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Received March 2007 Revised January 2008 Accepted January 2008

Store image attributes and customer satisfaction across different customer proles within the supermarket sector in Greece
Prokopis K. Theodoridis
Department of Business Administration of Food and Agricultural Enterprises, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece, and

Kalliopi C. Chatzipanagiotou
Department of Business Administration, The Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece
Abstract
Purpose 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. Design/methodology/approach The literature concerning major store image attributes was systematically reviewed. After assessing the construct validity of the store image attributes based on conrmatory 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 proles. Findings On appraising the store customers personal variables four specic types of buyers, namely, the Typical, the Unstable, the Social, and the Occasional, were identied. While four of the six considered store attributes appear to be signicant determinants of customer satisfaction, when examined for the degree of invariance between the four groups only Pricing and Products-related attributes were equally signicant in all four groups. Research limitations/implications 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. Practical implications The results facilitate the comprehension of the role that specic store attributes have on the satisfaction of store visitors with different proles. In addition, the results expand the retail managers knowledge on consumer behaviour, with rational motives (product and price-related). Originality/value The results expand ones knowledge on this relationship, propounding interesting empirical evidence of the model invariance among different consumer proles. Keywords Stores and supermarkets, Customer satisfaction, Retailing, Greece, Corporate image, Consumer behaviour Paper type Research paper
European Journal of Marketing Vol. 43 No. 5/6, 2009 pp. 708-734 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0309-0566 DOI 10.1108/03090560910947016

Both authors contributed equally to writing this paper.

Introduction Retailers operate in a competitive environment facing changes in customer needs, demographics, types of retailing, technology and retail ownership through mergers and acquisitions. In such an environment, the understanding and prediction of customer satisfaction is becoming an important subject. The retailers intention is to increase repeat customers. Nowadays, customers seek an experience, which is more than product variety and or quality: a synthesis of multi attributes which create a favourable retailer and store image. As a result, a critical issue for retail management is to determine the factors affecting satisfaction, to identify and target segments of customers, to ensure patronage on a long term basis (Bitner, 1990; Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt, 2000). In order to understand the factors affecting customer satisfaction, researchers have explored various store attributes considered by the customer. People during their shopping trip formulate their experiences in terms of satisfaction. In other words, the customers satisfaction is affected by the psychical environment of the store, the various procedures they have to follow (cashiers, queues, trafc, trolleys, etc), the moments of contact with personnel and the core offer of the retailer i.e. product variety, assortment, quality and pricing policy (Morschett et al., 2005). This evaluation of the total retailers offer in the customers mind is dened by Martineau (1958) as store image. Customers evaluate the whole retailer offer by combining all the attributes described above in order to decide their degree of satisfaction (Pan and Zinkhan, 2006; Finn and Louviere, 1996; Kasulis and Lusch, 1981). Several recent studies have examined the way that many of these attributes affect customer satisfaction (Gail and Scott, 1995; Bloemer and De Ruyter, 1998; Hackl et al., 2000). Nevertheless, past studies have neglected to investigate differences between different clusters of customers in terms of the priorities they placed on different store attributes when assessing satisfaction levels. Given the differences in the nature of satisfaction these customer groups experience through the retailers offer, dissimilarities in the perceived importance of store attributes may be anticipated. Moreover, both past and recent empirical studies mostly pertain to specic geographical regions or countries, such as the USA, Western Europe, Australia and Asia. This fact and the scarce empirical evidence from a different national retail context such as Greece (Baltas and Papastathopoulou, 2003; Baltas and Argouslidis, 2007), where there are possible differences with the above mentioned regions and countries in terms of culture and consumer behaviour, were the reasons per se for this study. Thus the objective of this study is rstly to explore the construct of retail store image in a supermarket context in Greece and then to examine retail store image attributes and its relationship to customer satisfaction in regards to the retailers offer. In this direction, the investigation further examines and compares the store image attributes-satisfaction relationship among customer subgroups. The paper is structured as follows: the rst section discusses the notion of store image attributes. Customer satisfaction is dened and personal variables and the shopping frequency are discussed in relation to their impact on customer behaviour. Next, different customer proles are examined in relation to their invariant impact of perceptions of store image attributes on their level of satisfaction with the retail offering. The last section of the paper provides conclusions and discussion of the ndings as well as research limitations and propositions for future work.

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Literature review Store image attributes Store image conceptualisation and its construct formulation have gained the attention of marketing and retailing literature for at least 30 years (Lindquist, 1974; Marks, 1976; James et al., 1976). The retail store has a personality composed of functional and psychological attributes (Martineau, 1958). In most cases retail store image is represented by a multi-attribute construct (Marks, 1976; James et al., 1976). Doyle and Fenwick (1974, p. 40) describe store image . . . as the consumers evaluation of all salient aspects of the store as individually perceived and weighted. It is known that to date there is no commonly accepted denition of store image (Morschett et al., 2005). This is mostly due to the gap between the various forms of its conceptualisation and operation (Morschett et al., 2005). The focus of a great part of the relative literature has predominantly been on the relationships among variables constituting the retail image and their representation. For example, a very early study of Kunkel and Berry (1968) suggested 12 components of retail store image and Lindquist (1974) illustrated store image with nine attributes. Literature focusing on various retail formats found different sets of store attributes to constitute what is dened as image (indicative: Doyle and Fenwick, 1974; Mazursky and Jacoby, 1986; Oppewal and Timmermans, 1997; Kim and Jin, 2001; Dong-Mo, 2003). When we focus on a supermarket store environment, the centre of the retailer core offer is the notion of the product. The retailers product proposal has been one of the key researched attributes of retail store image. Literature has indicated that elements of the product mix capture the quality and assortment of goods as well as their presentation (Lindquist, 1974). A perception of a great assortment certainly inuences store image and satisfaction with the store (Anselmsson, 2006). Juhl et al. (2002) investigating the degree of consumer satisfaction in ve European countries France, Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Switzerland found that product quality is the most important attribute of store image. A study of the Danish grocery retailing industry by Hansen and Solgaard (2004) (cited in Carpenter and Moore, 2006) identied that product assortment was the single most inuential variable affecting the choice of retail format across discount stores, hypermarkets and conventional supermarkets (Carpenter and Moore, 2006). Habitually, the customers perception on the quality of products and assortment are positively related to the patronage of a store (Darley and Jeen-Su, 1993; Jacoby and Mazursky, 1985; Arnold et al. 1983; Craig et al. 1984; Koelemeijer and Oppewal, 1999; Louviere and Gaeth, 1987) as well as the perceived merchandise value (Grewal et al. 2003). In addition, in a study in Greece, product assortment and quality were found to be the key drivers of customers choice (Baltas and Papastathopoulou, 2003). In addition, pricing either in conjunction or in isolation with product policy contributes to a great degree to the retailers positioning and personality (McGoldrick, 1990). The customer evaluates the retail offer in terms of forfeit. The retailers pricing policy refers to the monetary costs i.e. the cost of goods purchased or to be purchased. Pricing found to be one of the most important attributes in grocery-shopping decisions (Hortman et al., 1990). Further, the price level has been found to be an inuential factor in terms of retail format choice and determinant of different customer groups (Carpenter and Moore, 2006; Baltas and Papastathopoulou, 2003). People can be inelastic to price changes for grocery purchases (Fox et al., 2004).

Moreover, Sirohi et al. (1998) found that price has a great effect on the value of the store. On the other hand Fox et al. (2004), found that price was the weakest predictor of shopping and spending behaviour among consumers of supermarket chains in the USA. Although a supermarket context is a self-service one, it is certain that the service provision to the customer; fresh product area, bakery, cashiers etc. are an important attribute. The service provision includes moments of truth with personnel: information enquires, guidance to the location of goods, cashiers, etc. so, the relationship between consumer and retailer is enhanced by the service provision which increases the customers positive buying experience, and further affects future behaviour in terms of repeat visits (Reynolds and Beatty, 1999). Furthermore, customers perceptions regarding the performance of salespeople is a critical factor inuencing satisfaction (Darian et al., 2001). However, a study by Hansen and Solgaard (2004) found that quality and service levels did not appear to be inuential on the customer across different grocery formats. Another important attribute of supermarket store image is store atmosphere. This refers to the environment that is created by combining a set of visual elements of the physical store environment (colours, displays, decorative features, ease of movement etc) and stimulation of senses (smell, condition of the air, music, lighting) enabling an aesthetic consumer response. Stores with a favourable atmosphere are likely to increase the positive buying experience and customer satisfaction (Babin and Darden, 1996) as well as affecting the time the customer spends in the store and the amount spent (Babin and Darden, 1996; Babin et al., 2003; Donovan and Rossiter, 1982; Bellizzi et al., 1983; Eroglu and Machleit, 1990). Moreover, in store convenience represents an important attribute of store environmental stimuli. In store convenience refers to a store layout and design, which helps customers plan their trip in terms of orientation and direction. They also become skilled at understanding the various signs and labels and control their shopping exploration and trip (Bitner, 1990; Spies et al., 1997). The successful layout of a store depends on whether it has a clear and legible concept; i.e. one can easily nd products and nd them the rst time on different trips. The various labels, information posters and signs can contribute to the concept of the store layout design in creating a favourable and attractive store environment (Spies et al., 1997). Retail literature agrees that consumers impute differing degrees of value on certain store attributes (Osman, 1993). Therefore, to predict satisfaction with a retail store and its offer, it is necessary to look at whether the store meets the expectations of specic consumer segments in terms of attributes. The prediction and the adaptation of the retail offer towards to the consumers expectation leads to satisfaction, a crucial determinant of retail success. Customer satisfaction Satisfaction is a crucial issue for both customer and retail management. It is an important concept within general retail marketing and consumer research. (Anselmsson, 2006). Customer satisfaction in a retail setting has been linked to a number of important outcomes, including sales performance, customer retention and loyalty (Darian et al., 2001; Wong and Sohal, 2003; Gomez et al., 2004; Anselmsson,

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2006; Martenson, 2007). As a result, it is imperative that retailers know the determinants of customer satisfaction. An extensive examination of early studies in consumer satisfaction illustrates that most researchers dene customer satisfaction, as a post choice evaluative judgment concerning a specic purchase decision (Bearden and Teel, 1983; Churchill and Surprenant, 1982; Oliver, 1979, 1980; Oliver and DeSarbo, 1988; Bloemer and De Ruyter, 1998). Many authors have further explored the notion of customer satisfaction. They identied two main types of satisfaction: the transaction-specic and the overall or cumulative satisfaction (Bolton and Drew, 1991; Boulding et al., 1993). From the transaction-specic perspective, customer satisfaction is viewed as a post-choice evaluation of a specic purchase occasion (Oliver, 1980, 1981). In contrast, the overall or cumulative perspective suggests that satisfaction accumulates across a series of experiences with the product, which results in an overall evaluation over time (Anderson et al., 1994; Fornell, 1992). In addition, recent studies claim that satisfaction should be viewed as a judgment based on the cumulative experience rather than a transaction specic phenomenon (Anderson et al., 1994; Bayus, 1992). Cumulative satisfaction in the retail setting can be interpreted as the result of evaluating the shopping trip and retailers offer in correlation to the consumers fullled expectations (Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt, 2000). Thus, customer satisfaction in this study is dened as the customers overall evaluation of the store experience (MacIntosh and Lockshin, 1997, p. 489). As satisfaction is the overall evaluation of all stimuli affecting the customer in the store, it is certain that one can dene different subgroups of customers with different levels of satisfaction (Morschett et al., 2005). In consumer research, it is commonly accepted, that different individuals react differently to the same stimuli. In this study it was deemed crucial to identify different customer proles in order to be more effective and efcient in implementing marketing strategies and tactics. Customer proles Segmentation of customers has been explored by many researchers seeking to understand shopping behaviour in an endeavour to develop marketing strategies for particular consumer groups. Market segmentation holds the key to a successful marketing strategy as it advances the understanding of the key variables that differentiate the specic segment (Jarratt, 1996; Gehrt and Yan, 2004). The majority of the relative literature on consumer demographics, typology and consequently on segmentation is in the area of non-food retailing (Bellenger et al., 1977; Lumpkin et al., 1985; Burt and Gabbott, 1995; Otnes and McGrath, 2001; Mazursky and Jacoby, 1986; Johnson-Hilary et al., 1997; Grace and OCass, 2005). When examining the literature in the retail eld, one distinguishes at least three research groups. The rst group, focuses on the examination of specic demographic variables, like gender or age, investigating the relation with various other consumer behaviour-related variables (satisfaction, patronage, loyalty) (Dholakia, 1999; Pan and Zinkhan, 2006; Gelb, 1978; Lambert, 1979; Burnett, 1991; Roy, 1994). The second group focuses on the effort of proving the weight of personal characteristics (demographics) and/or shopping elements like frequency in relation to store image attributes or shopping orientation (Kim and Park, 1997; Bawa and Ghosh, 1999; Hortman et al., 1990; Carpenter and Moore, 2006), and

nally, the third group which is similar to the second underlines the national/geographical context or comparative studies between two or three national contexts (Home, 2002; Baltas and Papastathopoulou, 2003; Baltas and Argouslidis, 2007). Examining the literature of the rst research group, it has to be mentioned that in the majority of the studies gender is one of the most researchable elements of consumer demographics (Dholakia, 1999; Pan and Zinkhan, 2006). Even though females have been the key determinants of shopping activity, males are becoming progressively more active shoppers (Dholakia, 1999). Although, the number of men shopping for food is substantial, few retailers and manufacturers have acknowledged or addressed this segment (Dholakia, 1999; Zeithaml, 1985). Age is another demographic characteristic that has attracted considerable research attention. Particularly, the elderly have indeed different needs from other segments in store attributes, like customer service (Gelb, 1978; Lambert, 1979; Burnett, 1991; Lumpkin et al., 1985; Schewe, 1984) and store layout and convenience facilities (Gelb, 1978; Lambert, 1979; Tincher, 1990). The older the person the more likely to be economy conscious (Mason and Bearden, 1978). Also, the young population needs more attention, as it has different behavioural characteristics, such as devoting less time for shopping and only visiting certain types of retailers (Roy, 1994). In the second stream of research some researchers focus, on a set of personal characteristics (demographics) and/or shopping elements like frequency in relation to store image attributes (Kim and Park, 1997; Bawa and Ghosh, 1999). For instance, Hortman et al. (1990) found three different consumer segments based on variables such as; the age of the household head, educational level, family income. These segments found to place different emphasis on different store attributes such as price, product assortment, convenience, personal service, atmosphere when selecting supermarkets. In contrast with the above ndings Carpenter and Moore (2006), found that specic demographics such as income, education and age appeared to not affect consumer behaviour. The third research group includes studies, which underlined the national/geographical context as very important and in many cases it is the only form factor of store attributes evaluation and consumer satisfaction. For example in Finland, Home (2002) found that supermarket customers were more educated, younger, had a family with children, and had a higher income level in comparison with other retail-format customers. As one could expect they are more conscious regarding the evaluation of their degree of satisfaction. Considering Greece, females tend to pay relatively more attention to economic criteria when choosing brands or stores. (Baltas and Papastathopoulou, 2003). Furthermore, Baltas and Argouslidis (2007) investigating store brand preference within the grocery category found that spending per trip, monthly expenditure, gender, family size and age are not associated with store brands preference. In the same study education level was negatively associated with price related decision criteria, mainly because university and college graduates tend to receive greater salaries (Baltas and Argouslidis, 2007). From the above, it became clear that there is a general agreement or direction revealed by empirical ndings relative to consumer segmentation or typology and the role of personal variables and shopping behaviour elements. Nevertheless, it is not clear how and in what degree specic demographics affect customer behaviour across various types of retailing and different contexts (Kim and Jin, 2001). Thus it is crucial

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in this study to examine the customers of supermarkets in terms of their perception of store image attributes and satisfaction in order to discover how personal variables such as age, gender, educational level, family cycle and shopping frequency affect this relationship. Research aims and hypotheses The relationship between the stores image attributes and consumer satisfaction has been mentioned by many researchers in the literature (Gail and Scott, 1995; Bloemer and De Ruyter, 1998; Hackl et al., 2000; Jin and Jai-Ok, 2001; Thang and Tan, 2003; Gomez et al., 2004). Despite this fact, there are still unresolved issues concerning the conceptualisation, operationalisation and the true nature of the relationship between the two constructs. Nevertheless, for retailers, the problem is how to cope with increased competition taking into account the dynamics of different store attributes in order to improve customer satisfaction. To enable informed decisions on this issue, retailers need to know more about the role of each store attribute such as products, store atmosphere, personnel etc. The literature has illustrated that ndings and the mix of attributes related to the store image are not necessarily applicable from one retail sector to another (Birtwistle et al., 1999). Although Davies (1992) suggested that retail store image is almost situation specic. Since the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the construct of store image attributes was developed in culturally diverse contexts, a non validity with the current sample was deemed possible. Thus, the rst objective of this study is to examine the relationship of the store attributes and consumer satisfaction in the Greek context. Past studies have also explored how levels of satisfaction varied in relation to basic demographic variables such as gender and age. It is crucial for retailers to know the magnitude of the relationship between store image attributes and customer satisfaction, in their markets, how it is changing, and to be aware of any differences between customer segments. Therefore, the second research objective is the investigation of the causal relationship between store image attributes and satisfaction between different subgroups obtained from gender, age, family cycle, educational level and frequency of shopping visit. These objectives led to the formulation of the following research hypotheses: H1. Store image attributes (merchandising, products, store atmosphere, personnel, price and in store convenience) have a direct positive effect on customer satisfaction. H2. The effect of store image attributes on customer satisfaction will vary among different customers proles. Methodology Sample and data collection The three largest multiple supermarket chains with nation-wide coverage were chosen, because their customers represent a wide range in the spectrum of consumer demographics.

714

In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 customers in order to verify any potential problems concerning the wording of the questionnaire as well as its translation into the Greek language. Moreover, qualitative research identied the adaptation and in some cases the deletion of specic items. The items (originally developed in English) were translated into Greek by native speakers and then back translated into English to ensure equivalent meaning (Brislin, 1980). The questionnaire was structured. In total, 15 stores of the three chains in Attiki County were selected due to cover heterogeneous residential areas. Personal in-store interviews were adopted as a cost-effective means of collecting data and suited in order to capture and ensure variables relative to the store image attributes and their respective level of satisfaction. Researchers selected one person in every ve shoppers entering the store. The respondents were not given any incentive and they contributed voluntarily. The interviews were conducted on different days covering all the operating days of a supermarket (day to day in a cyclic manner for all the stores) as well as at uniformly distributed time intervals (within three sessions of operating hours: 9:00 am to 13:00 pm, 13:00 to 17:00 pm and 17:00-21:00 pm), in order to reduce date, and time related response-bias. The eld research lasted two months. Finally, 634 questionnaires were lled but 630 questionnaires were usable. Table I presents the frequencies and percentages of the respondents-customers divided according to gender, age, family cycle, education and shopping frequency. Specically, the nal sample consisted of 234 males (37.1 per cent) and 396 females (62.9 per cent). The respondents have been categorised into ve age ranges. All the age categories present an almost balanced distribution. The majority of the sample is married with children (57.8 per cent). Singles are represented to a great degree, 30.6 per
Variables Gender Family cycle Values Male Female Single Married Married Children 18-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56 Low (elementary and basic) Medium (Lyceum and vocational) High (graduate & postgraduate) Very often (two times/week) Often (one time/week or less) Less often (one time/15days-month) Seldom (less than one time/month) Frequency 234 396 193 73 364 102 120 168 131 109 66 241 323 131 347 131 21 Valid (%) 37.1 62.9 30.6 11.6 57.8 16.2 19.0 26.7 20.8 17.3 10.5 38.3 51.3 20.8 55.1 20.8 3.3

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Age

Educational level

Shopping frequency

Note: n 630

Table I. Sample prole

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cent of the total sample. Relative to the educational level, slightly more than half of the sample, are graduates or postgraduates (51.3 per cent), followed by 38.3 per cent who completed a lyceum or vocational school. Last but not least, the majority of the customers are frequent supermarket shoppers as they shop almost every week (55.1 per cent). Both the sides of the shopping frequency i.e. less often and very often present a balanced distribution (20.8 per cent). Purifying the measures The methodology concerning measures employed and data analysis follows three steps. The rst step is to conrm the factor structure of measurement items of store image attributes. The second step investigates the relative importance of each of the store image dimensions in the customers satisfaction formation for the total sample. Finally, in the third step, a multigroup analysis was conducted to investigate the invariance between customer subgroups (clusters) based on demographics and frequency of supermarket visit. Store image attributes. Store image attributes scale was developed based on the previous work of Lindquist(1974) as well as on the adoption of specic items found in the recent literature (Oppewal and Timmermans, 1997; Keh and Teo, 2001). Preliminary instrument of 30 items designed to capture the store image construct. The specic instrument was tested through in-depth personal interviews with 20 customers from the research population in order to derive content validity seven items were dropped and three were replaced according to the respondents suggestions. This process produced a slightly modied pool of 23 items. Thus the adapted nal version used a seven-point Likert scale where respondents were asked to indicate their agreement with each item. The rst phase of the analysis involved an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in order to derive a preliminary examination of the factorial structure of the measure-store image attributes (Stevens, 1996) (Table II). The results of EFA were then examined through conrmatory factor analysis (CFA) in order to assess the convergent validity and the unidimensionality of the partial constructs. From the results EFA questions (items) with factor loadings of less than 0.40 were excluded. The exploratory factor analysis led to the detection of six factors that collectively construed 60 per cent of the total uctuation of the initial variables: (1) products; (2) pricing; (3) atmosphere; (4) personnel; (5) merchandising; and (6) in-store convenience. Conrmatory factor analysis (CFA) was subsequently conducted to conrm the factor resko g and Sorbom, structure of the six store image attributes using AMOS 7.0 (Jo 1993). The t indices (CFI 0.921, GFI 0.938, AGFI 0.914, TLI 0.902 and RMSEA 0.05) suggest that the model with the six latent variables represents a good t to the data (Table III and Figure 1). The instrument demonstrates evidence of both convergent (signicant critical ratios, Average Variance Extracted . 0.50 in all

716

Factors (varimax method) Factor 1: Personnel (22.2% of total variance)

Items loading in each factor Nice presentation (Presentation) Caring about the consumer (Caring) Friendly (Friendly) Knowledgeable (Knowledge) Appropriate number (Number) Appropriate temperature (Temperature) Very good air-cleaning system (Air-cleaning system) Cleanliness (Cleanliness) Pleasant smell (Smell) There is a great product variety (Variety) The quality of the products is very good (Quality) Always I nd the shelves full (Full shelves) The prices are low comparative the major competitors (Price-competitors) The price-quality relation is very good (Price-quality) The prices are very good (Good prices) One can easy nd the products she/he need (Easy nding) I like the colours (Colours) I have no problem with the labels (Labelling)

Cronbachs alpha Loadings coefcients 0.701 0.854 0.854 0.754 0.680 0.589 0.765 0.699 0.766 0.817 0.786 0.569 0.830 0.589 0.869 0.628 0.669 0.708 0.820 0.669 0.644 0.701 0.650 0.704

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0.809

717

Factor 2: Atmosphere (9.1% of total variance)

Factor 3: Products (8.1% of total variance)

Factor 4: Pricing (7.5% of total variance)

Factor 5: Merchandising (6.4% of total variance)

0.620

Factor 6: In-store convenience The corridors are spacious (Corridors) (5.8% of total variance) Trolleys and baskets help me to a great degree in my shopping trip (Carriage)

Notes: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy: 0.776, Bartletts Test of Sphericity: x 2 3252, 2 signicant 0.000, Total Variance explained: 60 per cent

Table II. Store image attributes: exploratory factor analysis

occasions) and discriminant (AVE is greater than or equal to unity in all occasions) validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981) (Table III). Customer satisfaction. A customer satisfaction was conceptualised as an overall satisfaction rather than a transaction-specic post-purchase evaluation. A three-item scale based on the previous work of Crosby and Stephens (1987), Bryant and Cha (1996) and Fornell (1992) used in terms of overall satisfaction with the store. The respondents were asked to indicate their agreement with each item using a seven-point Likert scale (how satised they are with their supermarket, how well this supermarket match their expectations, and nally, how close this supermarket is to their ideal supermarket). An acceptable level of Cronbach alpha (a 0:945) allowed the creation of an additional scale, which was used as endogenous variable in the path model.

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Estimate Personnel Presentation Caring Friendly Knowledge Number Atmosphere Temperature Air cleaning system Cleanliness Smell Products Variety Quality Full shelves Pricing Prices competitors Prices quality Good prices Merchandising Easy nding Colours Labelling In-store convenience Corridors Carriage Table III. Store image attributes: conrmatory factor analysis 1.000 1.091 1.031 1.091 0.945 0.656 0.972 1.047 1.000 1.000 1.146 0.925 1.000 0.666 1.328 0.647 1.000 0.697 1.000 0.932 C.R. 14.474 12.960 13.857 9.686 8.405 11.984 11.841 10.254 9.119 10.503 10.713 7.347 7.725 9.222

Standardized regression Convergent Discriminant weights AVE validity (Corr)2 validity 0.696 0.755 0.673 0.691 0.451 0.420 0.706 0.683 0.616 0.709 0.681 0.490 0.652 0.479 0.907 0.554 0.652 0.470 0.735 0.871

718

0.574

YES

0.216

YES

0.563

YES

0.278

YES

0.604

YES

0.152

YES

0.589

YES

0.080

YES

0.528

YES

0.278

YES

0.746

YES

0.181

YES

Notes: ( ) Indicates the initial parameter was set to 1.0 for model estimation purposes; Abbreviations: AVE average variance extracted S (standard loadings) 2 /S (standard loadings)2 S1ij; Conv Convergent validity (AVE . 0.50). Discriminant validity AVE/(Corr2) . 1. (Corr)2 highest correlation between the examined factor and the rest of factors

Figure 1. Store image attributes: measurement model

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Figure 2. Store image attributes and customer satisfaction (initial model)

Data analysis: ndings After the methodological procedures, data analysis investigating the relationship between store image attributes and customer satisfaction for the total sample was conducted. The model consisted of the six store image dimensions as latent exogenous variables and customer satisfaction as an endogenous observed variable (see Figure 2). It should be noted that since this model is saturated, it showed a very good t to the specic data (CFI 0.913, GFI 0.931, AGFI 0.905, TLI 0.891 and RMSEA 0.05). The results of the analysis produced a mixed picture regarding the signicance of estimated coefcients. Specically, the estimated coefcients showed that personnel (pers), pricing (pric), products (prod), in-store convenience (con) are statistically signicant. Atmosphere (atmos) and merchandising (merc) were found to be non signicant determinants of customer satisfaction (Figure 3). The relative importance among the four signicant variables inuencing customer satisfaction, were then examined. Following the direction of the research propositions, the equality of the four signicant coefcients for the total sample were examined (x 2 23:811, p , 0:02, df 12). This result led to the conclusion that the four

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Figure 3. Store image attributes and customer satisfaction (modied model)

coefcients were not equal. Three additional tests for invariance among all the possible alternative couples of the four variables were then conducted: (1) pers pric and prod con; (2) pers prod and pric con; and (3) pers con and prod pric. As shown from the results in Table IV the examination of Dx 2 between the constrain models and the unconstrained one, it is easily concluded that in the rst and second test the possible alternative pairs of variables statistically differ in the magnitude of inuence they had on customer satisfaction. However, the third testing which involving the constraint pers con and prod pric, a non signicant Dx 2 difference value of 2.432 df 2 and p 0:296 was observed, which indicated that the constrained model tted the data as well as the unconstrained model. In other words it can be concluded that the two pairs of variables personnel and in-store convenience as well as products and pricing did not statistically differ in the magnitude of inuence they had on customer satisfaction. The next stage of analysis, focused on the issue concerning invariance of path relationships between the different proles created on the basis of basic demographic variables and consumer satisfaction. Demographics such as gender, age, educational level, family cycle and the frequency of visiting a store are usually, in the practice of retailing an aid in the construction of consumers proles (Carpenter and Moore, 2006).

Goodness of t measures Unconstrained model GFI 0.945; AGFI 0.913; CFI 0.947; TLI 0.927; RMSEA 0.06 GFI 940;AGFI 0.907; CFI 0.941; TLI 0.921; RMSEA 0.063 GFI 0.940; AGFI 0.901; CFI 0.939; TLI 0.918; RMSEA 0.062 GFI 0.946; AGFI 0.915; CFI 0.948; TLI 0.930; RMSEA 0.058

x2 Dx 2

Df Ddf

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231.337 269.488 38.151 270.281 38.944 233.769 2.432

79 81 2 81 2 81 2

0.000

Test 1 (pers pric and prod con) Test 2 (pers prod and pric con) Test 3 (pers con and pric prod)

721
0.000

0.000 Table IV. Total sample equality tests

0.296

In order to examine the relative importance among the demographic variables in inuencing customer satisfaction, several tests were conducted. Specically, a t-test result indicated that male and female did not differ in their satisfaction level (t 0:378, p 0:706). Hence, gender emerged as a non signicant determinant of customer satisfaction. However, a signicant between age-subgroups difference was observed from ANOVA test results (F 6:883, p 0:000). Similarly, results for educational level (F 3:138, p 0:044), family cycle (F 2:112, p 0:04), and shopping frequency (F 21:037, p 0:000) showed a signicant difference in each of the demographic variable subgroups and customer satisfaction level. From the above it is comprehensible that gender will no longer be considered in the data analysis. So, in order to explore the possibility that different clusters of customers exist, a hierarchical cluster analysis was performed, this included age, educational level, family cycle and shopping frequency. Within this framework, three alternatives were examined with three, four and ve groups respectively in order to select the solution that would best characterise the sample data (maximum external isolation and internal cohesion). Furthermore, a variance analysis (ANOVA) was used where every variables differences among the partial groups were checked according to the Duncan Multiple Range test. Of the three alternatives that were examined, nally, the one with the four groups seemed to be the more appropriate. The results of this specic solution are shown in the Table V. The rst cluster contains the majority (34.4 per cent) of customers. This cluster describes people that could be characterized as Typical. They are highly educated, married with children and in the age category of 36-45. They shop in supermarkets almost every week. The second cluster describes customers that could be characterised as Unstable (22.1 per cent). These are single, highly educated, in the age category of 26-35 and shop once per fortnight or less. The third cluster (31.1 per cent), describes customers that could be characterised as Social. These are married with children and are the oldest 56 and over. They have a college or a vocational degree and are the most frequent shoppers averaging two visits per week. Finally, the fourth cluster constitutes the sample minority (12.4 per cent). They occasionally to seldom visit the supermarket,

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Variables Single 26-35 High education Less often (one time/15 days-month)

Family cycle Age Educational level Shopping frequency

Note: p 0.000

Table V. Cluster analysis results Typical (22.1%) (31.1%) Married Children 56 Medium education Often (one time/week or less) Unstable Social (12.4%) Single 18-25 Low education Seldom (Less than one time/month) Occasional F 911.328 * 720.455 * 36.939 * 76.252 *

(34.4%)

Married Children 36-45 High education Often (one time /week or less)

thus, could be characterised as an Occasional customer. They only have a basic education, are single and the youngest of all the clusters. In order to examine the potential differences within the level of customer satisfaction among the four clusters, a variance analysis (one-way ANOVA through the test Duncan Multiple range test of Duncan) was employed. As shown from the results of Table VI, the Social customer is most satised, followed by the Typical and Occasional who enjoy almost the same level of satisfaction. In contrast the Unstable, the second cluster, is the customer that is less satised. This investigation then focused on the issue concerning invariance of the path relationships among clusters identied earlier. In the preliminary single-group analysis it was found that, for each group atmosphere and merchandising were problematic; these variables were subsequently deleted. The results seem to suggest that each clusters model ts the data well and indicated that the four stores attributes: personnel, pricing, products and in-store convenience could be included in each cluster. In order to see if the four store image dimensions had the same pattern of inuence on customer satisfaction in four subgroups, a multigroup analysis was subsequently conducted. In conducting a multigroup analysis, a key concern is whether the instrument is cross-groups invariant. Measurement invariance refers to whether or not, under different conditions of observing and studying phenomena (e.g. cultures, countries, products, etc), measurement operations yield measures of the same attribute (Horn and McArdle, 1992, p. 117). In other words, a major concern is whether differences in demographic and frequency of shopping of the respondents reect real differences in causal relationships. Whilst there are various forms of invariance measurement, for the purpose of this study a metric invariance test (i.e. invariance of path loadings) is the relevant form (Steenkamp and Baumgartner, 1998). The metric invariance is a more rigid type of invariance as it requires equal metrics across groups. Therefore the following models were examined: Model 1. There are common factors for each of the four subgroups, but freed elements are estimated without constraint. Model 2. The path loadings are equivalent for the four subgroups (constrained model) (pers1 pers2 pers3 pers4 con1 con2 con3 con4 prod1 prod2 prod3 prod4 pric1 pric2 pric3 pric4). In order to evaluate whether each of the above models ts well, the chi-square reskog, 1971). Using the difference test was used as Model 2 is a nested of Model 1 (Jo
Clusters (%) Typical Unstable Social Occasional Notes: p 0.000 34.4 22.1 31.1 12.4 Consumer satisfaction (Means) 3.84 3.77 4.04 3.85

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F 6.679 *

Table VI. ANOVA results consumer satisfaction in the different clusters

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Dx 2, the statistical signicance of the difference in t of the two models was examined. The result of the Dx 2 test between Model 1 and Model 2 indicated that Model 2 was not signicantly different from the unrestricted Model 1 (Dx 2 3:909, df 15, p 0:000) and Model 1 ts the data better, illustrating a non full metric invariance (four coefcients of the variables were not equal). A detailed examination of the estimated path coefcients showed that the pattern of relationships between the store image dimensions and customer satisfaction produced a mixed picture. As shown, Table VII for the typical, pricing and products are statistically signicant while coefcients for personnel and in-store convenience are not statistically signicant. A similar picture emerges for the unstable and social. These ndings imply that, in the typical, unstable and social customers, pricing and product are the major factors affecting their satisfaction level. Conversely, personnel and in-store convenience seem to be non critical factors of satisfaction. The occasional is different. Personnel, pricing and product were signicant while in-store convenience is not. An additional test involving the constraint the equality of the path coefcients of personnel and in-store convenience (pers1 pers2 pers3 pers4 con1 con2 con3 con4) and the path coefcients of Pricing and Products (pric1 pric2 pric3 pric4 prod1 prod2 prod3 prod4) for the four subgroups was conducted. The result of the Dx2 test between Model 1 and Model 2 indicated that Model 2 was signicantly different from the unrestricted Model 1 (Dx 2 23:269, df 12, p 0:026) and Model 1 ts the data better. The last test, concerns the constraint of the equality of the path coefcients of pricing and products (prod1 prod2 prod3 prod4 pric1 pric2 pric3 pric4). A non signicant Dx 2 value of 3.502, df 5 and p 0:623 was observed, which indicated that the constrained model ts the data as well as the unconstrained. As shown Table VII, Model 2 ts the data well and slightly better than Model 1. Thus, it can be concluded that this studys model exhibited partial metric invariance across the four sub-groups. To summarize take in Table VII: . The effect of pricing and products was positive and equivalent for all clusters. . The coefcients of pricing and products are statistically signicant for all clusters. . The coefcient of personnel is statistically signicant only for the occasional customers. Discussion The analysis of the data in terms of methodology and formulation of the ndings followed three steps. The rst step was to conrm the factor structure of measurement items of store image attributes. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) as well as the conrmatory factor analysis (CFA) led to the detection of six factors which constitute the supermarket store image attributes, titled: products, pricing, atmosphere, personnel, merchandising and in-store convenience. The relationship between store image attributes and customer satisfaction for the total sample was then examined. All the latent variables (image attributes factors), part of a model, showed an acceptable level of t to the data, only four of the six variables were statistically signicant: personnel, pricing, products and in-store convenience. It

Typical 0.117 0.362 * 0.267 * 0.206 * GFI 913;

Model 1 (unconstrained) Unstable Social Occasional Typical

Model 2 (constrained) Unstable Social Occasional

Personnel satisfaction Pricing satisfaction Products satisfaction In-store con. satisfaction

Goodness of t measures x 2, df Dx 2, Ddf, p

Standardized loadings 0.132 0.103 0.484 * 0.102 0.132 0.033 0.422 * 0.361 * 0.443 * 0.316 * 0.396 * 0.361 * 0.400 * 0.403 * 0.446 * 0.389 * 0.259 * 0.283 * 0.446 * 0.278 * 0.233 * 0.033 0.138 0.092 0.191 0.033 0.156 0.112 AGFI 901; CFI 934; TLI 0.901; GFI 914; AGFI 911; CFI 935; TLI 0.0904; RMSEA 0.036 RMSEA 0.035 429.871; 240 433.373; 245 3.502; 5; 0.623

Note: p 0.000

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Table VII. Comparison of goodness of t measures along the two models

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seems that elements of the supermarket atmosphere (atmosphere) as well as the presentation of goods (merchandising) do not have a signicant impact on customer satisfaction. Pricing and products are found to be the key determinants of customer satisfaction, followed by personnel and in-store convenience. So, the rst research hypothesis Store image attributes (pricing, products, personnel, in-store convenience) have a direct positive effect on customer satisfaction (H1) can be partly accepted. In preparation for detecting segments within the sample (cluster analysis), the behaviour of various sub groups, the demographic variables and the frequency of visiting the supermarket in relation to customer satisfaction was examined. Gender, one the most researched variables within marketing and retail literature was eliminated from further analysis. No signicant difference between genders concerning the level of their satisfaction with the retailer offer was found. Age, family cycle, education level and frequency of visit are the most important variables in determining customers proles. However, these variables can differentiate when considering the level of satisfaction the customer derives. Hierarchical cluster analysis, showed four clusters of customers: The typical, unstable, social and occasional. It is evident that the identied clusters are the types of customers we have seen in the supermarket: The retired person chatting with the personnel, mostly in the fresh products section, The family-man with an almost full trolley list in hand, crossing off items as he purchases them. The single person looking for few but carefully selected products and the young person who is listening to the latest hits on an mp3 player and shopping. Seeing this picture, it is presumable that we found the social customer to be the most satised, followed by the typical and the occasional who enjoy almost the same level of satisfaction. Finally, in a third step, a multigroup analysis was conducted to investigate the invariance between customers segments (clusters). The results of invariance analysis indicated that the four store image attributes in the form of latent variables have indeed a positive effect on customer satisfaction. This however, differentiates among the four customers proles. Thus, it can be concluded that the studys model exhibited partial metric invariance across the four sub-groups when examining the total sample. An examination of the estimated path coefcients showed that the pattern of relationships between the store image dimensions and customer satisfaction produced a mixed picture among the different proles of customers. For all the four different proles the impact of products and pricing is statistical signicant. The variety, quality and assortment of products have a strong impingement on satisfaction as also shown in previous studies. Conversely the pricing policy is still nowadays an important determinant of customer satisfaction. Shoppers compare the pricing policy of their preferred supermarket with competitors; evaluate the price-value relationship and always seek the best prices in relation to product assortment and quality. In this study it is proved that products and pricing are the core attributes of the supermarket store image. Retailers have to invest in developing a differentiated policy having as a basis these two attributes. In addition to the product and pricing attributes, personnel indeed affects the satisfaction level of the occasional, who probably found personnel to be very supportive and helpful. Simultaneously, they try to learn the supermarket layout in order to facilitate shopping. The occasional customer most likely, has the luxury of visiting the supermarket in out of crowd hours leading to a more rigorous evaluation of store layout.

The three customer proles who are the most crucial for the retailer as they represent almost 88 per cent of the studys sample are not inuenced by attributes such as personnel and in-store convenience. Their frequency of visit leads them to take these two attributes a priori since they expect to nd adequate personnel in terms of service and number. They are familiar with the supermarket they patronise, knowing its layout and facilities. So, the third research proposition: the impact of store image attributes on customer satisfaction will be varied among the different customers proles (H2) is accepted. Conclusions The results of the study present a signicant contribution, for both scholars and practitioners. First, the study reveals an interesting nding regarding the construct of store image attributes and the interrelations between its distinct dimensions. Six major attributes were highlighted: products, pricing, atmosphere, personnel, merchandising and in store convenience. With regards to the validation of the instrument the necessary psychometric attributes were provided. The implication from this examination is a gain of deeper insight regarding the constructs dimensions, which in turn, allows structuring the various attributes. In addition, results demonstrated that store image attributes and satisfaction relationships are robust in a Greek retail context. More specically, results of the total sample analysis showed that Greek customers evaluated store image as statistical signicant for their satisfaction levels. In particular, four of these six attributes emerged as signicant determinants of satisfaction. However, atmosphere and merchandising did not have a signicant impact on satisfaction formation. These ndings are in concordance with the human motivation and hedonic shopping consumption theory (see Hirschman, 1980; Holbrook, 1980). More specically, the ndings from this study would seem to suggest that visiting a super market is more task-oriented and rational behaviour stimulated by extrinsic/rational motivations (Babin et al., 1994). On the contrary, hedonic stimulation (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982) of the decision to visit a super market appears to be only marginal, if existent at all. Consequently, experiential cues (Groeppel-Klein and Germelmann, 2003) that do not relate with the utilitarian motives, which appear to underlie the decision to visit a super market, have no signicant impact on the evaluation of the store and the on the customers decision to re-visit the store. Within this framework, one also had to bear in mind that customers develop specic preferences for specic brands. Regardless whether such preferences are habitual or demonstrate loyalty to the brand (Gounaris and Stathakopoulos, 2004), weaken the consumers actual involvement with the stores atmosphere and aesthetics since they enter the supermarket with a predetermined choice plan. In fact, the more the consumer visits the store the more the stores environment becomes familiar and this strengthens the consumers inclination to move the stores environment to the subconscious level: Unless the store environment causes a substantial (negative or positive) surprise the customer will not notice it (Spies et al., 1997). Findings regarding the satisfaction levels reported by various subgroups investigated in this study are also noteworthy. The investigation of age, educational level, family cycle and shopping frequency results are a very useful typology of

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customers. Some ndings within previous relative literature seem to slightly differ due to changes in consumer behaviour. It was a little unexpected to nd no gender related statistical differences. This studys ndings indicate that consumers transform and inversely, differences are smoothed daily. Males are becoming more active supermarket shoppers and their satisfaction does not differ from females (Dholakia, 1999). Four clusters of customers were dened: (1) the typical; (2) the unstable; (3) the social; and nally (4) occasional. The results demonstrated that the social is most satised, followed by the typical and occasional who have almost the same levels of satisfaction. In contrast the unstable, describes the customer that is less satised. This interesting typology gives the opportunity to investigate the relationships between store image attributes and customer satisfaction among different groups. The invariance analysis results established that pricing and products was positive and equivalent for all clusters. The variety, quality and assortment of the products have a strong impingement of satisfaction. The pricing policy is a determinant as customers compare prices of their preferred supermarket with competitors. The price-value-quality relationship is a universal combination affecting all customers in their level of satisfaction. Equally personnel affects the satisfaction level of the occasional, probably due to the aid they require from supermarket staff as they do not know the store layout and/or facilities. These ndings suggest a number of implications for supermarket managers. To be more specic, the results expand the retail managers knowledge on consumer behaviour which appears to be mainly task-oriented. In other words, supermarket managers have to understand that their customers are driven mainly by utilitarian motives. This means that their behaviour is characterised by task-oriented, product-oriented and price rational motives leading them to give less consideration to other store attributes. The lack of hedonic motivations cannot inuence shoppers to be impulse buyers, susceptible to the inuence of supermarket marketing tactics at the point of purchase. Unless these conditions are changed, supermarkets possibly face a progressive commoditization of the experience they offer and prot margins will decline as a result of decreased customer perceived store differentiation. Therefore, supermarket managers should stimulate hedonic shopping motivation in order to inuence shoppers to remain longer and buy more. This requires positioning strategies and targeting a relatively small market (for instance exclusive delicatessen) with an extra focus on hedonic motivations such as excitement, entertainment, fantasy, and fun. Limitations and further research Although the study provides empirical fruitful insights, it is not without limitations. The rst is the focus of the study, the grocery sector. Thus, the results may not be

directly applied to other retail sectors, unless the study is replicated in different types of retailing. Since the data of the study was collected from supermarkets in Greece, the results of the study may not be directly applied to supermarkets in other countries. A possible direction for future research is to conduct a similar study in other countries, or continents to discover similarities and differences. Another possible direction for future research, which would be particularly welcome, is to examine and compare different types of retail stores such as discount stores or supermarkets with different strategic positioning (Levy and Weitz, 2004). It would be interesting to nd how different positioning in the customers mind affects their store attributes evaluation and satisfaction. Furthermore, this study looked at the store image attributes at one moment in time. However, store image differentiates over time, both as a result of experience with the store and the market social/economic situation in general. It would be interesting to study the same retailers at different moments in time. Moreover, a possible direction for future research is the examination of the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Even though there is some evidence that store loyalty may be positively related to store image and customer satisfaction (Bloemer and De Ruyter, 1998; Mazursky and Jacoby, 1986; Osman, 1993), it has however remained unclear what the exact relationship between satisfaction, store image and loyalty in a supermarket setting is.

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