Exploring the UK high street retail experience: is the service encounter still valued?

Purpose: The relationship between service quality, the service encounter and the retail experience is explored within a changing UK retail environment. Design: Data was gathered from forty customers and twenty staff of an established UK health and beauty retailer with a long standing reputation for personal customer service. A qualitative analysis was applied using both a service quality and a customer value template. Findings: Customers focused more on the utilitarian features of the service experience and less on ‘extraordinary’ aspects, but service staff still perceived that the customer encounter remained a key requisite for successful service delivery. Research implications: Recent environmental developments - involving customers, markets and retail platform structures - are challenging traditional service expectations. Practical Implications: Retailers may need to reassess the role of the service encounter as part of their on-going value proposition. Originality/value: There has been limited research to date on the perception of shoppers to the service encounter in a changing retail environment and to the evolving notions of effort and convenience

Determinants of Shopping Behavior of Urban Consumers

This study explores the influence of geo-demographic settings of commercial centers, customer attractions in shopping malls, and route to shopping of urban shoppers. The present research analyzes retailing patterns in urban areas in reference to customer orientation strategies, product search behavior and enhancing the customer value. Interrelationship among urban retailing, marketplace ambiance, conventional shopping wisdom of customers, long-term customer services, and technology led selling processes are also addressed in the study based on empirical survey. Broadly, this study makes contributions to the existing research in urban retailing towards factors determining shopping attractions, routes to shopping, and establishing the customer-centric strategies of the firms.Shopping mall, multi-channel retailing, consumer behavior, customer-centric strategy, market attractiveness, customer satisfaction

Street Markets Influencing Consumer Behavior in Urban Habitat

This study explores the influence of street markets in urban geo-demographic settings and analyzes vending patterns with ethnic values enhancing the consumer satisfaction. Interrelationship among urban dwellers, marketplace ambiance, and conventional shopping wisdom of customers and interactive customer relations are also addressed in the study based on empirical survey. Research on street markets is very limited though some studies are available on street vendors with focus on spatial planning, political interventions, and legal rights. This study on street markets contributes significantly to the existing literature in reference to shopping behavior and perceptional values of urban consumers..Street markets, consumer behavior, ethnic markets, sales differentiation, market attractiveness, consumer satisfaction

Measuring consumer perceptions of online shopping convenience

The aim of this master thesis is to identify which dimensions of convenience affect consumers’ intention of using online shopping. Also it explores a conceptual model to measuring consumer perceptions of online shopping convenience. This paper contains prospects about online consumer behavior, and the results have important implications for retailers, managers and marketers, related to online shopping strategies. An empirical investigation was carried out to test the hypotheses. In order to answer the research question, data collection was done through a web-based survey with a convenient sample as a means to collect customers’ feedback, opinion, feelings, attitudes, and perceptions about their last online shopping experience. The findings were further discussed in the light of existing literature. The sample includes 250 young Portuguese anonymous participants. It was used a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in the scale validation for the analysis and measurement of specific constructs and a Structural Equation Model (SEM) in order to test the relationships of the model. The results reveal that the model proposed Possession, Transaction and Evaluation are the dimensions with more influence in online shopping convenience. The outcomes of this study help to understand which dimensions of online convenience prevent or encourage the use intention of online shopping. The results not only help develop a better understanding of online shopping theories for researchers, but they also offer viable knowledge to those involved in promoting online shopping to potential purchasers

Framing Influence on Fairness Perceptions of Differential Prices

The objective of the research presented in this paper is to examine the effect of two types of framing (attribute and goal) on distributive and procedural price fairness perceptions and on some other variables of consumer behavior. For this purpose, two 2x2 marketing experiments were conducted. The first study evaluated the influence of price framing and seller’s motive on price fairness, price policy fairness, and value perceptions, as well as shopping intentions. The second study assessed the influence of price framing and seller’s motive framing on the same variables as in the first study. An important finding of this paper was that price framing has a direct influence on price fairness perceptions and seller’s motive has a direct influence on policy fairness perceptions. The implications of these results for the firms concern the communication of their pricing messages.distributive fairness, procedural fairness, attribute framing, goal framing, dual entitlement

Sale the seven Cs: Teaching/training aid for the (e-)retail mix

The ‘4Ps’ of the marketing mix have long been popular with students, tutors, trainers and practitioners as a learning and teaching aid. The purpose of this paper is to present an equivalent tool for retail and e-retail: ‘Sale the 7Cs’. The approach is by reference to other authors’ versions of the marketing, retail and e-retail mixes, distilled into a simplified framework: C1 Convenience; C2 Customer value and benefit; C3 Cost to the customer; C4 Computing and category management; C5 Customer franchise; C6 Customer care and service; C7 Communication and customer relationships. This simplified mnemonic is new for (e-)retail. Mini case examples are used to illustrate the applicability. These have a practical value for trainers and educators as specimen answers to activity exercises. Retailers may find the convenient 7Cs structure useful when planning strategies and tactics

The impact of product, service and in-store environment perceptions on customer satisfaction and behaviour

Much previous research concerning the effects of the in-store experience on customers’ decision-making has been laboratory-based. There is a need for empirical research in a real store context to determine the impact of product, service and in-store environment perceptions on customer satisfaction and behaviour. This study is based on a literature review (Project 1) and a large scale empirical study (Projects 2/3) combining two sources of secondary data from the largest retailer in the UK, Tesco, and their loyalty ‘Clubcard’ provider, Dunnhumby. Data includes customer responses to an online self-completion survey of the customers’ shopping experience combined with customer demographic and behavioural data from a loyalty card programme for the same individual. The total sample comprised n=30,696 Tesco shoppers. The online survey measured aspects of the in-store experience. These items were subjected to factor analysis to identify the influences on the in-store experience with four factors emerging: assortment, retail atmosphere, personalised customer service and checkout customer service. These factors were then matched for each individual with behavioural and demographic data collected via the Tesco Clubcard loyalty program. Regression and sensitivity analyses were then conducted to determine the relative impact of the in-store customer experience dimensions on customer behaviour. Findings include that perceptions of customer service have a strong positive impact on customers’ overall shopping satisfaction and spending behaviour. Perceptions of the in-store environment and product quality/ availability positively influence customer satisfaction but negatively influence the amount of money spent during their shopping trip. Furthermore, personalised customer service has a strong positive impact on spend and overall shopping satisfaction, which also positively influences the number of store visits the week after. However, an increase in shopping satisfaction coming from positive perceptions of the in-store environment and product quality/ availability factors helps to reduce their negative impact on spend week after. A key contribution of this study is to suggest a priority order for investment; retailers should prioritise personalised customer service and checkout customer service, followed by the in-store environment together with product quality and availability. These findings are very important in the context of the many initiatives the majority of retail operators undertake. Many retailers focus on cost-optimisation plans like implementing self-service check outs or easy to operate and clinical in-store environment. This research clearly and solidly shows which approach should be followed and what really matters for customers. That is why the findings are important for both retailers and academics, contributing to and expanding knowledge and practice on the impact of the in-store environment on the customer experience

Growing Shopping Malls and Behavior of Urban Shoppers

Shopping malls contribute to business more significantly than traditional markets which were viewed as simple convergence of supply and demand. Shopping malls attract buyers and sellers, and induce customers providing enough time to make choices as well as a recreational means of shopping. However, competition between malls, congestion of markets and traditional shopping centers has led mall developers and management to consider alternative methods to build excitement with customers. This study examines the impact of growing congestion of shopping mall in urban areas on shopping conveniences and shopping behavior. Based on the survey of urban shoppers, the study analyzes the cognitive attributes of the shoppers towards attractiveness of shopping malls and intensity of shopping. The results of the study reveal that ambiance of shopping malls, assortment of stores, sales promotions and comparative economic gains in the mall attract higher customer traffic to the malls.Shopping malls, traditional markets, sales promotion, market ambiance, leisure shopping, recreational services, retailing, market congestion, customer value, consumer behavior

Consumer Culture and Purchase Intentions towards Fashion Apparel

This study examines the effectiveness of different fashion marketing strategies and analyzes of the consumer behavior in a cross-section of demographic settings in reference to fashion apparel retailing. This paper also discusses the marketing competencies of fashion apparel brands and retailers in reference to brand image, promotions, and externalmarket knowledge. The study examines the determinants of consumer behavior and their impact on purchase intentions towards fashion apparel. The results reveal that sociocultural and personality related factors induce the purchase intentions among consumers. One of the contributions that this research extends is the debate about the converging economic, cognitive and brand related factors to induce purchase intentions. Fashion loving consumers typically patronage multi-channel retail outlets, designer brands, and invest time and cost towards an advantageous product search. The results of the study show a positive effect of store and brand preferences on developing purchase intentions for fashion apparel among consumers.Consumer behavior, purchase intention, socio-cultural values, designer brands, store brands, fashion apparel, brand promotion, personalization, fashion retailing, psychographic drivers