Retailer Satisfaction Research Articles

Urban versus suburban consumers: a contrast in holiday shopping purchase intentions and outshopping behavior

Urban versus suburban shopping environments present unique opportunities and challenges for retailers. Retailers in both urban and suburban locations attempt to both attract outshoppers and retain their hold on shoppers in their immediate trade areas. To this end, it is incumbent on retailers to understand the dynamics underlying consumers’ decisions to shop in urban versus suburban retailing settings. This is especially important for consumer shopping behavior during the December holiday selling season which accounts for a disproportionate share of many retailers’ yearly revenues and profits. Reports on a three‐year study conducted in a major metropolitan area which addresses shopping behaviour, intentions, retail satisfaction and its antecedents between urban resident shoppers and suburban resident shoppers. Implications are presented for retailers who have chosen to emphasize strategically urban or suburban locations as well as for those retailers who have branch stores in both geographic locations.

Power, Conflict and Satisfaction: Perceptions of Shopping Center Based Small Retailers

With shopping centers capturing an increasing share of the consumer dollar, many small retailers have located in these complexes. In so doing, they agree to operate within a elaborate set of regulations which prescribe many merchandising practices and which are enforced by the shopping center manager. This paper deals with the satisfaction of small retailers with these arrangements and the extent of conflict they experience with the center manager. Several variables are examined to determine their ability to predict these conflict and satisfaction levels.

Consumer retail satisfaction in rural areas: A reanalysis of survey data

Due to the decline of the number of small neighborhood stores, especially in rural areas, it is hypothesized that the quality of retail supply in these areas is attenuated. A causal modelling approach is applied to secondary data measuring retail supply in rural and urban areas. An explicit test of validity proposes a four-dimensional measurement model of retail satisfaction. Competing hypotheses are tested in a complex causal model to reveal the causes of retail satisfaction, measured by four dimensions. The analysis identifies accessibility and diversity of retailers as important dimensions of retail satisfaction, which are affected by situational variables of the household. The location of the household is shown to be a strong factor for (dis)satisfaction.