Assessing customer satisfaction and loyalty in the retail sector

What is it about?

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty in the specific context of the retail sector. For this purpose, a survey based on the European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) model was applied to a retail store in Portugal.

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Why is it important?

The results confirm a positive influence of satisfaction on customers’ loyalty to the retail store. The study also shows the importance of the image construct, due to its strong direct effects on satisfaction, which makes it essential for influencing the loyalty index, both directly and indirectly. The impact of the image construct is also evident on the expectations, as the latter has shown a considerable direct effect on perceived quality. The study is useful for the specific retail store where it was undertaken to help it devise better customer service, in order to increase satisfaction and loyalty. It is also useful for the entire network of stores for that retailer and other retail chains.