Customer retention plays a pivotal role in contributing to the profitability of retail banks. Within this extremely competitive market it necessitates retails banks to follow a structured, data-driven approach to identify “at risk” customers and to launch proactive retention campaigns based on identified drivers of customer attrition. The following main drivers of customer attrition were identified in the retail bank:  Attrition decrease as Vertical Sales Index increase.  Attrition is lower where customers receive their salary in a BANKXX account.  Attrition decreases as duration increases.  Black and Coloured have a higher attrition rate than White and Asian. A literature review was conducted to identify the possible independent variables of customer retention and the concept of the profitable customer was addressed throughout proposed conceptual model was developed, signifying the best fit to identify drivers of customer retention in the retail bank. The analytical tool, SAS was used for data collection and statistical analyses of the data. This high-performance analytics assisted in providing the retail bank with valuable insight into how to successfully manage risk, retain profitable customers, improve operational efficiency and differentiate them in the marketplace for competitive advantage. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Africa, and Southern Africa in particular, has been identified by both South African and international retail chains as an area for growth. Because conflict on the continent has all but dissipated, economic growth naturally follows political stability. Africa, with its wealth of resources, provides attractive markets for international investors. This increased investment leads to a growing middle class, with growing needs for goods and services. The reason for the interest from organised retail is therefore obvious. The challenge, however, is that, given the size of the individual markets in Southern Africa, it is not financially viable to have an independent marketing strategy for each market. There is no cross-national empirical research that has measured customers’ expectations and perceptions, allowing marketers to develop financially viable marketing strategies. This research, which can be considered an exploratory study, attempted to fill that void. Quality is an elusive and indistinct construct, and as such, it is difficult to measure. A large body of customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction literature acknowledges the importance of expectations in the customers’ evaluation (perception) of their service experience. Although there are several models which have been used to measure service quality, SERVQUAL remains the most popular. It has been successfully adapted to a range of service and retail environments, more especially in emerging markets. This study also employs an adapted SERVQUAL instrument to measure customer satisfaction levels in Southern Africa. The main objective of this study was to investigate the similarities in and differences between the perceptions and expectations regarding service quality of the customer groups of retail stores in different Southern African countries in order to develop financially viable retail strategies. In order to achieve this, the following secondary objectives were identified: *To determine the applicability of the adapted SERVQUAL model in Southern African countries. *To determine, by means of a cross-national study, whether other dimensions of service quality are relevant in the development of a service quality model in a Southern African context. The research population constituted all the existing and potential customers of Beares, Ellerines and FurnCity stores in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Swaziland, Lesotho and South Africa. Six hundred questionnaires in total were distributed, one hundred being sent to different stores in each of the six countries. Stores were chosen from both rural and metropolitan areas. This was a convenience sample and an interviewer-administered survey. Existing and prospective customers were intercepted in the store and interviewed by store managers. The findings indicated that there were statistically significant differences between expectations and perceptions in two factors of the measuring scale. Although the measuring instrument SERVQUAL was found to be both valid and reliable, only two factors were loaded during the analysis stage, and, as a result, the adaptability of SERVQUAL is questionable. The effect of culture does not form part of the SERVQUAL measuring scale yet service quality literature indicates that national cultures affect both the perceptions and the expectations of service quality. / PhD (Business Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

South Africa is an exporter of groundnuts (Arachis Hypogaea). The domestic market reaps the spinoff advantage that export quality reaches store shelves, but unfortunately at a price that is directly linked to the price traders achieve on the export market. The local edible groundnut demand is relatively stable, but some processors saw a dramatic decline in the demand for groundnuts within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. Businesses in the groundnut industry have a specific objective to create a turnaround strategy for groundnut production in South Africa, in an attempt to increase exports of locally produced groundnuts. This directly results that importance of the domestic market, compared to the export market is secondary. Since retail buyers are the “gatekeepers of consumer choice”, it is important to understand buying behaviour and brand loyalty, as well as the factors that influence buyers’ decisions in a business to business context. Limited literature exists for the domestic South African that highlights or indicates specific buyer preferences towards branded edible groundnuts. Furthermore, a general conceptual model to measure or to provide insight on retailer buyer preferences and buying behaviour lack, or are generally unrelated. An adapted model was used to analyse retail buyer behaviour, perceptions, and brand loyalty influences and data was collected by means of a self administrered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics as well as factor analysis were utilised to identify which factors influence retail buyers’ purchase behaviour and loyalty towards an edible groundnut brand. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, Bartlett’s test of sphericity and Cronbach Alpha was used to determine whether the collected data was appropriate for factor analysis. Through the factor analysis the following ten factors were identified as having a significant influence on retailers’ buying behaviour as well as brand loyalty towards branded edible groundnuts: * Long-term relationship with a preferred brand. * Brand Loyalty. * Brand trust. * Brand performance. * Satisfaction. * Intentional repurchase. * Brand affect. * Company reputation. * Involvement. * Value for money. More research on this topic is required to develop a single conceptual model in order to measure and analyse retail buyer behaviour and preference for a specific brand on a larger scale within the FMCG industry. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Pharmacy in South Africa changed dramatically the past decade. Legislative changes include the amendment of The Pharmacy Act in 2003 allowing for nonpharmacists to own pharmacies. This opened the door for national chain stores to change their business model by including a dispensary in their retail service offerings. The regulation of medicine prices impacted the profitability of the pharmacy industry. This caused a double edge sword to retail pharmacy – not only do they need to compete with national supermarkets on front shop products, their products, namely scheduled medication also are regulated in dispensaries. In an environment of rapid change and shortened product and business model lifecycles, the future profit streams from existing operations are uncertain. Businesses need to consistently seek out new opportunities and therefore firms may benefit from adopting an entrepreneurial orientation. Entrepreneurial orientation of retail pharmacists operating in corporate and independent pharmacies’ might play a role in survival of pharmacy business as a professional services provider for which a fee may be charged. The entrepreneurial orientation of retail pharmacists in independent and corporate pharmacies is explored. A literature study on the field of Entrepreneurship is conducted. The term entrepreneurial orientation, consisting of five constructs, namely autonomy, innovation, pro-activeness, risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness is defined. Perceived success of the industry is defined in terms of growth and development. An entrepreneurial orientation questionnaire was distributed among retail pharmacists operating in corporate and independent environments. Both ratings of the constructs and their evaluation of the perceived success of the industry has been measured, analysed and reported. The results obtained from the questionnaire and the in-depth interviews in conjunction with the literature review are used to draw conclusions and make recommendations. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Customer retention plays a pivotal role in contributing to the profitability of retail banks. Within this extremely competitive market it necessitates retails banks to follow a structured, data-driven approach to identify “at risk” customers and to launch proactive retention campaigns based on identified drivers of customer attrition. The following main drivers of customer attrition were identified in the retail bank:  Attrition decrease as Vertical Sales Index increase.  Attrition is lower where customers receive their salary in a BANKXX account.  Attrition decreases as duration increases.  Black and Coloured have a higher attrition rate than White and Asian. A literature review was conducted to identify the possible independent variables of customer retention and the concept of the profitable customer was addressed throughout proposed conceptual model was developed, signifying the best fit to identify drivers of customer retention in the retail bank. The analytical tool, SAS was used for data collection and statistical analyses of the data. This high-performance analytics assisted in providing the retail bank with valuable insight into how to successfully manage risk, retain profitable customers, improve operational efficiency and differentiate them in the marketplace for competitive advantage. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The exploration of developing digital components and integrating technology with design informs a new model for retail design. This model responds to its users and lets them engage more with the space than the traditional retail stores. It also provides an experiential space informing customers in more attractive interactive ways. Advances in computing technology and software, along with new ways to configure and display these systems, have made it possible to create a new generation of immersive environments. This new environment, which is integrated with design, gives more freedom to users. According to the more links and connections this immersive environments creates, It provides a more liberated environment that is free from place and time and engages more people to attend to the space and be a part of that. Equipping the retail with digital components makes it accessible for people to interact with each other and get any information they want. As a result, interactive retail space relies less on materials and locations and more on social and technical capabilities.

This thesis sets out to examine the nature and extent of retail provision, chiefly in three Cheshire towns, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Traditionally major developments in retailing have been seen as taking place after 1850 with shops and shopping remaining traditionally organised, and probably of less importance than markets or even hawkers, during the early stages of industrialisation in Britain. Such assumptions have rarely been based on very much evidence and it is hoped that by presenting some of the evidence relating to retailing immediately before and during the early Industrial revolution a clearer picture will emerge. Thus it has been necessary to consider the extent to which shops existed in the eighteenth century, how widespread they were and how important they were in relation to non-shop retailing. The context in which retailing is examined in the thesis is that of three contrasting towns. A local approach is taken because much of the evidence relating to retailing is essentially local and because by looking in depth at a small area retailing can be seen in relation to the general economic development of the area. Two of the towns, Macclesfield and Stockport, grew rapidly from the late eighteenth century as their textile industries developed and they thus provide good examples of towns where the demand for foodstuffs could have been in danger of outstripping the institutions for their supply. Chester by contrast grew much more slowly and had long been a commercial centre serving the needs of a wide area. Thus there was no reason to look for a crisis of retail provision there, but rather to examine how far new retailing institutions were emerging to cater for growing demand for consumer goods and how far the organisation of shops was changing. Furthermore the local approach made possible an examination of the regional pattern of retail provision. The pattern of market towns and their links with one another could be examined and an attempt made to describe the functional roles of the towns in the region, This involved making some tentative suggestions about the geography of shopping centres and trying to construct a hierarchy of service centres. Although it was by no means possible to answer all the questions about retailing that could have been posed, and many questions relating to retailing economics in the eighteenth century will probably always reuain unanswered, the study of markets and shops is of considerable importance. Distribution has too frequently been ignored when economic development and town growth have been under consideration, yet without adequate provision for the distribution of food and consumer goods, urban society can hardly be sustained. The classic period of the industrial revolution is a key period for the growth of towns and for the growth of home demand, and whatever the deficiencies of the data, increased information on these matters is of value. Only by examining distribution and the general growth of services can a fuller picture emerge of the great changes taking place in the economy and society in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The thesis begins by suggesting some of the theoretical linkage a between industrial growth and the development of retailing and then suggesting the impact of different levels of deraand and changes of levels of demand on the organisation of retailing. The local background is then considered, both in terms of the network of trade links fron the three towns chiefly examined and changes in these consequent on industrial developments in the towns, and in terms of local resources for food supply. Trading Institutions such as fairs, and particularly the fairs at Chester, are examined in Chapter 2 and in Chapter 3 Cheshire agriculture, the urban demand for food, including questions of diet, and the mechanism linking supply and demand are considered. A brief survey of the role of middlemen, of private marketing and of the consequences for food supply of improved communications leads on to an examination of the market towns of Cheshire in their role as the traditional distribution points for local surpluses and for the exchange of rural and urban products. The pattern of market towns is considered in Chapter 4 with mention being made of the periodicity of markets, the shape and size of market areas and the extent to which prices imply that there was a relatively perfect market operating in the county. The history of the markets in Macclesfield, Stockport and Chester is examined in Chapter 5 and the extent to which markets were losing wholesale functions while retaining retail functions for the sale of perishable goods is considered. Also discussed is the ability of the markets to cope with rapidly growing demand particularly in years of scarcity, and the occasional market riots are described. Finally, before turning to shops, Chapter 6 attempts to suggest the importance of itinerant trading both in the countryside and the towns in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The examination of the importance of fixed shops begins with a study of the county pattern of service centres and a discussion of the expected shape of shopping catchment areas and their size. Some suggestions are then made about the extent of retail provision in the county as a whole and particularly about the penetration of fixed shops into villages. It is further suggested that Chester had an overwhelmingly dominant position as a shopping centre with Stockport and Macslesfield next in importance in the county. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 turn to Macclesfield, Stockport and Chester for a more detailed examination of the shops in those towns. Firstly the numbers of shops are suggested, together with the chronology of growth in shop numbers, changes in the relative importance of different types of shop and the location pattern of shops. In Chapter 9 some of the general characteristics of shop retailing are analysed and the institutional context of urban and gild regulations in which shops, particularly in Chester, operated is described. The final section of the chapter looks at the risk of bankruptcy facing shopkeepers and by contrast the opportunities of making money from shops. Detailed examination of the different shop trades, including description of stocks held, of the nature of the business done and of the degree of integration or separation between producing and retailing is the subject of Chapter 10. Much of the information for this had to be based on very miscellaneous evidence, only occasionally confirmed by the business records of retailers, but an overall picture of shop retailing nevertheless emerged. The thesis demonstrates firstly the possibility of providing at least some quantitative information on shop numbers from the late eighteenth century, and to a very limited extent from the early eighteenth century. This makes possible comparison of shop provision between towns and over time and can demonstrate the specific role of certain towns as shopping centres in the eighteenth century as well as suggesting rapid growth in shop numbers from about 1780, and even more rapid growth after the first decade or two of the nineteenth century. Although the figures produced have to be treated with caution, they imply that at least initially shop provision may not have kept up with growing demand in the most rapidly growing towns. However, it is equally clear that shops were widespread In the eighteenth century and that general provisions shops wore to be found in substantial numbers in towns before 1800. Secondly a pattern of service centres can be described, including not only market towns but also many villages in which shops were to be found.

This study explores the contemporary collective significance of over seventy London markets in the 'long' eighteenth century. Markets are loosely defined as those institutions which were publicly recognized as places of regular trade in basic commodities: meat and livestock, fish and corn, fruit and vegetables, hay and straw, cloth, coal and animal skins. Their characteristics and development were shaped by a range of factors: principally 'market forces', but also political concerns and the growth and modernization of the metropolis. This thesis represents the first attempt to consider the markets of London during this period collectively and eclectically. One of its principal elements, therefore, is the classification of markets according to various criteria (e.g. size, ownership, location) over time (Chapter Two). One key trend is the apparent rise and fall of food market retailing, which is explained by various economic and cultural factors (Chapter Three). The economics of wholesaling demonstrate that formal market mechanisms generally adapted to changing times and performed the task of distribution with reasonable efficiency (Chapters Four and Five). Political influences on the geography and development of the markets - the role of market rights and regulations - highlight the distinctive and complex political economy of the metropolis (Chapter Six). A final dimension of inquiry concerns the relationship between markets and the city environment, and the extent to which metropolitan growth and 'improvement' impinged on the traditionally focal and symbolic status of markets (Chapter Seven). In general, markets' collective identity was fragmenting: some prospered whilst others declined; wholesale-retail distinctions established themselves; the boundaries between formal marketing and other forms of exchange became increasingly blurred. Nevertheless, the market place was not made obsolete by the process of metropolitan modernization. The abiding impression of the study is one of London's commercial, topographical and political complexity and diversity.

This thesis considers consumer perceptions of large stores in Japan. A lack of published English language research concerned with consumer behaviour in Japan was noted, despite strong and growing interest in the Japanese consumer market. Japanese distribution is reviewed as the background to an empirical study of store perceptions in Japan. This review considered Japanese wholesale and retail structures in detail in order to provide information necessary to understand the situation of large retail stores in Japan. The possibility of substantial store 'loyalty' in Japan was considered on the basis of an observed hierarchical structure to store preferences. A review of the literature pertaining to consumer 'loyalty' revealed that genuinely 'loyal' behaviour is likely to be rare. Consumepr reference was considered, and the development of hierarchical preference was identified. - An empirical study was carried out over a one year period in Japan. The study involved a two part survey employing repertory grid interviews and a questionnaire survey. Four regional cities and five consumer types were employed for the survey. This approach proved successful in collecting a large volume of detailed data. The use of repertory grid as a technique for data collection was considered in the light of its use with Japanese consumers in the Japanese language. It was concluded that Japanese consumers have clear and detailed perceptions of the large stores available for their use. Some differences were identified between consumer types and different geographical locations in Japan.

No description available.