The document discusses measuring consumer experience in large format retail stores. It conducted a study of over 300 shoppers to identify the key pillars that drive store choice. The top 8 pillars identified were assortment of products, pricing competitiveness, pre- and post-purchase support, range of brands/models, ambience, locational convenience, promotions, and freedom to touch and feel products. The study developed a mathematical model to measure consumer experience based on weightings of these pillars. Understanding consumer experience can help retailers identify opportunities to enhance specific aspects and improve business.

1. Can we really measure/quantify “consumer
experience ” in a large format retail store ? Which of
the consumer experience attributes actually drive “
store choice “ decision of consumers.
We often talk of consumer experience in a modern large box retail format store
….what really is consumer experience ? and how do we measure the same ….How do
we take steps to enhance the experience and thus drive store preference and
business …
“Consumer Experience happens at all the touch points beginning from the moment a
person receives the first communication about the store till the time we deliver the
product as desired by the consumer and support him in being able to get the best
out of it in its useful lifetime.”
Based on extensive consumer research and consumer intimacy study being
conducted at Reliance Digital and competitive stores the following emerges as the
top eight pillars of consumer experience in a large format technology / electronics /
digital stores …
- assortment of products,
- pricing competitiveness,
- pre & post purchase support,
- range of brands / models,
- ambience,
- locational convenience,
- promotions &
- freedom of touch & feel
In order to enhance a shoppers experience, a retailer needs to focus on these
elements. This would more likely get the shopper to visit again as and when he
chooses to shop for any electronics / technology / digital products .
Hypothesis of the research :
Why would a customer shop at a particular store? What are the chances that he she
would visit again?
The answer simply put would be ‘better consumer experience’. But what is this
‘consumer experience’ and how does one enhance it? Where are the levers and
where are the pain points? Now this simple phrase is taking a complicated dimension
and that is what every Marketing head of any retail chain keeps working on. We
undertook a rather path breaking study to find a simplified solution on what factors
affect a consumer experience in a Digital retail outlet.
The methodology:

2. Extensive consumer / shopper behaviour study covering over 300 shoppers was
carried out over a period of 2 months:
QUALITATIVE SURVEY EXPERT GROUP QUANTITATIVE SURVEY
DISCUSSION
To find out and list down the To form a Hypothesis on the (i) To test the Hypothesis
Parameters defining Consumer Ranks of the Parameters of formed after the Expert Group
Purpose
Experience Consumer Experience Discussion
(ii) To assign Weightages to the
parameters
Consumer Base
Exit Interviews – 200 FGD Questionnaire
Home Interviews –30 Survey inside
the Store
230 10 100
Age: Age: Age:
Between 25 – 45 years Between 25 – 45 years Between 25 – 45 years
Gender: Gender: Gender:
Male: Female – 9:1 Male: Female – 8:2 Male: Female – 9:1
Consume
r Profile
Marital Status: Marital Status: Marital Status:
Married – 78:28 Married – 7:3 Married – 70:30
Occupation (%): Occupation (%): Occupation (%):
Service – 80 Service - 100 Service – 88
Business – 20 Business –12
The first step was to breakdown the ‘consumer experience’ and group them in
related heads. We came across more than 30 elements that constituted a shopper’s
experience.
Identified elements & clusters of Consumer Experience
Ambience
1 Store is Huge
2 Store is Spacious/ Not too Crowded
3 Store is Beautiful/ Good Décor/ Music
4 Store is Neat & Clean
5 Store is Bright & well lit
6 Store has Good Displays
7 Store is Well Organized (Products are at their proper logical place)
Pre Purchase Support
8 Staff is Courteous
9 Staff is Friendly
10 Staff is Helpful/ Co-operative
11 There is enough staff to attend/ Got immediate and proper attention by SA/ SA have knowledge
12 Processes are quick (Billing etc)
Post Purchase Support
13 Delivery was on time (as preferred by the customer)
14 Demonstration is on time and it was conducted properly
15 Installation was on time, without hassles and was done by experienced persons
16 Repair/ Servicing/ Replacement is done at the store itself

3. 17 Complaint Handling Practice is simple and efficient
18 Commitments are kept
19 Availability of product details
20 Freedom to Touch & Feel
21 Transparency/ Fairness
22 Competitive Prices
23 Promotions & Offers
24 EMI Facility
25 Choice of Brands/ Models
26 Assortment of Products
27 Locational Convenience
28 Good Parking Facility
Other Facilities
29 Restrooms are properly marked
30 Escalator/ Lift is provided
31 Facility is provided for old people to sit and relax
32 Games are provided to engage children while the parents shop
33 Old People are offered water
34 Online Order/ Phone Order can be placed
35 Proper Packaging is provided (not a carry bag)
The next step was to work with a ‘Focus group’ and arrive at a hypothesis for ranking
for each element. The composition of focus group members – Sec A , & having
shopped for a consumer durable product at least once in the past 6 months. This
was so chosen as to represent the target consumers for a typical Digital retail store.
The hypothesis was then tested through a quantitative survey and weightages were
given for the clusters based on the survey.
A simple mathematical model in the form of
Ax + By + Cz = Consumer experience
was then derived where A, B, C…. are the weightages for each cluster.
Why do customers shop at a particular store?
There were 8 key parameters (clusters) that affect a consumer’s experience:

4. Factors affecting consumer experience in a CDIT retail
store
18
16
14
12
10
%
8
6
4
2
0
Availability of
Competitive
Convenience
Touch & Feel
of Products
Choice of
Purchase
Ambience
Assortment
Promotions
Brands/
Freedom to
Support
Models
Locational
& Offers
Prices
product
Pre
details
First, today’s customer is ‘spoilt for choice’ in every space. So why will he not ask for
the widest and deepest range to choose from. Most shoppers attached significant
weightage to be able to choose from a wide assortment. The challenge for a retailer
would be to balance between making available a wide range while still ensuring that
obsolescence risks are addressed.
Secondly, they look for competitive price. By competitive, this should not be seen as
‘lowest’ or ‘cheapest’. The shopper is willing to pay more in the context of the ‘over
all’ experience being good – what was my experience when I enquired for more
product information or was I made to stand in a long queue or was the unit delivered
and installed as promised? Therefore competitive price is not just wrt to competition
outlets but also based on your own service levels; it is therefore that you see this
related point of ‘pre purchase’ support occupying the third slot in order of
importance. In the context of products that are ‘delivered and installed’ at site, one
can include the ‘post purchase support’ to this.
And so on….
How could this model be used?
1. Firstly, one can evaluate a score for consumer experience by obtaining a
rating from a base of shoppers on say a 10 point scale for each of these
parameters.
2. Take the weighted average score for each and that would represent ‘x’, ‘y’ or
‘z’ in the formula.
3. Now look at the opportunities in the cluster elements where the experience
can be enhanced at a relatively lower cost.
4. Deploy the change and measure its effectiveness.

5. This is fairly pathbreaking research work for LARGE BOX TECHNOLOGY RETAIL format
stores in India …and some of these findings / learnings are applicable across
category and other large box format stores ….
Author : Peshwa Acharya
Marketing – Chief
VP – Marketing & Consumer Experience
Reliance Retail Ltd
And Ganesh Balaraman
AVP – Marketing
Reliance Digital