Customer perceptions of product assortment leading to store patronage: a study of small retailers

Abstract

The review of the literature reveals the role of product variety, product availability, price perceptions, assortment organisation and product quality constructs in terms of customer perceptions but such results lead to questioning the nature of the conceptual structure that would include these constructs as well as their interrelationships in a structural model. Moreover, the earlier studies are typically focused on organised stores. From this perspective, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of these constructs in evolving customer perceptions towards the store using data collected from 230 customers who visited small retailers in rural areas. The results reflect the importance of these identified variables towards the customer perceptions. Also the relationship between customer store perceptions and store patronage has been derived.