Maintaining and increasing customer loyalty has become a crucial strategic objective for businesses due to cross-shopping and intensified competition across many industries. In the realm of grocery retailing, the necessity for retailers to invest resources towards fostering customer loyalty has reached unprecedented levels, primarily due to the proliferation of shopping formats accessible to customers. Hard discounters are among those store formats. They are stores that offer basic goods and daily necessities at the lowest prices possible while maintaining high-quality standards. Due to the tough economic times, consumers are becoming more price-oriented which makes them switch some of their shopping to hard discounters and when they do, they learn that quality, assortment, and service are actually better than expected which leads to them remaining loyal to the store when good economic times return. However, to be able to achieve and maintain loyalty, stores must first create store satisfaction. And that store satisfaction is in turn based on other factors, such as store attributes and the store's physical environment. Nevertheless, existing marketing research offers limited assistance to retail managers when it comes to maintaining loyalty for hard discounters. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze which store image attributes can create store loyalty in a store environment for hard discounters within the Swedish grocery market. This study intends to explore the relationship between store attributes, store image, store satisfaction, and store loyalty within hard discounters. Towards filling this gap, a conceptual model considering the effects of store image attributes on store satisfaction and store loyalty is proposed. Data was collected from a survey of 151 Swedish shoppers at hard discounters. The data was then analyzed using IBM SPSS. when analyzing the data, the results show that the store attributes atmosphere and price had the biggest impact on store satisfaction, followed by assortment and personnel which exerts a moderately positive impact on store satisfaction. However, service did not exert a positive influence on store satisfaction. Ultimately, store satisfaction exerts a strong positive effect on store loyalty to hard discounters. In conclusion, the results indicate that there is a relationship between store image attributes, store satisfaction, and store loyalty for hard discounters in the Swedish grocery market.

Magister Commercii - MCom / This study aimed to shed insight on how store image influences customer perception. Everything customers see, hear and experience is linked together and forms their overall perception of a store. The first objective of the study was to analyze whether a relationship exists between the store choice and customers biographical details. The second objective is to identify components of store image that shoppers may consider important in store selection process; how the case company can use this knowledge and develop the business and customer service even further. Eight dimensions of shopping enjoyment are proposed and a 47-item measure was developed to measure 155 consumer perceptions from various malls in the geographical area of Cape Town. Findings indicate that there are no statistically significant relations between store image and consumers demographic factors such as age, gender, level of education, marital status, occupation and income. Furthermore, respondents rated physical characteristics of the store which included factors such as the neatness and cleanliness of the store, its decor, the wideness of the aisles, air-conditioning and lighting as the most important element when making a store choice. The implications of these results are discussed, together with practical and theoretical implications, study limitations, and future research directions.

The objective of the thesis is on the basis of theoretical knowledge and fieldwork to conduct a marketing survey, which will evaluate customer satisfaction in the retail store. The results of the survey and analyses will provide necessary documents to develop proposals and recommendations leading to increased customer satisfaction and the objective of the thesis.

Nonostante la costante attenzione dedicata al tema della fedeltà del consumatore, la letteratura di marketing non è stata in grado di fornire una definizione condivisa e chiara del costrutto. Questo si è tradotto in una scarsa integrazione del tema della customer loyalty negli studi di consumer behaviour. L’analisi della fedeltà del cliente diviene più complessa nei contesti distributivi e in particolare per quanto concerne la grande distribuzione moderna. Questa tesi di dottorato presenta e testa un framework concettuale che descrive il processo psicologico alla base dello sviluppo di fedeltà nei confronti della grande distribuzione moderna. Il modello si fonda sul reference-based paradigm e si snoda in due fasi. Nella fase cognitiva vengono valutati gli effetti degli stimoli provenienti dallo store environment sulla formazione delle valutazioni dei consumatori in merito a functional congruity, self-congruity e attrattività delle alternative presenti sul mercato. Nella seconda fase vengono analizzati gli effetti di queste tre variabili sulla fedeltà del consumatore. Viene inoltre evidenziato come l’identificazione tra retailer e consumatore risulti essere di primaria importanza per la customer loyalty. Inoltre il modello include e testa l’impatto di fattori quali struttura del mercato, livello di conoscenza del consumatore e time pressure sul processo di sviluppo di customer loyalty. / Although researchers have wondered about the meaning of true customer loyalty for decades, literature still lacks a clear and shared conceptualization. This has also resulted in a poor integration of the concept of customer loyalty in consumer behaviour theory. The general debate on customer loyalty is even more complex when referring to the particular case of retail establishments, in which absolute consumer loyalty is not realistic and most shoppers purchase on a portfolio basis. In order to contribute to the understanding of customer loyalty, this thesis proposes and empirically tests a comprehensive conceptual framework aimed at analysing the psychological process underlying the development of customer loyalty in retail settings. Based on the reference-based paradigm and structured in two stages, the model considers three reference effects, i.e. functional congruity, alternative attractiveness and self-congruity and their role in the relationship between store environment and customer loyalty in grocery retail. The thesis acknowledges the pivotal role of self-congruity in the relationship between store environment and customer loyalty due to its interplay with the other reference effects. It also proves that market structure, shopping expertise and time pressure are of prime importance when analysing customer loyalty.

Gamification is a concept that is gaining significant recognition in the field of business administration in general and marketing in particular. Gamification has been gaining the interest of researchers recently with mostof the studies being conducted during the last three years. Gamification presents an opportunity for businesses to gain consumers’ attention and engagement through different aspects and elements of it. Organizations such as Pinchos, the restaurant have utilized those gaming elements in order to grow their revenues and keep the customers engaged while ordering food. Despite the exponential growth of gamification in the business world, studies on its marketing effectiveness and the influence of its elementsare lacking.To fill this gapin the literature, this researchaims to gain a deeper understanding of gamification and its different elements, byfocusingon the utilization of gamification as a digital marketing tool to enhance customer loyalty and retention in retail store setting. Therefore, this researchaimsfirst to identify all the factorsaffecting store choice. Second, identify and examine the different factors affecting retail store loyalty. Finally, the differentelements of gamificationare identifiedand their effect on loyalty are studied.In order to fulfil thepurpose of the studywe have collaborated with ChildrensHouse, a retail toy store located in Umea, Sweden, in order to gain insights from current and potential customers. A quantitative study was conducted,and the sample population chosen was generation Y parents, due to their digital literacy. To add a degree of credibility to the research, a short interview with Simon, the owner of ChildrensHouse, was conducted in order to gain managerial insights as well.The main conclusions of this research include,the different factors affecting retail toy store choices which were: store attributes, product attributesand demographics; the factors influencing loyaltywhich were: interpersonal communications, impersonal communications, direct experience, distance, value for moneyand engagement in gamified applications. Finally, the research results indicate that gamification when utilized as an engagement application will enhance customer retention and store loyalty.

This study is an in-depth investigation of the factors that affect store brand purchases. It aims to help both retailers and manufacturers predict store brand purchases through an improved understanding of the effects of three latent variables: customer satisfaction and loyalty with the store; which is expressed through word-of-mouth; and trust in store brands. An additional aim is to explore variations in the level of store brand adoption and the inter-relationships between the selected constructs. Data was collected through a telephone survey of those responsible for household grocery shopping, and who shop at the nine leading grocery retailers in Greece. A total of 904 respondents completed the questionnaire based upon a quota of 100 respondents for each of the nine retailers. Data were analyzed through chi-square, analysis of variance and partial least square. The proposed model was tested by partial least square path modeling, which related the latent variables to the dependent manifest variable: store brand purchases. The findings provide empirical support that store brand purchases are positively influenced by the consumers’ perceived level of trust in store brands. The consumer decision-making process for store brands is complex and establishing customer satisfaction and loyalty with the store does not appear to influence store brand purchases or the level of trust in the retailer’s store brands in the specific context under study. Consequently the most appropriate way to influence store brand purchases in the Greek market is through increasing in the level of trust in the retailer’s store brands. It is suggested that retailers should therefore invest in trust building strategies for their own store brands and try to capitalize on their brand equity by using a family brand policy. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed and opportunities for further research are suggested.

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