Visual merchandising has been over the years thought to be marketing tool in retail industries. The researchers embarked upon a study to find the impact of visual merchandising with reference to the retail sector. For this they have taken the reliance trends as a case and has done an in depth study using its sample customers to find the impact of their buying behavior. The research was of a descriptive in nature and helped to develop the concept to clearly establish priorities, to divulge adequate information which the researchers feel will help in decision making for the company. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information and to assess the impact of visual merchandising, on impulse buying behavior of customers. A random sampling technique was used in the study and care was taken that the respondents were as diversified as possible. A sample size of 100 respondents was taken from Cochin and Kottayam. To draw conclusions easily, the data was converted into XY (Scatter) diagrams. Research findings suggest that impulse buying accounts for substantial sales across a broad range of product categories in the stores. Since impulse buying is a pervasive aspect of consumers' behaviors and a focal point for strategic marketing plans, it is worthwhile for retailers to understand factors within the retail setting that trigger consumers' impulsive reactions. Retailers can help customers to find the right products through focused merchandising, intelligent store design and layout, and other visual merchandising practices, such as product displays, packaging, and signage. It is has also been found that all the four visual merchandizing factors affect the impulse buying behavior, but the effect of Promotional offerings at the entrance is comparatively very high. A greater importance should be given for visual merchandizing factors by retailers for differentiating itself from the competitors.

Purpose The emergence of tech-driven initiatives in retail banking has created a vast spectrum of system-related service failures; hence, e-service recovery quality is of prime importance to banks to ensure e-service recovery satisfaction. However, e-service satisfaction is dependent on the ease of moving from one service provider to the other; thus, switching costs assume great significance. This study aims to probe the moderating role of switching cost on e-service recovery satisfaction by exploring e-service recovery quality antecedents. Design/methodology/approach A measurement model is suggested in the contextual settings of the Indian banking scenario and is estimated using structural equation modeling. Responses from 399 e-banking customers, who had experienced a service failure, were sought using a five-point Likert scale. Findings The result affirms that “recovery expectation” is the most significant predictor of e-service recovery satisfaction, and that switching cost moderates the relation between e-service recovery quality and e-service recovery satisfaction. Practical implications The study highlights the high relevance of switching costs in the e-banking context and emphasizes investment in marketing strategies and campaigns to do away with switching intentions. It also highlights the relevance of recovery expectations as an antecedent of e-service recovery quality and thus stresses the need to satisfactorily address the same in the e-service recovery process. Originality/value This study contributes to the e-service recovery satisfaction literature in the banking context by empirically validating the moderating role of switching cost. It also identifies the critical antecedents of banking e-service recovery quality.

Background: The association of raised serum uric acid levels with various cardiovascular risk factors has often led to the debate of whether raised serum uric acid levels could be an independent risk factor in essential hypertension. Hence, the present study was conducted for assessing the serum uric acid levels in cases of essential hypertension and comparing them with normal healthy, non-hypertensive controls. Materials & Methods: Sixty patients visiting in the department of general medicine, MMIMSR with newly diagnosed cases of essential hypertension [according to the Indian guidelines on Hypertension(IGH) III-2013] , fullling the inclusion criteria and after verifying the exclusion criteria were nally taken up for the study. Sixty controls of age and sex matched were taken from the same catchment area. Results: The mean age of the subjects of the essential hypertension group and control group was found to be 45.75 years and 47.8 years respectively. Mean systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure among the subjects of the essential hypertension group was 161.3 and 102.3 mm of Hg. Mean systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure among the subjects of the control group was 116.8 and 77.4 mm of Hg. Mean serum uric acid levels among the subjects of the essential hypertension group and control group was found to be 6.45 mg/dL and 5.57 mg/dLrespectively. Signicant results were obtained while comparing the mean serum uric acid levels among the subjects of the essential hypertension group and the control group. Hyperuricemia was present in 38.33 percent of the patients (23 patients) of the essential hypertension group and 13.33 percent of the patients (8 patients) of the control group. Signicant results were obtained while comparing the prevalence of hyperuricemia in between the two study groups.Conclusion: An independent relationship of elevated serum uric acid levels with hypertension and indicates the signicance of maintaining normal serum uric acid concentration to prevent hypertension.

No abstract