International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research (IJMSSR) ISSN: 2319-4421 Volume 2, No. 1, January 2013 i-Xplore International Research Journal Consortium www.irjcjournals.org 56 AN ANALYSIS ON CUSTOMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS SERVICE QUALITY VARIABLES IN SELECTED ORGANIZED RETAIL OUTLETS Dr. Girish K Nair, Team Leader – International Hospitality Management Faculty, Stenden University, Qatar. Harish K Nair, Doctoral Research Scholar, Research and Development Centre, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. ABSTRACT This study on customer perception on Retailer Service Quality variables aims to identify the dimensions that organised retailers offers the customers. An analysis of the various retail service quality variables were done to understand the relationship between them. The study also tries exploring the factor that attracts the customers towards the organised retail sector in capital city of Kerala, (Trivandrum). As organized retailers are seen as offering similar products in the outlets, improving service quality is seen as critical to ensure customer loyalty. With the introduction of FDI in multi brand retailing, more international players are expected to enter the Indian market this intern will bring more competition in this retail sector. For benchmarking themselves with global standards the Indian retailers will have to improve their service quality. This study tries to find interrelationship between various Retail Service Quality dimensions, which will help the retailers to identify the steps needed to improve the overall quality of service. Keywords: Retail Service Quality, Service Quality Dimension, Organized Retail. 1. INTRODUCTION Retail industry the largest sectors in India and second largest employment provider after agriculture (Zameer, 2011); it plays a significant role in increasing the productivity across a wide range of goods and services. In India both organised and unorganised retail sector exists, majority of the share being under unorganised. Organized retailing has finally emerged from the shadows of unorganized retailing and is contributing significantly to the growth of Indian retail sector. 1.1 Retailing in India – Present The metros and the tire I cities continue to sustain retail growth, there is a shift from the great cities to lesser known ones, the spending power is no longer limited to metros, every Tire II cities in the country has good market for almost every product and service due to this tire II cities like Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmadabad, Baroda, Hyderabad, Cochin, Nagpur, Indore, Trivandrum etc. provide a good platform for a brand to enter Indian market. 1.2 Organized Retailing in India Organized retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers those who are registered for sales tax, Income tax and it includes the retail chains, corporate backed hyper market and directly owned large retail business, Organized retailing comprises of shopping malls, Multi-storey mall, and huge complexes that offers a large variety of products in terms of quantity and value of money. India is rated the fifth most attractive emerging retail market: a potential goldmine, estimated to be US$ 200 billion, of which organized retailing (i.e. modern trade) makes up 3 percent or US$ 6.4 billion. As per a report by KPMG the annual growth of department stores is estimated at 24%.Ranked second in a Global Retail Development Index of 30 developing countries drawn up by AT Kearney. 1.3 Growth and Contribution of Organized Retail in INDIA The growth of organized retail is expected to the extent of 637 billion in 2015, according to the survey of associated chamber of commerce. Organised retail industry was initially concentrated in metropolitan cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and they entered small towns to curb rural population. As the expansion of organized retail outlets was happening in smaller cities and towns, it became imperative to understand the perception of the customer about the retail service quality in such smaller towns in comparison with metros where organized retail outlet across the cities have already been accepted by the customers. As the Indian council for research and international Economic relations (ICRIER) retail sector is expected to contribute 22 percent of the India’s GDP.