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The purpose of this paper is to investigate which dimension of salespersons' service quality is of most importance for customer loyalty in a fashion chain stores setting. It also aims to assess the effects of two retail environmental factors (price level and customers' demographic variables) on the customer loyalty of salespersons service quality.

The study uses the SERVQUAL service quality instrument with modification in measuring the salespersons' service quality in the Hong Kong fashion retail environment. In order to measure customer loyalty in fashion chain stores, multi‐item measures were used to collect data on repatronage intentions, word‐of‐mouth intentions, and satisfaction. A total of 232 surveys were administrated to shoppers who were leaving a fashion chain store in Hong Kong.

The results showed that the empathy dimension of salesperson service quality is the most important for customer loyalty in Hong Kong's fashion chain stores but the empathy dimension of salespersons' service quality in fashion retail stores could not be affected by these two retail environmental factors. Furthermore, the salespersons' service quality in the reliability dimension is significantly impacted by the customers' demographic characteristics, but not by price level set by fashion chain stores.

The study was carried out in four popular retail districts of Hong Kong and the results obtained may not be generalized to the country as a whole. The findings that are relevant in a fashion retail setting may not applicable in other retail environments.

The findings can direct fashion retailers to improve the specific service dimensions and work to provide customers with more value through services which will consequently improve internal and external standards of quality and performances in fashion retail settings, thus bringing about repeat customers and increased profitability.

This study aims to ascertain the significance of retail service quality dimensions on shopping frequency at supermarkets in Durban. This study also adopts the Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) to South African supermarket consumers.

Primary data were collected from 399 consumers through mall intercepts using an adapted RSQS. Non-probability convenience sampling was utilised in selecting participants from different malls in Durban. To analyse data the SPSS software was utilised with multiple regression analysis to confirm relationships between variables of the study.

Results indicate a significant linear relationship between retail service quality and shopping frequency. Two of the three dimensions of retail service quality (atmospherics and reliability) have a positive and significant influence on the shopping frequency of consumers whereas one dimension (policy) showed no significant influence on the dependent variable.

Further studies are recommended in ascertaining the reasons behind an insignificant relationship between policy items of service quality and the shopping frequency of consumers.

This study highlights the managerial implications of retail service quality on improved shopping frequency of consumers.

This study suggests a lesser emphasis on policy items specifically personal interaction amongst Durban consumers on their shopping frequency. This might be due to cultural differences as well as the importance of self-service and privacy in supermarkets. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the role of context in providing deviations in retail service quality measurement and conceptualisation.

The objective of this study is to examine the drivers of retail apps satisfaction and continuance intention. An integrative theoretical framework was developed based on the IS success model, E-S-QUAL and expectancy and disconfirmation model to explain retail apps users’ satisfaction and continuance intention.

A total of 359 useable data were collected from the targeted Malaysian respondents who had experience in using retail apps services. Data were analysed using the partial least squares technique.

The results indicate that system quality and e-service quality positively influence retail apps usage satisfaction and have positive direct and indirect effects through satisfaction on continuance intention. The price level has a negative effect on retail apps usage satisfaction. Even though price level has no direct effect on continuance intention to use retail apps, it has an indirect effect on continuance intention through satisfaction.

Although the success of a marketing channel mainly depends on its continuance usage rather than first-time usage, few studies have paid attention to retail apps services. This study contributes to the advancement of knowledge on retail apps by explaining the roles of system quality, e-service quality and price level on retail apps satisfaction and continuance intention. Interestingly, the findings of multi-group analysis imply that female Gen Y app users are more satisfied than males while such differences do not impact their continuance intention to use the retail apps. The findings also suggested that frequency of using apps has no relevance to retail apps user satisfaction, but highly relevant to their continuance intention to use retail Apps services.

The objective of the research is to understand Indian consumers' definition of retail service quality with respect to small retailers and influence of hedonic and utilitarian shopping values in determining their expectations towards small retail service quality.

Data were collected through a small retail store‐intercept technique in four cities of Northern India (n=386).

The results indicate that small retail service quality for Indian consumers comprises ambience, layout, and service/relationships dimensions. Hedonic and utilitarian shopping values influence consumers' service quality evaluations.

The study did not consider demographic variables like income, education, and occupation as factors that might affect consumers' perceptions towards retail service quality.

The findings can help small retailers in improving their service quality by focusing on Indian consumers' hedonic and utilitarian shopping values. The research helps small retailers to combat the competitive pressures of organized retailing in the Indian retail landscape.

There has been limited research on understanding consumers' perceptions towards retail service quality in the Indian setting. Further, there is no research to examine Indian consumers' perceptions towards small retailers' quality attributes.

The purpose of the study is to establish the mediating role of Perceived Service Quality on the relationship between Retail Atmospherics and Retail Store Patronage of Supermarkets in Emerging Economies using empirical evidence from Uganda.

The study used a cross-sectional research design and quantitative approach to understand stand the structured reality of Retail Store Patronage of supermarkets in context of emerging economies. In the context of this study, the data were drawn from Uganda's supermarkets. A sample of 1,504 customers were selected from 136,270 customers. Data was collected from supermarket customers using closed ended questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were derived to describe the behavior of customers and draw conclusions on population using sample statistics. Correlation analysis was used to establish the degree of association between the variables. Hierarchical regression was applied to assess the unique contribution of each variable; control variables-income and age, predictor variables – Retail Atmospherics and Perceived Service Quality on dependent variable – Retail Store Patronage. Mediation was done following the four-step procedures of mediation of Baron and Kenny (1986).

The results revealed significant positive relationship between Retail Atmospherics, Perceived Service Quality and Retail Store Patronage, confirming the direct hypotheses. Perceived Service Quality partially mediated the relationship between Retail Atmospherics and Retail Store Patronage. The findings depict that Retail Store Patronage is influenced directly by Retail Atmospherics and indirectly through Perceived Service Quality as a mediating variable. However, in situations where the atmospherics is good but perceived service quality is poor, Retail Store Patronage may not be fully realized.

The study provides information that is relevant for filling the practical and theoretical gap in the Retail Store Patronage in Ugandan supermarkets. Previous research studies investigated patronage behavior of shoppers in single retail units yet there is paucity of research on patronage behavior across different retail formats in the world. This study can be generalized and have strategic implications to developing economies that seek to grow and sustain their businesses. It points to the gaps that are normally overlooked and could lead business failure. The focus of most previous studies were on developed economies more especially Europe and America. This study in particular focused on the role of perceived service quality in the relationship between retail atmospherics and customer retail store patronage in emerging economies like Uganda as a testing ground.

The purpose of this study is to validate the Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) developed by Dabholkar et al. in the Malaysian business setting, specifically in the context of apparel specialty stores.

Two well‐known retail clothing store chains were selected for this study. Purposive sampling method was used, with a total of 211 responses collected from customers of all X and Y's chain stores in the northern region of Malaysia.

The paper finds that all the five dimensions: physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction, problem solving, and policy, are highly suited for measuring retail service quality in clothing stores, also proving that the instrument is applicable in the Malaysian setting. Retail service quality is furthermore associated with future consumption behaviour in terms of the customers' intention to visit, purchase and recommend the stores to others.

The instrument is proven to be valid, reliable and appropriate for studying retail businesses that offer a mix of services and merchandise. The instrument is also applicable in another culture other than the USA, namely Malaysia.

Retailers can utilize the instrument for benchmarking current levels of retail service quality, carrying out periodic inspections to measure service performance and improvement, as well as to detect problematic areas of service quality within the stores that are in need of attention.

This research contributes to the somewhat limited studies carried out on instrument validation in Malaysia. Furthermore, the RSQS is tested in Malaysia – a country with a vibrant, dynamic retail environment and heightened consumer awareness for fashion and retail.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of differences in service quality assessments across distinct retail store formats. We address customers’ quality assessments for physical aspects, personal interactions, reliability and policies dimensions in hypermarkets and supermarkets to analyse the impacts for satisfaction and loyalty.

The study builds on previous scales for service retail quality to develop a survey addressing customers of hypermarkets and supermarkets in Portugal. Data analysis addressed 248 complete questionnaires and involved statistical testing to explore differences in service quality expectations across retail store formats. The regression analysis was used to estimate impacts of each service quality dimension for customer satisfaction and loyalty intentions.

The results support the existence of differences in customers’ service quality assessments across retail store formats, notably for the expectations about different quality dimensions. Differences were also observed on the impacts for customer satisfaction and loyalty, in particular for the dimensions of reliability and personal interaction.

The results suggest that managerial decisions regarding service in stores should be adjusted to the characteristics of each retail format. The generalizability of the results should be assessed by means of further investigation in other retail contexts.

Retail customers patronize multiple types of retail stores that compete on diverse service attributes. Building on existing service measurement scales, this paper provides a contribution to understand customer’s quality assessments across distinct store types to inform retail quality and service differentiation strategies.

With the growing importance of service quality in Indian retail, it becomes critical for the retailers to identify the appropriate dimensions for their retail stores. In the process of evaluating service quality the decision maker is often faced with ambiguities due to the imprecise information gained from the respondents. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated fuzzy (fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) approach to help the decision makers/retailers in practicing and judging the priorities of service quality strategies and accordingly benchmarking retail stores in Indian retail environment.

The study incorporated the five basic dimensions of Retail Service Quality Scale proposed by Dabholkar et al. (1996) and the FAHP approach to three leading apparel retail stores of a major city (Rourkela) of Orissa (an Indian state located in eastern part of the country) to determine the weights of criteria and sub-criteria of retail service quality.

The study identified that the dimensions, namely, personal interaction, physical aspects, reliability and policy are perceived as important by the Indian consumers. Merchandise and the store’s willingness to handle returns and exchanges emerge as the most influencing variable affecting the overall service quality of the store.

The study was restricted to a major city of Orissa and to three apparel stores. The results obtained may not be extrapolated to the country as a whole. The authors believe that the integrated approach of FAHP could be used by a variety of service industries to evaluate the service quality. The study did not investigate switching behavior among the respondents as they had been visiting all the three apparel stores during the preceding months.

The integrated approach of FAHP makes an empirical contribution to the service quality and retail marketing literature by overcoming the uncertainty of concepts those are associated with human beings’ subjective judgments.

The retailer can improve the quality of service provided by them based on the parameters important in Indian context, which will lead to higher customer satisfaction.

This paper can help the retail service providers to identify which of the retail service quality dimensions requires much attention to create sustainable competitive advantage.

Service quality is a perceptual construct that is likely to differ across industries, customer segments and markets. The purpose of this paper is to explore the construct of retail service quality in the Indian context, and identifies quality components as a precursor to developing a quality measure.

Initially, the construct comprehension was done using exploratory research involving customer depth probes and juxtaposing it with the available literature. After defining the broad contours of retail service quality and surface considerations, the study attempted to discover retail service quality dimensions by factor analyzing the collected data.

It was found that retail service quality construct is composed of seven critical dimensions – ambience and layout, salespeople, merchandise, convenience, services, prices and customer care.

The specific quality component structure found in this study highlights the need for managers to prioritise their retail operation and marketing efforts in sync with the uncovered quality dimensions.

This paper explored the quality phenomenon in the Indian retail context using a bottom-up approach. This paper provides the much-needed insights to firms that are entering the Indian market on what the quality means and the components it is made up of.

This research aims to examine the applicability of the Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) in retail stores in Kazakhstan, a country of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that is in the transition stage from a controlled economy to a market economy. This research also attempts to identify the dimensions and sub‐dimensions that contribute to increasing the customer base.

A sample of 220 shoppers from department stores, discount stores, and supermarkets in Almaty city, Kazakhstan, was surveyed to examine the validity and reliability of the five dimensions (physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction, problem solving, and policy) and six sub‐dimensions (appearance, convenience, promises, doing‐it‐right, inspiring confidence and courteousness/helpfulness) of RSQS. The findings are cross‐validated hierarchically using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Step‐wise regression methods are used to identify the dimensions and sub‐dimensions contributing to increasing the customer base.

The research finds that the RSQS structure is a good fit in the Kazakhstan retail setting. The five dimensions and six sub‐dimensions together provide significant usefulness in measuring the quality of retail services. The research also finds that while all the dimensions and sub‐dimensions have a positive relationship, two dimensions (personal interaction, physical aspects) and one sub‐dimension (inspiring confidence) are strongly related to increasing the customer base through return customers and word of mouth from satisfied customers.

The present study does not distinguish applicability of the RSQS in the different formats of the retail store. Future research should examine the impact of the different retail formats in using the scale for measuring retail service quality.

Prospective and existing retail service providers who place a high priority on quality can use this instrument to track the high growth potential of the retail sector in CIS countries. It will help to measure their services and increase their customer base by targeting the appropriate dimensions and sub‐dimensions.

The authors believe that this research reveals new insights about the retail sector in the context of CIS countries. This research also has managerial and research implications for designing and formulating operations strategy in providing retail services for new markets.