Enhanced customer satisfaction through retail service quality (RSQ) : a study of in-store and online shoppers in the retail clothing industry

Abstract: With the aim to augment the number of customers in the retail sector, organisations attempt to assess customer satisfaction and loyalty level achieved in their sector. Retail service quality (RSQ) is a fundamental factor in determining the success of service organisations. The study aims at investigating in-store shoppers’ as well as online shoppers’ level of satisfaction. This paper’s purpose is to correlate the quality of retail service to customer satisfaction as well as loyalty in the framework of the retail industry in Johannesburg. The literature review enabled the identification of key elements of loyalty of customer, the quality of service and the satisfaction of customer. Literature has shown that the quality of service is significantly correlated with customer loyalty customer satisfaction. With the end goal of this investigation in mind, in-store shoppers were carefully chosen, as these customers prefer to frequent the stores due an enriched shopping experience. A structured mall intercept questionnaire was administered to 500 in-store retail shoppers in selected shopping malls, in the greater Johannesburg area. Simple random sampling was conducted in order to obtain a conducive sample size. A response rate of 476 out of 500, which equates to 95%, was obtained. Online shoppers also form part of the basis of the study, since organisations are progressing toward a digital era, shoppers can purchase item within the comfort of their homes and take advantage of products beings delivered to their door. In this regard, an online questionnaire was administered to 200 online retail shoppers. A response rate of 187 out of 200, which equates to 93%, was obtained. A proposed research framework and research hypotheses were developed through the information derived from existing researches and literature reviews, and thereafter the relevant hypotheses were tested through multiple regression analysis. Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient and exploratory factor analysis were employed to verify the reliability and validity of the measuring instrument, respectively. The results of the study empirically indicated a strong positive link between customer loyalty and service quality including the quality of service and customer satisfaction with regard to in-store and online shoppers. This indicated that clients are happy with the quality of service supplied by retailer stores, leading to the loyalty of customer and repeat purchases, eventually