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The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty and the mediating role of customer satisfaction in the supermarket sector.

In total, 480 supermarket customers participated in an intercept survey in four urban centres of Fiji. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the level of service quality provided by supermarkets, and inferential statistics to determine the gap between customer's service quality expectations and perceptions and to test the research hypotheses.

The findings indicate service quality of supermarkets is perceived as being unsatisfactory, service quality significantly affects customer satisfaction and loyalty and customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty reducing customer's perceptions of service quality, leading to lower customer loyalty.

This study provides an indication as to where supermarkets should target their marketing attention and scarce corporate resources and may help in their efforts to service, satisfy, retain and attract more long-term loyal customers in the increasingly competitive supermarket sector. This research could inform government policy makers in sequencing the supermarket sector transformation and assist local supermarkets to adapt to this changing retail landscape.

This study advances our understanding of the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty and the mediating role of customer satisfaction in the supermarket sector.

As the household budget tightens in uncertain economic times, many grocery shoppers are constantly looking for the best deal in town. To attract and retain these savvy shoppers, a supermarket should understand what they value most and how they comparison‐shop. With this in mind, this paper aims to develop a set of benchmarks that helps supermarkets monitor their service delivery process, identify relative weaknesses, and take corrective actions for continuous service improvements.

This paper proposes analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and competitive gap analyses to measure the service performances of supermarket franchises in the Southeastern USA. It also uses exploratory factor analyses to identify salient factors influencing the service performances of supermarkets.

This study found that a service attribute considered most important to the supermarket customers' impression of service quality was product quality. It was followed by cleanliness of the store, competitive price, product variety and fast checkouts. This study discovered a direct correlation between the relative service performance of the supermarket and its “word‐of‐mouth” reputation. Supermarket customers tended to favor large‐scale, national supermarket franchises such as Meijer, Kroger, and Wal‐Mart than small‐scale, regional counterparts such as Pic‐Pac, Aldi, and Save‐A‐Lot in terms of overall service quality.

The sample of the current study was primarily represented by customers in the Southeastern USA. Thus, the sample used in this study may not reflect the opinions of the general public in the USA.

This paper provides practical guidelines as to how supermarkets can cope with increasing competition and changing customer needs by measuring their service performances relative to their leading competitors and improving their service performances continuously.

This paper identifies service attributes that shape the customer perception of supermarket service quality and uncovers the areas of weaknesses in the supermarket franchises' service offerings. In addition, it helps supermarkets formulate the future survival and growth strategies by providing the detailed picture of where they stand in terms of competitiveness. This paper is the first attempt to utilize AHP to develop performance benchmarks for supermarkets in the increasingly competitive grocery industry. The proposed AHP can be easily modified or extended to similar service settings in other regions of the USA and other countries in Europe and Asia.

Enhancing retailing service quality (RSQ) serves as a basic strategy for gaining competitive advantage in the retailing industry and enables retailers to make a loyal customer base. The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically investigate a comprehensive mechanism for enhancing customer loyalty to retail stores via service quality practices. This study suggests information on retailers can be the antecedent of the RSQ and its dimensions, thereby proposing a comprehensive mechanism for enhancing customer loyalty to retailers.

The data were collected using questionnaire surveys from 2,375 customers of three main supermarkets in Sri Lanka. After testing the measurement model, two structural models were run to test hypotheses.

The findings showed that the RSQ positively influenced customer loyalty. From all the RSQ dimensions, the store’s physical aspects, personal interaction and policy had a significant influence on customer loyalty. The findings also demonstrated that information on retailers contributes to enhancing a customer’s favorable evaluation of the supermarket’s physical aspects, personal interaction and retailing policy.

This study was conducted with supermarket customers in one country using the cross-sectional data. Hence, the model should be replicated among retail customers in other countries with the longitudinal data.

Practically, this study recommends to retailers which dimensions of service quality they need to focus to enhance customer loyalty to their business. The study furthermore recommends certain dimensions that need to be emphasized while retailers design their promotional and communication programs.

Information on retailers has been suggested as an antecedent for enhancing supermarkets’ service quality practices. Thus, this study proposes a comprehensive mechanism for enhancing customer loyalty to retailers via service quality practices.

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 focus on a database from a supermarket for market segmentation.

Rather than using the questionnaire to collect the customers' purchase behaviors, this study uses a database from a supermarket as an example to illustrate how market segmentation can be performed by adding useful variables particularly from behavioral variables and through Chi-square test and analysis of variance.

The illustration of the database from a branch supermarket shows that two demographic variables (gender and age group) and two behavioral variables (date of transactions and time of purchase) are critical variables for market segmentation when total money spent and purchased merchandize items are taken into consideration.

This case study can be a reference for supermarket practitioners to follow in order to increase profit and to provide better services for their customers.

No studies have been found to combine demographic variables, behavioral variables, merchandize items and total amount for market segmentation simultaneously. Different combinations of demographic variables, behavioral variables and merchandize items can be further used to perform market segmentation more effectively. This framework used in this case study can be further applied in similar industries including retail industries for market segmentation as well as to fulfill customer needs in practice.

There is a stream of literature which implies that for supermarkets, as organisations that operate with low staff‐customer interaction, within a price competitive environment and are dependent on high economies of scale, the return on investment in a relationship marketing (RM) approach does not justify the expense. The purpose of this paper is to explore how supermarkets select and implement RM strategies and seek value from that investment.

In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with senior marketing managers in German and UK supermarkets. The interview themes were drawn from the RM literature. Loyalty frameworks provided guidelines for the data analysis.

The results suggest that definitions of RM have historically been too narrow due to research having been focussed on the sectors with a high‐service element and undertaken at a time when customer data collection and analysis were more expensive than currently. In addition to those already identified in the literature, further factors into which retailers could invest to build an RM strategy are suggested.

The marketing perspective of only seven supermarkets was examined. Future researchers should undertake a more exhaustive approach in order to fully establish how the management of RM in one sector differs from that in another.

A “retail RM mix” framework was developed and guidelines for the cost‐effective management of RM are provided.

This is the first study to examine supermarkets' perspectives on RM approaches, by seeking responses from the retailers rather than the customers.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the difference between service quality dimensions of supermarkets and discount stores.

The paper focuses on service quality dimensions of customers in supermarkets and discount stores. The study has selected one store from each retailer type located in Eskisehir, Turkey and used the scale of the service quality of retail stores. The research has employed a face‐to‐face questionnaire for collecting data from customers on different days and at different hours of the week. A total of 891 questionnaires, 682 for supermarkets and 209 for discount stores, have been analysed.

Results indicate that the customers of the supermarket and the discount store differ in their perception of some service quality dimensions. While the supermarket customers perceive physical aspects and store policy dimensions at a higher level, the discount store's customers give more priority to interaction with personnel dimension.

Further qualitative studies can provide deeper insights about service quality dimensions of supermarkets and discount stores. The results are also a starting point for further academic research about the different retailer types.

The paper contributes to the understanding of behaviours and attitudes of supermarket and discount store customers. Retailers in Turkey will primarily benefit from the study.

The paper compares the customer perception of service quality dimensions of two different types of grocery retailers; a supermarket and a discount store.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the impact of customer perceived value and its dimensions on customer satisfaction in a developing country, and practical suggestions for marketing strategies.

A cross-sectional survey collected data from five-hundred supermarket customers in Fiji. SPSS was used to provide descriptive and inferential analysis.

Results reveal that customer perceived value (CPV) has a positive impact on customer satisfaction; and functional value (price/value for money) has more positive impact than social value, emotional value has a negative impact and functional value (performance/quality) has no significant impact on customer satisfaction.

Considering this research was undertaken in the supermarket sector of only one country, other researchers are urged to replicate this research in Fiji and other developing countries, to yield further insight into the context-specific nature of CPV.

It is suggested that marketers note these findings (to understand better the conceptualisation and context-dependent nature of CPV, its dimensional interrelationships and its impact on customer satisfaction) in order to enhance CPV and ultimately customer satisfaction.

This study makes several contributions to research on CPV by providing insight into how developing country customers perceive the value of supermarkets from a construct and multidimensional perspective, the inter-relatedness of CPV dimensions and the impact of CPV and its dimensions on customer satisfaction.

This research seeks to accomplish two objectives: to extend the test of the functional relationship between store image attributes and customer satisfaction in the market environment of Greece; and to investigate the stability of the structural relationships between store image attributes and customer satisfaction across different customer groups.

The literature concerning major store image attributes was systematically reviewed. After assessing the construct validity of the store image attributes based on confirmatory factor analysis, a path model specifying the relationships between store image attributes and customer satisfaction was estimated. A multigroup analysis was conducted to test the invariance of structural paths between store image attributes and customer satisfaction for different customer profiles.

On appraising the store customer's personal variables four specific types of buyers, namely, the Typical, the Unstable, the Social, and the Occasional, were identified. While four of the six considered store attributes appear to be significant determinants of customer satisfaction, when examined for the degree of invariance between the four groups only Pricing and Products‐related attributes were equally significant in all four groups.

The results of the study may vary with national context, size, strategic position of supermarkets, and other customer personal variables (i.e. lifestyle) suggesting future research opportunities.

The results facilitate the comprehension of the role that specific store attributes have on the satisfaction of store visitors with different profiles. In addition, the results expand the retail manager's knowledge on consumer behaviour, with rational motives (product and price‐related).

The results expand one's knowledge on this relationship, propounding interesting empirical evidence of the model invariance among different consumer profiles.

The aim of this study is to determine the paths between the five SERVQUAL dimensions, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

The paper is based on a sample of 505 supermarket customers in Turkey who have completed a self‐administered questionnaire. The paper uses means, such as standard deviation and multiple regression analysis, to analyze and propose the conceptual model on supermarket management.

The paper concludes that empathy, tangibility, responsiveness, and assurance are factors that are positively related to customer satisfaction, which in turn is positively related to customer loyalty.

The paper provides certain suggestions to supermarket managers regarding the terms of service quality dimensions, satisfaction, and loyalty.