Store attribute(s) preference of customers towards organised food and grocery retail outlets - a gap analysis

Organised food and grocery retail consumers in India in the recent days are more vocal on the quality of the products/services they buy from the market. For them, the physical environments of retail stores such as lighting, air-conditioning, store layout, parking facility, shelf display, aisle placement etc., contributes more towards the store's personality or image. The current study focuses on the consumer preference of store image attributes in organised food and grocery super markets in Coimbatore, a tier-II city in Tamil Nadu, India. The study aims to measure the existing gap between the expectation of customers and the perception of the retailers towards the retail store attributes in Coimbatore city, using 'independent samples t' test. The findings of the analysis sends sound signals from the customers to the organised food and grocery retailers, about the major store image attributes on which they have to concentrate to attract more customers to their organised food and grocery store.