Study of Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty W.R.T. the Service Quality Determinants of Organized Retail Apparel Stores in Ahmadabad | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

India has witnessed tremendous increase in the new retail formats in apparel stores sector, in the last decade. Big corporate houses have diversified themselves and have entered retail business in India with introduction of new retail formats such as department stores, discount stores, organized retail stores, and even the whole malls where majority of their product portfolio is apparels. Past research has shown that the retail format that has gained the interest of big corporate is the big shopping complexes, organized retail stores or the shopping malls. Various aspects of these organized retail storesshopping malls affect the perception of the customers related to the service quality of these stores. The service quality perceived or experienced by the customers is believed to directly affect their satisfaction and loyalty towards the store. It is assumed that more the satisfaction of the customer, higher is the probability of the customer becoming loyal to the store resulting in repeat patronage. This research was aimed to investigate the relationship between various determinants of service quality of the organized retail apparel store and the customer satisfaction loyalty. The respondents were selected from Ahmadabad city. Data was collected with the help of “Service Quality of Retail Stores” scale, developed by Dabholkar et. al (1996). The statements for constructs of customer satisfaction and loyalty were developed on the basis of the literature review. Structural Equation Modeling was employed to identify the relationship between the service quality dimensions of the store and the satisfaction and loyalty of the customers towards these stores in Ahmadabad city. This study will help the managers of organized retail apparel stores to understand the relationship between the determinants of service quality and the customers’ satisfaction and loyalty which will enable them in decision making related to improving the quality of the service in their stores with respect to various determinants of service quality.