retailers’ competency enables retailers to offer better customer experience. Indeed, since the direct effect was found to be insignificant while the indirect effect is significant, it can be inferred that the hypothesized mediation is a case of full mediation. The hypothesis H24: Efficiency in retail operations can influence customer experience offered by a retailer is not rejected (p-value<0.001 and CR = 3.329). It was observed that retailers by focusing on value added processes, managing shelves better, and offering safe retail environment; can offer better customer experience. It was also observed that the hypothesis HM1: Retail efficiency partially mediates competency in retail operations to influence customer convenience extended, also significant with p-value: 0.001. It was failed to reject that not only retail efficiency can directly influence customer experience offered but also mediated by customer convenience in offering better customer experience as discussed with regards to HM2. The direct effects customer convenience positively influencing customer convenience H23 (p-value<0.001 and CR = 4.95) and customer convenience positively influencing the customer experience H34 (p-value: 0.002 and CR = 3.091) were found to be significant. The proposition that retailers are efficient in practicing optimally assorting the shelved items possibly enable retailers to extend convenience is not rejected. Also, the proposition that convenience extended to the customers would eventually instill preferential perception, offer productive, and delighted purchasing experience could not be rejected. Authors believe that the afore discussed empirical evidence found would contribute towards the theory development and assist the retailer practitioners.

The meditation analysis has been conducted to ascertain the impact of meditation effects by determining the total effects, direct effects, and indirect effects. The bootstrapping method was used to validate the significance of effects due to mediation. The said bootstrapping method helps strengthening the validity of the results in the analysis, 5000 bootstrap samples were used at 95 % level of confidence for determining the bias corrected interval estimates. The results obtained are summarized in Table 7. It was found that there exists a partial mediation along the relationships RC-RE-CC and RE-CC-CE. The relationship RC-RE-CE has full mediation.Table 7 Mediation analysis using Bootstrapping technique.

Table 7Relationship	Direct Effect	Indirect Effect	Confidence Interval	P-value	Conclusion	
Lower Bound	Upper Bound	
RC-RE-CC	0.247	0.172	0.1	0.271	0.002	Partial Mediation	
RC-RE-CE	0.234	0.199	0.107	0.299	0.004	Full Mediation	
RE-CC-CE	0.294	0.078	0.02	0.172	0.004	Partial Mediation	

The study has identified and validated the constructs such as competence, efficiency, and convenience that influence the customers' experience from the perspective of retailers in India. The results are in line with the propositions of customer experience theory made by the earlier studies ([22,24]). The study has attempted to extend the implication of the same with respect to the retailers in India which is also be applicable to businesses in other countries more so for the developing economies like India. However, despite the study's focus on the Indian retail sector, its findings are broadly applicable due to the global nature of supply networks. The objectives of retailers' participation in supply chains are not demographically specific but rather remain relevant regardless of geographical location. Indeed, retail in-store operations are not limited to Indian retail contexts but may also be used to businesses operating across global supply chains.

5 Managerial implications

The supply chain players along supply chains rely heavily on retailers for their product flows to better reach to the end customers. Conventionally, retail stores have also been successfully attracting huge number of customers to physically visit and do their purchasing. Despite the diversification in the distribution channels, retailers are also playing a prominent role in the various omnichannel strategies. However, the retail stores must also be better prepared for accommodating the customers' preferences in times of crises like COVID-19. In this regard, retail operations can potentially enable the practitioners to offer better customer convenience and customer experience. The empirical evidence shows that retail operations have a significant say in offering better convenience and experience to customers. Retail operations certainly benefit retailers but designing them from customers' point of view also can be mutually beneficial for both retailers and customers. This is required because retailers can be better off and be better prepared in meeting the customers’ preferences even during times of crises like COVID-19. It is essential that retailers cultivate that culture of ensuring customer convenience and experience through retail operations.

The retailers will have to be competent, and in this regard, they better focus on the ability to offer a better service interface, set up a responsive retail layout, and leverage supply and demand. In times of crises, since the customers are usually anxious the retail operations must be run efficiently in such a way that the operations have reduced manual touch points and thereby offer a safe environment for purchasing. It was found that retailers by practicing optimal assortment of the items on the shelves can possibly enable retailers to extend better convenience. Also, convenience extended to the customers would eventually instill preferential perception, offer productive, and delighted purchasing experience. Besides managing shelves better, by focusing more on the value-added processes in the retail operations, retailers will be able to offer better customer experience.

5.1 Future research directions

This research offers several directions for future studies to explore and enrich customer convenience and experience in the context of better retail operations. Future research could explore the impact of more sophisticated technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning & blockchain in streamlining retail operations, managing inventory more effectively to design customer experiences at scale [77,78]. Studies could also investigate whether sustainable practices and green retailing initiatives help in enhancing customer convenience and experience, such as the influence of the use eco-friendly packaging, energy-efficient store operations, sustainable supply chain practices [[79], [80], [81]]. Future research may also explore the impact of omni-channel management on both the operational efficiency and customer experience of retail, covering aspects such as online and offline channeling integration, the service of mobile apps, or the service of click-and-collect [82,83]. Additionally, future research could include examining how to manage retail operations when pandemics or other crises occur, e.g., in terms of crisis management strategies, customer communication and changing consumer behavior during the crises [84,85]. Lastly, this study could be expanded to determine the efficiency and improved customer experience through employee training and development programs in retail operations [86,87], i.e., evaluation of training programs, employee engagement and the role of frontline staff in customer interaction. By exploring these future research directions, the scope of understanding retail operations efficiency and customer experience can be significantly expanded, providing valuable insights for both academics and practitioners.

6 Conclusions

The role of retailers in offering efficient and responsive flows of products along supply chains cannot be overstated. Without an exception, retailers have been growing rapidly thus becoming potential centers of attraction for many customers. Although many retail companies are competing to attract customers by offering competitive deals, the customers' purchasing experience is not being given due importance. Specifically, through in-store retail operations the possibility of improving customer convenience and experience has not been examined. In this regard, an empirical study was conducted tying in-store retail operations management with customer service. It is found that retailers having competency alone is not sufficient as it may attract customers but may not offer a better customer experience. Indeed, in practice, the understanding has been that by increasing capacity they will be able to offer better customer service. However, while there is a good likelihood, focusing just on competency does not guarantee retailers to offer better customer convenience and experience. Further, since demand is very uncertain while the capacity (in terms of shop floor space, billing sections, and staff) is a constraint, often the customers’ experience is compromised. This is an important issue that needs special attention during uncertain times of the COVID-19 crisis. Retailers will have to be assisted in overcoming their capacity issues without compromising efficiency and competitively enable in offering superior customer service. Future studies may take this into account and possibly analyze how retail operations approaches can offer better customer convenience and experience. This is indeed a limitation of the current study as it only empirically validates the role of retail operations competence and efficiency. Additionally, another perspective, customers will need to be better assisted with improved retail operations so that they can carry fewer products through the congestion in the retail outlets. Future research studies necessarily can explore and examine ways to improve responsive services and effective utilization of capacities, both of which are crucial during emergencies like COVID-19. Furthermore, future study can investigate how the impact of store competence and efficiency on customer convenience and experience varies during different stages of a crisis or under changing market conditions.

Ethics statement

This study does not involve any violation of human rights, adolescents, or animals that might compromise privacy or cause discomfort to participants. However, we did adopt various modes of communication for data collection, including direct visits, phone calls, and online surveys. These methods were conducted with careful consideration of ethical guidelines to ensure participant anonymity and confidentiality. Also, there were no known risks involved in the study. This study is based on preparing a questionnaire and collecting data from industry experts which does not require any ethical approval. However, we have ensured that no personal data have been collected from industrial experts.

Declaration of Consent

The authors confirms that all participants were over the age of 18.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available upon request.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Sunil Kumar C V: Writing – original draft, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Rohit Agrawal: Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Formal analysis.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:The corresponding author Rohit Agrawal is an Associate Editor in Information Science for Heliyon and was not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Appendix - A Latent Variable	No.	Observed Variable	
Retail Operations Competence (RC)	RC1	The retail atmosphere and service interface created can better enthuse and engage the customers.	
RC2	The products are optimally placed for better customers' read on merchandise & staff to replenish.	
RC3	Information infrastructure capacity to handle data support evident based decisions in the retail settings.	
RC4	The retail layout design is timely tailored to optimally meet the customers' requirements.	
RC5	Aggregating the standardized group of items can offer better variety & better match supply with demand.	
Retail Efficiency (RE)	RE1	Value focused retail operations leads to better inventory turnover ratio and makes the processes lean.	
RE2	Reduced queue lengths, waiting time, and increased floor space emancipates customers & employees.	
RE3	Shelf space is used responsively for offering better product availability and cycle service level.	
RE4	Retail operations carried out reduce manual touch points and comply with safety guidelines.	
RE5	Operational flows are standardized and continuously improved to offer better customer surplus.	
Customer Experience (CE)	CE1	Increased productive time to search, choose, & purchase standard and customized items satisfy customers.	
CE2	Customers appreciate availability of preferred branded products and personalized product offerings.	
CE3	Customers manifest delighted purchasing behavior with the social experience offered.	
CE4	Customer surplus offered attracts, appease, and instill to consider the retailer as preferred choice.	
CE5	Customers like to have reduced weighted distance travel & be encouraged to buy desired quantities.	
Customer Convenience (CC)	CC1	It is painless for customers to traverse through retail outlet and access desired product offerings.	
CC2	Customers are eased to compare the deals offered and spirited in making purchasing decisions.	
CC3	Customers are facilitated with standardized choices and have to carry relatively few numbers of items.	
CC4	Customers can be facilitated with technology and flexibility in availing the retail services offered.	
CC5	Helpful retail staff, display, & customer care for after sale are conducive for the customers to purchase.	
The questionnaire above was used to collect data along the statements mentioned below on 1–5 Likert scale. Where, 1: Strongly Agree 2: Agree 3: Neutral 4: Disagree 5: Strongly Disagree.
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