CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTIONThe field of customer satisfaction is huge and pass through a number of different

academic disciplines. The twenty first century concepts of customer intimacy, customer

centric and customer focus reconstruct the corporation as an entity that deliver value to

carefully selected market segments (Christopher et al., 2002). The literature review covers the

different literature from other authors and attempts to understand the concepts, the

definitions, theories and solutions. Moreover, it tries to include other concepts and ideas that

may prove useful in this and may help in making a platform for the research.

The literature review assesses the vital concepts of relationship marketing, service

quality and customer loyalty. The focus of these topics is on retaining the customers and to

gain long term profitability for the organisation. The concept of these terminologies in the

context of today’s retailing sector will be discussed. Furthermore, the relationship of all these

with the satisfaction of customers will be examined. The published literatures on UK retailing

sector is also analysed.

2.2 THE RETAIL INDUSTRYIn the context of modern society, retailing is considered as any business that aims its

marketing efforts to satisfy the needs of the customers based on the organisation which sells

goods and services (Gilbert, 1999). Retailing also refers to the effective management of all

resources of the retailer in order to meet the needs of the customer (Davies, 1993). But

Peterson & Balasubramanian (2002) argues that retailing has changed a lot since the

beginning of the 21st century. The authors perceive the access to internet around the world as

the main reason for this and support internet as the “foundation for a new industrial order”

(Hamel & Sampler, 1998). Globalisation, development in technologies and the ever changing

customer behaviour also had a major influence in re-shaping the retail industry. The increase

in the market concentration is also driven by the emergence of large national chains

throughout the country (Raff & Schmitt, 2009). The authors points to the increased scope to

import consumer goods from low wage countries and the economies of scale in importing as

the main driving forces for this. Consumers are becoming more segmented and demanding

added value and this force the retailers to provide latest aspects in terms of goods and

services.

Internet marketing or E-marketing in the context of retailing can be viewed as a

business practise associated with buying and selling goods, services, information and ideas

via the internet and other electronic means (El-Gohary et al., 2008) while Chaffey (2010)

defines it as “achieving marketing objectives through applying digital technologies”. This

provides the retailers the flexibility to lower the prices, however Gallagher & Gilmore (2004)

identifies small businesses were slow to respond to changes brought by the internet and were

not yet making effective use of it. Also, culture is a major factor in both adapting and success

of internet marketing (El-Gohary et al., 2008; Hofacker, 2001; Luna et al., 2003; Nantes &

Glaser, 2008; Yasin & Yavas, 2007; Gong, 2009). Trust (Wang et al., 2009), security

(Seounmi & Lee, 2009) and customer acceptance and involvement (El-Gohary et al., 2008)

are yet another important aspect to be tackled by the retailers before expecting returns from

their internet businesses. However, In UK websites and other online shopping portals are

aided by the benefits provided by Royal mail and other private operators such as DHL

delivery systems and thus making them key players in the UK retail industry (Coopey et al.,

2005).

2.2.1 The Buying Decision ProcessThe understanding of customers and their buying behaviour is a must to develop the

strategies for customer relationships and marketing procedures. According to Gilbert (2003),

the retail buying process starts with the recognition of the need and then, the individual

becomes a potential buyer.

(1). Need arousal: The buying process starts with an unsatisfied need. This could be socially,

commercially or physically stimulated and it motivates the individual to act.

(2). Recognition of the need: This is a prerequisite stage where the retailers can have a direct

impact on the stimulation. This could be done using window displays, bill boards, in store

merchandise displays and other sorts of advertising and promotional activities. This could

also help in kindling secondary needs. A smart retailer presents the customer with a total

merchandise package along with training their staff to prompt the customer about their

requirements.

(3). Level of involvement: This is the amount of time and effort spent in the decision process

and will depend upon the complexity of product, individual perceptions and the buying

situations.

(4). Search of information and identification of alternatives: Branding has got a major

influence in this part of the buying process. Advertising, promotional activities and most

importantly word of mouth are also key players here. Sales are one of the largely accepted

promotional activities and are often a very successful driving or motivational factor (Smith &

Taylor, 2004). Internet is aiding a lot in the search for information part. Again, the presence

of competing brands, similar retailers, time and cost also had their voice in this important

process.

(5). Evaluation of alternatives: Comparisons will be made based on the preferences of the

purchaser. The cost, reputation or performance expectation could be the criteria here.

Sometimes customers come up with a ranking of their preferences among the alternatives.

Finally the decision is of the customer as their attitudes are dynamic and unique.

(6). Decision: Choice is made after the problem solving procedure.

(7). Purchase action: Again, this depends on the availability of the merchandise.

(8). Post purchase feeling/ behaviour: This is a feeling of individual experience and will

differ from customer to customer. This stage could give an assurance if there is any doubt

about the choice in customer’s mind. This psychological stage directly relate to how satisfied

the customer is and his/ her loyalty.

In retailing industry, customer is more likely to maintain a relationship with

individuals and company itself rather than the goods they purchase (Bendapudi & Berry,

1997; Parasuraman, 2002). Thus relationship marketing within the retailing industry refers to

the relationships a customer maintains with the firm, particular branches, stores, departments

or with individual sales associates (Beatty et al., 1996). As long as the retailers are able to

keep the loyalty of customers high, it is more likely the customers to continue purchasing

from the same retailing store (Anderson et al., 1994). This could result in an increased

customer satisfaction and hence enhancing the overall reputation of the firm. Companies can

utilise this by introducing new products as it provide instant awareness and low buyer’s risk

of trial (Robertson & Gatignon, 1986; Schmalansee, 1978). Berry (1986) identifies that many

successful goods retailers differentiate themselves, not through the homogeneous goods they

sell, but through the service they offer. Furthermore, the immense competition in the retailing

industry forced retailers to keep up their quality standards high (Zhao et al., 2002). And these

favourable perceptions of a retailer offering high quality could be transformed to perceptions

of the quality of the merchandise offered (Kerin et al., 1992).

2.2.2 Sportswear RetailingThe sportswear retailing industry is still a different and to some extent a fragmented

retailing industry. The sportswear retail market generally includes sports clothing and sports

footwear. Sports wears are enjoying a high acceptance rate and it is because of its comfort,

easiness to wear and stylishness (Mintel Reports, 2002). Again, from the results from the

Mintel Reports (2002, 2006, 2008, 2009), it is clear that the sports wears is much more

acceptable to the younger generations. Despite the fact that the sportswear retailing has not

yet reached the mature level in the life cycle, the big players in sports wear retailing are

benefiting from their economies of scale and negotiating power. The industry had a good

time in mid to late 1990’s; since then the industry is going through a period of stagnating

sales, falling prices and very rapid consolidation (Mintel Reports, 2006). However, the strong

players in the sports retailing intent to expand with their multi chain retailing. Introducing

exclusive products for the customers forced them to enhance their relationship with the

suppliers (Mintel Reports, 2002).

The UK sports goods market is worth £5.6 billion in the year 2007 (Mintel Reports,

2008). The report points to the rise of Sports Direct International as the market leaders as the

driving force for the massive consolidation of sportswear retailing. The UK retailing turnover

of the company was over £1 billion which was more than double than that of 5 years ago

(Sports Direct Annual Report, 2007). Other retailers find it difficult to cope with the discount

based strategy of Sports direct. However, some retailers like JD sports have been successful

while most of the individual players in the market failed to differentiate themselves.

2.3 RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

2.3.1 Limitations of 4P’s modelAfter the introduction of marketing mix about 50 years ago, this concept had

dominated the marketing management decisions and thoughts. The broader recognition of

marketing mix among marketers is mainly due to the fact that 4P’s are identified as the

controllable factors likely to manipulate the customer buying process and decisions (Kotler,

2003). Moreover, the 4P’s approach is a memorable and practical framework for marketing

decision making (Jobber, 2001). Despite the fact that marketing mix is the most widely

accepted parameter of modern marketing world, there has been doubts and opposition raised

by several scholars in time to time. Furthermore, the marketing and the overall business

environment had changed a lot since the introduction of the 4P’s model. The present

marketing methods need to cope with the huge mass markets, a highly competitive

distribution system, a commercial mass media, varied infrastructure and so on (Shajahan,

2006).

Increased consumer power and complexity pressurise the marketers to switch from

mass marketing approach towards personalisation, interaction and maintaining relations with

customers (Constantinides, 2006) that is from the product oriented approach towards a

customer oriented approach. The author argues this as the reason why the marketers

concentrated more on communicating with their customers and made them vigilant about

changes in customer expectations and to adapt themselves to those changes. Healy et al.

(2001) supports relationship marketing as the future marketing paradigm as it addresses the

elements of the marketing relationship trilogy – relationships, neo-relationship marketing and

networks. While transactional marketing focuses on increasing sales and making customers,

relationship marketing aims at creating client relationships and retaining existing customers

(Vence, 2002).

However, the critics of relationship marketing argue that the traditional 4P’s

marketing concept is not going to be replaced. Rather they support a cross-functional focus

on marketing strategy. Zineldin & Philipson (2007) argues that there is a considerable stake

of customers who prefer to purchase on the basis of price and quality rather than on the basis

of a long term relationships.

2.3.2 Moving towards Relationship MarketingBerry (1983) introduced the term relationship marketing as a concept of attracting and

maintaining customer relationships. Later various scholars such as Gronroos (1990), Shani &

Chalasani (1992) and Morgan & Hunt (1994) enhanced on this idea and developed a broader

view of relationship marketing management. Gronroos (1990) defines “relationship

marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance relationships with customers and other

partners, at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is achieved by

a mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises”. The past two decades witnessed the

emergence of relationship marketing as the central point of business strategy (Egan, 2008)

and a lot of factors acted as a driving force to its emergence. Some of them include the rapid

growth of service economy along with increased competition (Lehtinen, 1996), increasing

fragmentation of markets (Palmer, 2002; Shani & Chalasani, 1992, Bennet & Wei, 2006),

more informative and sophisticated customers (Vonderembse et al., 2006), and varying

buying patterns, shorter product life cycles and the impact of information technology on

service delivery (Bitner, 2001; Kandampully, 2002).

In the current business world, customer care has got a major influence on a

company’s long term profitability. Cook (2000) identifies customer as the foundation of

business and as the factor to keep the business in existence. As a result, there is considerable

attention is being taken into account of maintaining a relationship between the service

providers and customers (Barnes, 1997; Reinartz & Kumar, 2002; Coulter & Coulter, 2002).

Relationship marketing focuses on maintaining and managing a long term marketing

relationship. The focal point of relationship marketing is customer retention rather than

customer creation. This aims to increase the customer life time value. Sheth & Parvatiyar

(1995) identify consumer choice reduction as the fundamental principle of relationship

marketing. Customer driven marketing practises, profitability and strategic marketing

practises are the three important features of relationship marketing (Shajahan, 2006).

2.3.3 Relationship Marketing ConceptsThere are two primary objectives for establishing a relationship with the customer:

One is to attract the customers and the second one is to build the relationship with the

customer so that the economic goals of that relationship are achieved (Shajahan, 2006).

Relationships are usually long term but not necessarily so. Apart from the market paradigm

concept, relationship marketing mainly depends upon two significant concepts: promise and

trust.

The Promise Concept: Gronroos (2010) proposes relationship marketing as promise

management. Kotler’s view on transactional marketing was based on the exchange of values

between two parties. However, concentrating only on this will draw the concentration of

marketers towards short term values rather than creating value for customers (Sheth & Uslay,

2007). And this shows the importance of creating value for the customers for a long term

marketing success (Gronroos, 2008). Thus, promise and keeping it (trust) becomes essential

ingredients in relationship marketing.

Importance of Trust: Trust is the “willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom

one has confidence” (Moorman et al., 1993). In order to attain customer trust, the company

needs to develop its strategy for effective communication, to take on the customer’s

relationship norms and to keep away from negative reputation (Adamson et al., 2003).Thus in

a relationship marketing trust leads to reliability and negates uncertainty and vulnerability.

Again, the ‘House of Knowledge’ model introduced by Sheth & Parvatiyar (2000) identifies

other important concepts in relationship marketing. Apart from promise and trust, there are

commitment, interaction and dialogue. The authors also discuss about the importance of

knowledge management between the firm and the stakeholder.

2.3.4 Relationship Marketing in the Retailing IndustryRetailing consists of the concluding actions and steps needed to place products and

services made somewhere else into the hands of the customer (Dunne & Lusch, 2008). It is

the largest industry in most countries and includes every living individual as a consumer.

Moreover, retailing accounts for 20% of the worldwide labour force. With the emergence of

internet, retailing also cemented its place in online businesses and started a price competition

in the current business world.

Relationship marketing within the context of a retailing industry can be viewed as the

relationship the customer maintain with the organisation, its branches, several departments,

and the sales associates (Buttle, 2009; Beatty et al., 1996). Especially in the retailing industry,

customer is more likely to preserve a rapport with individuals and company itself rather than

the goods they purchase (Bendapudi & Berry, 1997; Parasuraman, 2002). However, the

customer and retail sales associates’ relationship is referred to as relationship selling and is

highly effective where the customers are looking for personalised services (Johnston &

Marshall, 2007). The success of relationship marketing depends on two key drivers: the

human interactions and the interaction between human and computer and software system

(Williams et al., 2009). Relationship selling summarises the human interactions part of the

above.

Relationship marketing identifies each customer as a complex mix of personality,

motivations, attitudes and needs, preferring particular kind of experiences and learning from

them (Stone et al., 2000). The authors suggest that particularly in the circumstances of a

retailing sector, the retailer can use relationship marketing for: (1). finding the customer; (2).

Getting to know the customer; (3). Keeping in touch with the customer; (4). trying to ensure

that the customer get what they want from the retailer in every aspect of the business; and (5).

Checking that the customer is getting what they had been promised.

Acknowledging the relationship will not be materialised without the content of

emotion and closeness in it (Barnes, 1997). Hence relationship strength, quality, intensity and

depth come into picture (Dagger et al., 2009). Similarly, the duration of the relationship is

also an important factor as it could act as a pointer of the closeness or strength. According to

Conklin et al. (2004), the capability of an organisation to follow through and improve its

performance in weaker areas is the key for a successful customer relationship management.

All the above factors heavily depend on the actions of the sales associates as their

performance determines the degree of satisfaction and extent of the relationship between the

customer and the firm. Thus it is clear that the customer build relations with the employees,

and not directly with the firm (Mascarenhas et al., 2006).

Adjei & Clark (2010) suggest that the quality of relationship is being driven by

overall satisfaction and these two lead to customer loyalty. Hence in this context, satisfaction

can be viewed as the customers’ affective response to the relationships (Palmatier et al.,

2006). Wong & Hogg (2009) argue that relationships always tend to change over time

because of the changes in trust and the experiences. To preserve the relationship with the

customer the retailer needs to continue their contacts and characterise themselves according

to customer needs. However, it is difficult to maintain or create a relationship with the

customer in such a way as to develop a first name friendship with the staff as in the case of a

hairdresser or dry cleaner (Barnes, 1997). Though, employees play the main part in creating

and maintaining the relationships, management must be committed to the employees and to

the customers for the relationship marketing to work (Beatty et al., 1996).

2.4 SERVICE QUALITYCustomer Satisfaction and service quality are indispensable components of

relationship marketing and hence competitive retailing. Without these there is no existence of

relationship marketing. Gronroos (1982) defines service quality as “the outcome of an

evaluation process where the consumer compares his expectations with the service he

perceived he has received”. Service quality has a direct contribution towards the overall

satisfaction and thus indirectly towards the customer loyalty (Caruana, 2002). So we can say

that the chances of a customer returning are directly proportional to the customer satisfaction

and service quality. Lewis (1993) observes that the definitions of service quality focus on the

needs and requirements of customers, meeting them and how well it reached the expectations

of customers; where the term expectation in the context of service quality is very complex as

it differs from individual to individual.

Service quality established itself to be a differentiator and it had developed as the

most powerful competitive weapon an organisation could possess (Berry et al., 1988).

Gronroos (1978) points out three dimensions in service quality and they are technical quality,

functional quality and corporate image. The outcome of the services provided is the key

driver in technical quality, while functional quality is derived from the interaction of the

provider and the customer. The third dimension is the corporate image and is concerned with

the perceptions on services, technical and functional qualities, price, external

communications, physical location, appearance, and the competence and behaviour of the

employees. On the other hand Parasuraman et al. (1988) described service quality on the

basis of five dimensions of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.

Tangibles consist of the physical facilities and appearance; Reliability is the ability to deliver

the promised service efficiently and effectively; Responsiveness is the willingness to assist

customers; Assurance is the knowledge and ability of employees to enhance trust and

confidence; finally empathy is the attention providing to the customers.

Every service organisation is built around a core service (Berry, 1995), though the

customers evaluate the service quality based on this core service and the peripheral services

along with their expectations (Gronroos et al., 2000). Since services are simultaneously

provided and consumed, the time in which the customer interacts with the employee becomes

critical (Baker et al., 2009; Bitner et al., 1994; Hartline & Ferrell, 1996). Baker et al. (2009)

conclude that the customer contact employees can thus directly impact the customers’

perception of service quality and customer satisfaction.

According to the opinion of various scholars, the service quality from a single

experience can significantly impact the overall customer satisfaction and loyalty. A single

negative service encounter or service failure not only could result in a permanent lessening of

overall customer satisfaction but also the other reactions of the dissatisfaction including

negative word of mouth (Hocutt et al., 2006). Ranaweera & Prabhu (2003) and Barlow &

Moller (2009) warn that the more dissatisfied the customer is the more likely they to use

negative word of mouth. In this case the process of service recovery becomes important. Bell

& Zemke (1987) proposed five ingredients for a successful service recovery: apology, urgent

reinstatement, empathy, atonement, and follow-up. Moreover, Hocutt et al. (2006) observe an

additional interaction between courtesy and tangible rewards can also effectively function as

a service recovery method.

2.4.1 Service Quality in RetailingThe rapid increase in the number of retail outlets has initiated the price wars which

seemingly reduces the retailer profitability (Zhao et al., 2002). Superior service quality is

regarded as a vital provider in securing a greater market performance in such a way that it is

difficult for the competition to imitate (Parasuraman & Grewal, 2000). According to Sivadas

& Baker-Prewitt (2000), in a retailing sector service quality and customer satisfaction is

deeply inter-related. In service literature, the scholars consider satisfaction along with service

quality have a major influence on behavioural purposes (Caruana, 2002; Cronin et al., 2000;

Zeithaml et al., 1996). Customers decide on their repurchasing from a specific firm depends

entirely on their past experiences and their satisfaction with those products or services

(Bolton et al., 2000). Furthermore, Sivadas & Baker-Prewitt (2000) observe that word of

mouth or recommendations are directly being influenced by service quality and this could be

considered as an indicator of customer loyalty as well. Therefore we can say that, while

customer satisfaction can be used to predict repurchase loyalty; service quality can be used to

foresee both satisfaction and loyalty (Olsen, 2002).

In online retailing, the degree to which the retailers are able to satisfy the customers is

a vital factor in service quality. Especially in today’s business environment where more and

more companies are going online to do their businesses service quality is becoming very

important. Providing the information to meet the requirements of individual consumer is the

key for the success of an online retailer (Park & Kim, 2003; Szymanski & Hise, 2000). So in

this context, retailers have to think differently to succeed in the business. Seiders et al. (2000)

gives the example of one stop shopping. However, this selection a retailer offering to the

customer makes them a potentially powerful force in the competitive retailing industry

(Berry, 1996).

Organisations should not presume that individual customers who comprise the global

market are identical in nature (Ueltschy et al., 2007). They have to develop their products and

services in such a way to satisfy these diversified customers and to remain competitive in the

global market (Ueltschy et al., 2007). With an increased competition and a variety of

products and services, the customers are forced to compare their alternatives rather than just

selecting a product or service (Cronin et al., 2000; Olsen, 2002). Therefore an important role

of customer service has turned out to be helping the customer selecting from his/her

alternatives, to provide valuable information and to help them make decisions and thus

boosting their satisfaction level towards the product and to the retailer.

2.5 CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONCustomer Satisfaction has always been in the central themes of service industry.

Zeithaml et al. (1993) proposed that customer satisfaction is a function of customer’s

evaluation of service quality, product quality and price. Ostrom & Iacobucci (1995) defines

customer satisfaction as “a relative judgement that takes into consideration both the qualities

and the benefits obtained through a purchase as well as the costs and efforts borne by a

customer to obtain that purchase”. Again, satisfaction can be regarded as the rating of

consumer’s experience with the outcome of the service (Mittal & Lassar, 1998). Giese &

Cote (2000) after reviewing the literature about customer satisfaction from 1969 to 1997

found out that customer satisfaction consisted of three basic elements: response, focus and

time. Based on these findings, White & Yu (2005) define satisfaction as an “affective

summary response” towards the consumed product or service.

Gilbert & Veloutsou (2006) argue that customer satisfaction is derived from the

customer’s comparison of the expected and actual experience. Such expectations are obtained

from both ideal and comparative principles. Ideal principle is what the service should actually

be; while, comparative is what customer can realistically expect on the basis of their previous

experiences. However, there is no real means for measuring the customer satisfaction as it is

completely characteristic – that is it is defined uniquely from individual to individual.

Customer satisfaction with an organisation’s products or services is often seen as the

key to an organisation’s success and long term competitiveness (Athanassopoulos et al.,

2001). Retaining the cost effective consumers has become increasingly complicated in the

present competitive business world (Leverin & Liljander, 2006) and hence, the marketers and

organisations are not ready to compromise on customer satisfaction. The major concepts on

which the customer satisfaction is been built upon is the wants, needs and expectations of the

customers (Kotler et al., 2008). These attributes are in turn derived from other factors such as

price, quality, choice, convenience, appeal and previous experiences. Customers’

expectations are derived from their own accumulation of contacts with services provided

them in all walks of life (Gilbert & Veloutsou, 2006).

2.5.1 Two types of Customer Satisfaction Jones & Suh (2000) suggest that two different types of customer satisfaction exist: the

transaction specific and overall satisfaction. Transaction specific satisfaction is associated

with an explicit encounter with the firm. This perspective by focusing on customer’s

emotional behaviour to specific service attributes or service encounters, suggests that

organisations connect the performance of precise service elements or variations of them to

specific psychological group (Olsen & Johnson, 2003). The authors argue that overall

satisfaction is a better indicator of customer intentions and behaviour. Overall satisfaction is a

cumulative sum of satisfaction with specific services or products of the organisation along

with other factors of the company (Garbarino & Johnson, 1999). So, overall satisfaction

could be viewed as a general outlook the consumer has to the company or specific products

or services. Auh et al. (2003) suggest that this overall feeling of satisfaction is comparatively

stable over time and is less sensitive to transition specific reactions. However, Johnson

(2001) identifies these two perspectives as more complementary than competitive.

Again, there are certain characteristics that have an unhelpful impact on customer

satisfaction on not delivering them, but still only have negligible positive impact even if they

are improved to a satisfactory level (Conklin et al., 2004). These features known as the “must

be” attributes have a multiplicative relationship with the overall customer satisfaction as the

failure of delivering these “must be” attributes could cause decline in the overall satisfaction

(Conklin et al., 2004). Hence these could be considered as key dissatisfiers. It is a major

challenge for marketing managers to identify these and nullify the effects or reduce it.

2.5.2 Satisfaction and LoyaltyKeeping customers satisfied is what leads to customer loyalty (Douglas et al., 2006).

Customer loyalty is a big worry for managers and thus it is becoming a major topic in

marketing research. This increasing concern is due to the extreme competition in the business

field and due to the emergence of relationship marketing (Bodet, 2008). Customer

satisfaction drives customer loyalty and customer loyalty in turn is the driving factor of

profitability and growth of the organisation (Heskett et al., 1994). Based on the purchasing

habits of customers, Srinivasan et al. (2002), divides loyalty into four different categories:

(1). Undivided loyalty, (2). Divided loyalty, (3). Unstable loyalty and (4). No loyalty. Initially

customer loyalty was considered strictly behavioural. But later on scholars failed to explain

certain characteristics of customers and were unable to distinguish true and fake loyalty

(Bodet, 2008). The influence of situational, intrinsic and cultural factors in the behavioural

patterns forced the marketers to add an attitudinal content in customer loyalty (Berné et al.,

2001; Bandyopadhyay & Martell, 2007). Thus Jones & Suh (2000) designed the mediation

model in which it is shown that overall satisfaction is being derived from transaction- specific

satisfaction and finally overall satisfaction leads to attitudinal customer loyalty.

Jones & Sasser (1995) grouped three different ways for measuring customer loyalty:

(1). intend to repurchase: It is about asking the customer about the future intentions of

repurchasing. Even though these are mere indications of future and there is no assurance,

these could be used as important factors while measuring customer satisfaction.

(2). Primary behaviour: Companies have often access to transaction information of customers

and can measure factors such as recency, frequency, amount, retention and longevity. These

are indicators of genuine repurchasing actions.

(3). Secondary behaviour: Word of mouth is one of the most significant aspects in attracting

new customers. Also, customer referrals and endorsements are also part of this secondary

behaviour. However, these ‘soft’ measures of behaviour are difficult to evaluate and to link

with the actual customer loyalty and satisfaction.

According to Gremler & Brown (1996), customer satisfaction is not the only factor

which directly influences the customer loyalty; switching costs and interpersonal

relationships has also got their voice in the process. However, the authors argue that the

loyalty begins only after a certain level of customer satisfaction is reached. Reinartz &

Kumar (2002) claims that it costs less to serve loyal customers while they are willing to pay

higher prices for the same bundle of goods; and the authors identify the loyal customers can

market the company in an effective way.

Another important term associated with customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is

the profitability of the firm. Profit is an accounting figure and is revenue minus cost in simple

mathematical terms. King & Geursen (2001) developed a three domain model of cash flow in

organisation and in that the author argues the significance of cash flow from operations act as

a catalyst for other functions in the firm. Customers are the main source of cash flow in most

of the organisation and increasing them by obtaining new customers or retaining the existing

customers becomes very crucial. Hence customer satisfaction becomes an important part in

the profitability of a firm. Customer satisfaction raises the future cash flow and reduces its

variability (Gruca & Rego, 2005). A loyal customer is more likely to involve in repeat

purchasing (Mittal & Kamakura, 2001; Olsen, 2002). Also, pricing can be used to enhance

profitability if the firm have loyal and satisfied customers. Research proves that highly

satisfied customers are willing to pay premium prices (Luo & Homburg, 2007; Homburg et

al., 2005).

2.5.3 Customer Satisfaction in the Retailing IndustryThe understanding of retail customers and their behaviour in terms of decision

making, and consumption of products is significant for a management to be effective. Over

the past few decades, there has been a rapid development in the field of retailing. These

changes have created diversity in supply, focus on selected customer segments and stimulated

high levels of demand (Gilbert, 2003). These made the firms realise that understanding,

meeting and anticipating customer needs as probably the most important factor of sustained

competitive advantage (Ueltschy et al., 2007). Customer satisfaction in retailing occurs when

the total shopping experience of the customer has been met or exceeded (Dunne & Lusch,

2008).

Researchers calculate the cost of recruiting a fresh customer is five times more than

the cost of preserving an existing customer (Barsky, 1994; Reichheld & Sasser, 1990). That is

why, even the market leaders never compromise on delivering quality services so that they

can maintain their customer loyalty (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Continuing business with retained

customers is profitable as they could save spending on a bunch of recruitment costs, such as

costs on advertising to persuade fresh customers, the costs of personnel selling to field to new

prospects; the costs of setting up new accounts; the costs of explaining business procedures to

new clients, and the costs of unproductive dealings during the customer’s learning process

(Peppers & Rogers, 1993). Moreover a larger base of satisfied customers can prove to be an

asset by bringing in cost savings through reduced customer turnover expenses; positive word-

of-mouth; increased cross-selling success; providing a major ‘percentage’ of customers; and

reducing failure costs (Griffin, 1998). Moreover, there is substantial value lying in building

and keeping the relationship with customers as it helps boost the trust and commitment that

customer feels towards the business organisation (Sheaves & Barnes, 1996). The superior

levels of trust and commitment in turn are linked with higher levels of customer retention and

without doubt, organisational profitability (Crutchfield, 2001). On the other hand, from the

customers point of view, a long term relationship with the service provider lessen risk,

simplify selection, and provides a feeling of optimal satisfaction for the customer (Gremler &

Brown, 1996). Therefore, an organisation’s long term success is determined by providing

customer satisfaction and thus expanding and maintaining a significant and loyal customer

base.

Employees have got a major part in customer satisfaction in the retailing industry.

This critical role of employees is mainly because of their direct interaction with the customer.

In a retailing sector, the front staff or the sales associates represent the whole company or

brand to the customer. Hence a highly motivated and well trained employee is becoming an

integral part of the organisation. According to Bowers & Martin (2007), the concept of

employee as customer is a framework the firm’s could adapt. In this concept the employee is

treated or considered as a customer and all the process of attracting, developing, motivating

and retaining them becomes important in the agenda of the company (Bowers & Martin,

2007). Again, wages are not just pounds and pence to an employee. An incentive, recognition

or job promotion could act as motivating factors for an employee.

2.5.4 Measuring Customer SatisfactionIn this environment of extreme competition, businesses and organisations are trying

hard to survive by overcoming the growing unemployment and less disposable income of

customers. So a customer oriented approach becomes important for both the profit and non-

profit firms. To understand the customer and to change according to their requirements

companies need to analyse themselves in the eyes of customers and measuring customer

satisfaction provides this. To the question why measure customer satisfaction, Harmon

(2009) provides the following answers: (1). To understand the customer quality expectations;

(2). To improve existing products and services; (3). To foster a climate of continuous

improvement; (4). To create customer loyalty; (5). To gain recognition; (6). To substantiate

claims of success in market.

If you want to measure the customer satisfaction, you need to have a clear idea of

what is to be measured. For that the researcher need to know and feel like a customer – in a

shopping mall, on a public transport, in the bank – or anywhere. Hill et al. (2003) view

customer satisfaction as the measure of how an organisation’s total product and service

performance in the scale set by the requirements of the customer. So to measure the customer

satisfaction it is important to measure both the expectation part and the satisfaction part.

Similar to other projects, the process of measuring customer satisfaction also should

start with setting the objectives. Identifying the customer requirements is the most important

factor in this. There will be a lot of important things from the perspective of a customer, but

the key is to recognising the critical ones. The next step is to measure the satisfaction – that is

how satisfied the customers are with the performance of the organisation comparing with the

requirements. Comparing themselves with a competitor can provide a benchmark in

performance as the customers will do this either consciously or subconsciously. Hence

carrying out a customer satisfaction measurement in isolation is never complete as the results

or conclusions will not be conveying the clear picture. However, this comparison should not

necessarily be with the direct competitors, it should be with other organisations that the

customers deal with more often (Hill et al., 2003). For example: customers going to a

particular supermarket in their neighbourhood out of three or four supermarkets; not usually

compare it with the other supermarket where they not go, but with other organisations and

services which is used to them.

2.5.5 Walk-through auditQuality and delivery of a service should meet the customer expectations from the

beginning to the end of the experience. Being a part of the service process, the customer

impressions of all parts of the service experience is vital in the final service quality and thus

in turn to customer satisfaction and loyalty. A walk-through audit is a customer focused

survey to uncover the areas of improvement (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2008). According

to the authors, it can be considered as an environmental audit which can be used as a practical

management tool for the systematic evaluation of a customer’s view of the service provided.

The first step in designing a walk-through audit is by preparing a flowchart of customer

interactions with the overall services they are receiving. In the case of this research, it starts

with approaching the Sportsdirect store in Liverpool One, walking into the store, the

cleanliness and ambience of the store, the ease of finding what the customer is searching for,

the order in which the items are showcased, the staff interactions, waiting in the queue for

making the payment and finally, paying the bill and receiving the item purchased. The

researcher needs to include all the necessary variables to analyse the customer satisfaction of

that particular service. The walk-through audit is a chance to analyse the service experience

from the customer’s point of view (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2008), because customers

are more likely to be aware of flaws that the managers might have ignored.

2.5.6 Mystery Customers According to Shepherd (2004), providing the customer with a customer experience

which can create a genuine customer loyalty is the hardest battleground business had ever

faced. Mystery shopping is a form of participant observation aiming to monitor the

consistency of processes and procedures used in the delivery of system (Wilson, 2001).

According to Market Research Society (MRS, 2008), “mystery customer can be defined as

the use of individuals trained to experience and measure any customer service process, by

acting as potential customers and in some way reporting back on their experience in a

detailed and objective way“. In the context of service industry, mystery customer will be able

to provide information on the service experience in the order it unfolds and will helps

develop better knowledge of the experimental nature of service (Wilson, 2001). Mystery

shopping not only can used to measure the quality of service delivery but also to benchmark

by sending mystery guests to branch offices of competitors (Van der Wiele et al., 2005).

Mystery shoppers will be well trained and thus will know the procedures and will be able to

critically measure the services.

2.5.7 Customer Satisfaction Survey and Focus GroupThese may be the most common methods used to measure customer satisfaction

and/or service quality. These aim to draw accurate information from the customers or the

participants. In the case of a questionnaire will be designed according to the needs of the

survey and will be distributed among the participants for completion. Focus group is used for

a semi-structured interview process and will include the customers, managers, front line staff

etc.

2.6 CONCLUSIONThe literature review examined the significance of relationship marketing, service

quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The relationship between these was also

discussed. And it became clear that they are very important for the health and wealth of an

organisation to survive in the present business world. With this information, the research is

trying to find out the customer satisfaction level in the sports retailing industry. For this the

researcher will concentrate on the Sports Direct retailing store in Liverpool One and a

quantitative survey will be carried out. The results from the survey will be used to analyse the

service standards, and quality provided and how it is tallying with the customer expectations.