EFFECT OF SERVICE QUALITY OF SUPERMARKETS ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND STORE LOYALTY

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of the SERVQUAL (service quality) model by examining its effect ofsupermarkets on customer satisfaction and store loyalty. Service quality is studied within a range of different dimensions. An effort is also made to find out which service quality dimensions may enhance customer satisfaction and store loyalty in a better way. Methodology & Design The method used for this research is quantitative while some of the respondents did not respond while some were unengaged in their response so the sample size for this study is 300 out of which 256 responded. Survey questionnaires were distributed among various customers in selected supermarkets. Descriptive statistics, Reliability analysis and path coefficients are used to analyze the data. Findings Findings indicate that three dimensions of service quality has significant and positive association with customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction mediates a significant relation between tangibles, assurance, responsiveness and store loyalty as the statistical result shows that, the Sig. P value is less than 0.05. Limitations The research is limited to the supermarket sector of Karachi. Although there are various super stores in other region of Pakistan, due to time and budget constraints the research is only been carried out into Sindh region. This research has explored few supermarkets of Karachi such as Imtiaz supermarket, Naheed supermarket, Chaseup, Hyperstar and Ami’s supermarket. In spite of this, other retail sectors may have been found that can influence the buying behavior of customers.