THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH CUSTOMER SERVICES AND STORE IMAGE TOWARD
SUPERMARKET: A CASE STUDY IN SIBU
Wong Souk Ping
HF 5415.335
Bachelor of Business Administration with Honours WI71 (Marketing)lOll
2012
Pusat Khidmat MakJumat Akademik l lNlVERSm MALAYSIA SARAWAK
P.KHIDMAT MAKLUMAT AKADEMIK
11I1I1I1I1'ii~111I 111111 1000245053
THE RELATIONSmp BETWEEN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH CUSTOMERSER~CESANDSTOREIMAGETOWARD
SUPERMARKET : A CASE STUDY IN smu
WONG SOUl{ PING
This project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Business Administration
with Honours (Marketing)
Faculty of Economics and Business UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
2012
Statement of Originality
The work described in this Final Year Project, entitled "THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH
CUSTOMER SERVICES AND STORE IMAGE TOWARD SUPERMARKET
: A CASE STUDY IN SIBU" is to the best of the author's knowledge that of the author expect
where due reference is made.
(Date Submitted) (Student's signature) Wong Souk Ping
25402
ABSTRACT
THE RELATIONSmp BETWEEN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
WITH CUSTOMER SERVICES AND STORE IMAGE TOWARD
SUPERMARKET: A CASE STUDY IN smu
By
Wong Souk Ping
The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between
customer satisfaction with customer services and store image towards supermarket in
Sibu. Data were collected from the 150 respondents who have visited the
supermarkets in Sibu through questionnaire survey tool. The collected data were
analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 15.0. The
pilot test and pre-test were carried out to assess the face validity of the questionnaire.
Cronbach's Alpha was used to measure the reliability of the questionnaire.
Furthermor:e, Descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient analysis and
regression analysis were used to evaluate the relationships between the variables.
The result showed that only one variable which is store facilities was positive
correlated and has significant relationship to customer satisfaction. Therefore, this
study is this study is important to reflect on the current supermarket retail activities
in Sibu in order to enhance their store facilities, satisfy their customers and stay
ahead of the retailing industry competition in Sibu.
ABSTRAK
HUBUNGAN ANTARA KEPUASAN PELANGGAN DENGAN
PERKHIDMATAN PELANGGAN DAN IMEJ KEDAI TERHADAP PASAR
RAYA: KAJIAN KES DI SIBU
Oleh
Wong Souk Ping
Objektif utama kajian ini adalah untuk mengkaji hubungan antara kepuasan
pelanggan dengan perkhidmatan pelanggan dan imej kedai ke atas pasar raya di
Sibu. Data telah dikumpulkan melalui alat soal selidik daripada 150 orang responden
yang telah melawat pasar raya di Sibu. Data yang dikumpul telah dianalisis dengan
menggunakan Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Versi 15.0. Ujian
perintis dan pra-ujian telah dijalankan untuk menilai kesahihan muka soal selidik.
Cronbach Alpha telah digunakan untuk mengukur kebolehpercayaan soal selidik.
Selain itu, analisis deskriptif, analisis, Pearson pekali korelasi dan analisis regresi
telah digunakan untuk menilai hubungan antara pembolehubah. Hasil kajian
menunjukkan bahawa hanya satu pembolehubah iaitu kemudahan kedai adalah
positif berkorelasi dan mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan kepada kepuasan
pelanggan. Oleh itu, kajian ini adalah kajian yang penting untuk mencerminkan
aktiviti pasar raya runcit semasa di Sibu untuk meningkatkan kemudahan kedai
mereka supaya dapat memuaskan hati pelanggan dan kekal di hadapan persaingan
industri peruncitan di Sibu.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study would not have been possible without the support, guidance,
cooperation and advice from certain individuals and organizations. I wish to thank
all parties who have been giving me their support, guidance and opinion for my
thesis. First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr.
Mahani who guided this work, helped whenever I was in need, providing a
motivating, enthusiastic, and critical atmosphere during her busy office hours. It was
a great pleasure to do this final year project under her supervision. Her supervision
and guidance was the best things that could happen to my final year project. Not
forgetting my friends who give me helping hand during the development of this final
year project, I would like to thank for the time they used to teach me and provide me
any useful information. I would also like to convey my heartiest appreciation to my
parents and church friends for their encouragement and support when I went through
the hardship period in completing the thesis. Finally, I would like to take this
opportunity to extend my greatest gratitude and thanks to all my friends and the
respondents who contributed directly and indirectly in this thesis. The most
significantly, my overwhelming thanks to God for His blessing and gtvmg me
strength went through all the season.
Wong Souk Ping
Faculty of Economics and Business
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
vi
pusat Khidmat Maldumats~!-:~~ \JN1VERSm MALAYSIA ~
T ABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES................................................ ............... ... x
LIST OF FIGURE.................................................... . ............. Xl
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction................................................................. . 1
1.2 Background of Study...................................................... . 1
1.3 Problem Statement. ........................................................ . 3
1.4 Research Objectives ........................ .............................. '" 4
1.5 Conceptual Framework .................................................... . 4
1.6 Scope of the study ............................................................ . 5
1.7 Concluding Remark ................................................................ ............ . 6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................... , 7
2.2 Customer Services ................................................... '.' .. . 7
2.2.1 Store facilities. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .... 9
2.2.2 Loyalty Scheme............. ......................................................... 9
2.3 Store Image ........................................................................................ . 12
2.4 Customer Satisfaction ........ . ......................... . ............. '" ... . 17
2.5 Relationship between variables ....................................... ..... . 20
2.5.1 Relationship between Customer Services
and Customer Satisfaction............... ...... .... ......... ......... ... ... ..... 20
vii
2.5.2 Relationship between Store Facilities
and Customer Satisfaction...... ..... ......... ...... ....... .................. ... 23
2.5.3 Relationship between Loyalty Scheme
and Customer Satisfaction.... ...... .................. .... ... ........ ........... 24
2.5.4 Relationship between Store Image
and Customer Satisfaction.... ............ ......... ........ .... .. .. ..... ..... ... 24
2.6 Concluding Remark ............................................ ... ......... . 26
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLGY
3.1 Introduction.......................... .. ............................................. . 27
3.2 Research Design .......... ... .................................................. . 27
3.2.1 Sampling Design ................................................................... . 28
3.2.2 Questionnaire Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... .......... 29
3.2.3 Pre-Test............. ... ...................... ...... ........ ... ........................... 31
3.2.4 Pilot Test........................................ .... ........ .............. 31
3.2.5 Reliability Test. . ........................................ ................ 32
3.2.6 Questionnaire Distribution...................................................... 32
3.3 Data Analysis ..................................................................... . 32
3.3.1 Descriptive Analysis .............................................................. . 33
3.3.2 Correlation Analysis............................................................... 33
3.3.3 Regression Analysis ............................................................... . 34
3.4 Concluding Remark ........................................................................... . 36
CHAPTER 4: FINDING AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction........ .. ....................................... ....................................... . 37
4.2 Reliability Test. .................................................................................. . 37
viii
4.3 Respondents' Demographic Characteristics ...................................... . 38
4.4 Customers' Shopping Behavior ......................................................... . 41
4.5 Correlation Analysis .......................................................................... . 42
4.6 Regression Analysis ............................ ............................ ................... . 44
4.6.1 Multiple Linear Regression between customer satisfaction,
store facilities, loyalty scheme and store image...................... 45
4.6.2 Multiple Linear Regression between customer satisfaction,
store image and customer services ............................. '" 47
4.7 Concluding Remark .......................................................... . 49
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Introduction... ............................................................... .. ...... ............... . 51
5.2 Research Conclusion ................................................ '" ....................... . 51
5.3 Research Limitations and Recommendations ....................................... . 52
5.4 Concluding Remark ............................................................................. . 53
APPENDIX A
APPENDIXB
REFERENCES............................................................... .......... 54
ix
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
1 Attributes of Customer Services
in Supermarkets 8
2 Establishment of Store Facilities Attributes 9
3 Loyalty Program Design Characteristics 10
4 Loyalty Program Types 11
5 Establishment of Loyal Card Attributes 12
6 Attributes of Shopping Centre Image 15
7 Establishment of Store Image Attribute 17
8 Attributes of Supermarket Image 25
9 Interpretation of Correlation Coefficient 34
10 Findings of the Reliability Test 38
11 Respondents' Demographic Characteristics 39
12 Supermarket that most frequent visit 41
13 Have any Loyalty card in supermarket 42
14 Frequent of shopping at most visited supermarket 42
15 Correlation between customer satisfaction and store facilities 43
16 Correlation between customer satisfaction and loyal scheme 43
17 Correlation between customer satisfaction and store image 43
18 The relationship between the customer satisfaction,
store facilities, loyalty scheme and store image 47
19 The relationship between the customer satisfaction,
store image and customer services 48
20 Summary of Findings 49
x
LIST OF FIGURE
FIGURE PAGE
1 The Relationship between Customer Satisfaction with
Customer Services and Store image 5
xi
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the researcher will present the background of study, and
problem statement which motivate the researcher's interest to carryon with the
research objectives that will be established. In this end of this chapter, the conceptual
framework will also be constructed.
1.2 Background of Study
Since the first Sarawak House was established in 1970, Sibu has been slow in
growing in retailing industry (William, Wong & Yeo, 2007). However, along the
year of 1999 to 2011, Sibu is revived in retail development (Chua, 2011). The latest
change of retail scene in Sibu can be witnessed by the launched of two large
shopping complexes in Sibu. They are Star Mega Mall and Giant. Sibu's first
hypermarket, Daesco hypermarket and departmental store which is the Star's anchor
tenant, also opened on July 2011 with the completion of Star Mega Mall and the first
Giant hypermarket in Sarawak has opened at Sibu on August 2011 (Chua, 2011).
As can seen, the growth of shopping complexes in Sibu, is actually slowly lead
to the intensified competition among the grocery retail especially supermarkets. This
is because most of the shopping complexes in Sibu have a supermarket outlet inside
the buildings. For example, Medan Mall consists of Medan supermarket, Delta Mall
consists of Delta Supermarket, Daesim shopping complex consists of Daesim
Supermarket, Sing Kwong shopping complex consists of Sing Kwong Supermarket,
Nguikee shopping complex consists of Nguikee Supermarkets and Farley shopping
complex consists of Farley Supermarket. Sibu also has shopping complex that does
1
not has supennarket outlet but it still houses a supennarket inside the building such
as Wisma Sanyan houses Giant Supennarket. Therefore, the emergence of new
shopping complexes in Sibu is indirectly showing the future competition among the
supennarkets.
Apart from this observation, the researcher bas done a background research by
interviewing a supervisor of one of the supennarkets in Sibu. For the purpose of
ethical concern, the supennarket will not be identified in this study and the
researcher will use pseudo-name to represent the supervisor' real name. The
interviewee is Mr. Liew who is the 8 years worker of Supennarket A and currently is
one of supervisors in Supennarket A at Sibu.
According to Mr Liew who has been an 8 years worker in Supennarket A,
nowadays shopping at supennarkets is a life style to Sibu people. Based on his
observation in these 8 years working period at supennarket A, there is a significant
growth in the numbers of people who come to shop at supennarket A. He added that
Sibu people prefer to shop at supennarkets because most of the supennarkets now
have provide a variety range of grocery products and also began to stock the non
grocery products such as home appliances and clothes. Therefore, shopping at
supennarket has become important activity to Sibu people.
Mr Liew mentioned that supennarket A is actually aware of the competition in
Sibu. He also added that Supennarket A considers for putting more efforts in
customer service and building good store image to satisfy their customers and attract
more customers to shop at the store so that the supennarket can remain prosper. For
instances, currently they are expanding the parking space (i.e. store facility) at the
area of Supennarket A. They also provide enough supervision to the cashiers and
2
salesperson to serve the customers efficiently and politely. The common practices
inculcate including greetings and thank you note to every customers. At the same
time, Mr Liew mentioned that the loyalty cardholders have increased. He personally
observed at the cashier counters, when the cashiers ask the customers for showing
their loyalty cards, most of the customers have the loyalty cards. This indicates that
the Sibu customers are satisfied toward Supermarkets A because the loyalty scheme
is attractive.
From this background study generally describe the scenario of grocery retail
especially supermarkets in Sibu, the researcher has developed the problem statement
for this study purpose which will be discussed in the next section 1.3.
1.3 Problem Statement
In such a competitive marketplace in Sibu, the challenges are the supermarkets'
retailers need to improve the customers' satisfaction and the most importantly to
have better understanding about those supermarkets' attributes that are most
considered by customers. Therefore, it is essential for the supermarkets' retailers to
being able to improve customer satisfaction with the key elements of the
supermarket attributes in order to stay ahead of competition.
Based on the interviews with Mr Liew, probably the growing numbers of
shopping complexes is still not much affect the customers' satisfaction towards the
supermarkets at this moment. However, it is foreseeable the supermarkets in Sibu
soon will emerge to focus on improving and measuring customers' satisfaction
toward the supermarkets.
The factors that influence customers' satisfaction are arguable. Mr Liew has
mentioned that putting efforts in building store image and customer services such as
3
store facilities and loyalty scheme are critical to determine the customers'
satisfaction. However, the researcher has seen the need of empirical evidence to
statistically prove the relationship between customer services, store image and
customer satisfaction.
From the above discussion on problem statement, this study will focus on two
research questions as listed in below.
Research Questions:
1. Are Sibu customers' satisfactions toward Sibu' s supermarkets influence by
customer service?
ii. Are Sibu customers' satisfactions toward Sibu's supermarkets influence by
store image?
These research questions have ted to the establishment of research objective for this
study.
1.4 Research Objectives
In order to investigate the two research questions, the researcher has
established two researches objectives. They are:
1. To determine the relationship between customer services and
customer satisfaction toward the supermarkets in Sibu.
11. To determine the relationship between store image and customer
satisfaction toward the supermarkets in Sibu.
1.5 Conceptual Framework
The research questions and objectives of this study can be better depicted in
the following conceptual framework (i.e. Figure 1).
4
Pusat Khidmat MakJumat Akademik UNIVERSm MALAYSIA SARAWAK
Figure 1: The Relationship between Customer Service, Store image and Customer Satisfaction
[ Independent variables) [ Dependent variable]
Customer Services
• Store Facilities • Loyalty Scheme
Customer
Satisfaction
Store Image
As shown in Figure 1, this study has included one dependent variable which is
and two independent variables. The dependent variable is customer satisfaction and
the independent variables are customer service and store image of the supennarkets
in Sibu.
In this study, the research want to study the relationship between customer
services, store image and customer satisfaction. This study will look into two
specific variables of the customer service that is store facilities and loyalty scheme.
The conceptual framework presented will serve as the basic in reviewing the
literature as well as the analysis of this study. These will be respectively presented in
chapter 2 and chapter 3.
1.6 Scope of Study
This study will be conducted in Sibu. According to Sibu Municipal Council
(2011), Sibu is the second largest town in State of Sarawak, Malaysia. Sibu's
population is about 257,800 people and consists of 56,000 households (Department
of Satistics Malaysia, 2010).
5
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Sibu has different ethnic tribes such as the Chinese, Malays, !bans, Orang Vlu
(highlanders) and the minorities of Indians and expatriates. However, Chinese
population has the highest number in Sibu compare to other ethnics tribes. They are
divided into few dialects groups where are Foochows, Hokkiens, Cantonese, Heng
Huans, Hakkas Teochews and so on. However, their main language is Mandarin.
Taking into account that Bahasa Malaysia is the national language, most of them are
fluent in Bahasa Malaysia as well as English as a medium of communication.
The reason of this study conducted in Sibu is that there is a significant
development in Sibu which is the expansion of retail sector (Chua, 2011). Explicitly,
the grocery retail sector has been evidence by the increasing numbers of
supermarkets and hypermarkets available in Sibu in the current year. However, there
are four supermarkets in Sibu is included in this study; (i) Daesim supermarket, (ii)
Farley supermarket, (iii) Medan supermarket and (iv) Sing Kwong supermarket.
These four supermarkets been selected in this study because they are located in the
strategic and highly populated residential area in Sibu town centre.
1.7 Concluding Remark
As a conclusion, this study will be conducted in Sibu in order to examine the
relationship between the customer satisfaction with customer services and store
image toward the supermarkets in Sibu area.
6
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the researcher has reviewed about the definition of dependent
variable and independent variables of this study. The dependent variable is customer
satisfaction and the dependent variables are the customer service as well as corporate
image. Specifically, the researcher has reviewed on the two sub independent
variables that represent customer service which is the facility and loyal scheme.
There are four types of relationship between the variables also discussed in this
chapter. At the same time, three hypotheses were developed for this current study.
2.2 Customer Services
Customer services are the activities that performed by the retailers to influence
the customers' transaction and satisfaction with the products or services (Cox &
Brittain, 2004). Kim, Park, & Jeong (2004) defined customer service as a group of
activities that involve customer support systems, complaint processing, speed of
complaint processing, ease of reporting complaint and friendliness when reporting
complaint. Besides, Marx & Erasmus (2006) defined that customer service is
assortment of attributes that collectively represent the service. Marx & Erasmus
(2006) also identified 33 attributes of supermarket's customer service as shown in
Table 1. However, the researcher has only adopted some of the attributes specifically
that is applicable to the current study.
7
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Table 1: Attributes of Customer Services in Supermarkets -
Attributes of Customer Services in Su ermarket 1. Convenient Location 2. In-store credit& debit card facilities, A TM 3. ualit of roducts
out , 6. Cleanliness in stores 17. Product variet
11. Store la out 12. Friendliness of staff
roducts
-I
22. Assistance ofmana ers in the stores 23 . Modern stores 24. Assistance and interest of mana ers 25. Availabilit of bar ains
roblems
31. ueues/ waitin time at cashiers 32. Access to internet sho 33. Prices
Despite there are many items can be categorized as customer service but this
study wi11look into two specific factors that is store facilities and loyalty scheme.
These two factors will be reviewed in the following sub sections.
8
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2.2.1 Store Facilities
There are different researchers have discussed few in-store elements (e.g.
Marx & Erasmus, 2006; Sit, Merrilees, & Birch, 2003; Min, 2010; Abubakar,
Mavondo, & Clulow, 2001). Thus, the reseacher has take on the in store elements as
features of store facility in this study. There are 11 items of store facility attributes
that are adopted from different past studies which is applicable to Sibu's supermarket
context as shown in Table 2. These attributes will be measured through customers'
feedbacks toward the supennarkets at Sibu.
Table 2: Establishment of Store Facilities Attributes
Item Descri tion Author 1. Convenient store location (Marx & Erasmus, 2006), (Sit,
Merrilees, & Birch, 2003, 2. 3. 4.
5. (Gilmore,
6. 7.
8.
store Store layout
Price labellin Regular advertising of specials in the media Waiting time at cashiers
Min, 2010 Marx & Erasmus, 2006 Marx & Erasmus, 2006
(Marx & Erasmus, 2006)
(Min, 2010), (Marx & Erasmus, 2006), Tom & Luce , 1995, Baldwin, 1999
9. Easy payment (Min, 2010), (Marx & Erasmus, 2006), (in-store credit & debit card facilities, (Gilmore, 2001) ATM)
10. Parking bays (Abubakar, et aI., 2001), (Sit, et aI., 2003 , Marx & Erasmus, 2006
11 . Efficiency of staff assistance to (Marx & Erasmus, 2006) solve roblems
2.2.2 Loyalty Scheme
Loyalty scheme also known as loyal program, reward program, frequency
purchasing programs, frequent flyer programs and affinity programs (e.g. Dowling &
Uncles, 1997; Uncle, Dowling, & Hammond, 2003; Lal & Bell; 2003). Loyalty
9
.-..- - - ----- --- ----- .-- - ---------
scheme bond the customers to an organization or products and services by offering
an additional incentive (Dowling & Uncles, 1997). YuPing (2007) has defined loyal
scheme as a program that enables the customers to accumulate free rewards for their
repeated purchase with a business. Besides, Noordhoff, Pauwels, & Odekerken-
Schroder (2004) has defined loyalty scheme as a structural effort to increase
customers' commitment. Furthermore, Uncle, et aI., (2003) defined loyalty scheme
as vehicle to increase brand loyalty, encourage postive word-of-mouth, reduce
customer's desire to consider other brands, attract more customers, encourage
customer to buy more and decrease price sensitivity.
Loyalty scheme often perform through promotion technique which it urging
customer to increase and continue their buying to get the rewards in the form of
vouchers or loyalty points (Benavent, erie, & Meyer-Waarden, 2000). Meyer-
Waarden (2008) mentioned the effectiveness of loyalty program depends on the
programs' design. Loyalty program's design characteristic Reinartz (2010) described
in two dimension as in following Table 3.
Table 3: Loyalty Program Design Characteristics
DESIGN EXPLANATION: CHARACTERISTIC:
A. Reward structure I.Hard vs. soft rewards -hard rewards comprise financial or tangible rewards
such as price reduction, promotions, free products, early check-ins -soft rewards comprise psychological or emotional benefits such as s ecial reco itions of the bu er
2.Product proposition -the LP rewards may directly link to company's support product offering or entirely unrelated choice of rewards
3.Hedonic value of -indicate the buyers can transform or redeem their rewards points into a luxury value or hedonic value of I
services or oods. such as a free fli ht 4.Rate of rewards I-ratio of the reward value to the transaction volume
in monet
10
- -
5.Tiering of rewards -buyer receives of points depends or regardless of his or her cumulative s endin level -redemption rules: prefer long accumulation periods or short accumulation eriods
of rewards
-organizations may establish loyalty programs (LPs) that reflect transactions with its own customer or allow LPs members to accumulate assets at firms that are associated with the focal firms of LP
2.Within sector vs. -degree of customers accumulate assets within the across sector same sector or across different sectors
3.0wnership -indicates who owns the LP within the network of I(focal finn vs. other finn) firms -either is the focal firm, another firm or a firm whose sole u ose is to mana e the LP
Berman (2006) also discussed the categories of loyalty programs as shown in
Table 4. Both of the loyalty program's design (Reinartz, 2010) and categories of
loyalty program (Berman, 2006) allowed this study to define the loyalty program as
promotional device to reward the members. At the same time, the researcher also
established the suitable items of loyalty scheme for this study based on Berman
(2006) and Benavent, et aI., (2000).
Table 4: Loyalty Program Types
Program Type Type 1: Members receive additional discount at register Type 2: Members receive free items when th~ purchase certain units Type 3: Members receive rebates or points based on cumulative purchases Type 4: Members receive targeted offers and mailings
According to Benavent et aI., (2000), oftenly loyalty scheme used promotion
and rewards attract customer to register for a loyal cards. Furthermore, Noordhoff et
al. , (2004) mentioned that loyatly card has function in three purposes. First, loyalt
card perform as identification function to recognize a customer as loyalty cardholder
of a particular store. Second, it serve as a memory function that store the customer's
11
- - --.---- -- - - - -------
infonnation such as demographic and buying records at the retailer's database.
Third, loyalty card is used to reward the customers. For instance, the participation in
loyalty card customers can receive the benefits in several ways such as free products,
price reduction, extra information, or any other special treament from the retailer.
Therefore, the current study will focus on the impact of loyalty scheme that
relying on the distribution of a loyalty card in supermarkets context. Sharp and Sharp
(1997, as cited in Noordhoff, et aI., 2004) mentioned that loyalty card is a dominant
tool in many retailers' loyalty scheme. Hence, the researcher carried on this study in
Sibu context with assumption that most of the Sibu consumers owned at least one
supermarket loyalty card. The following Table 5 is the six items that was received
from different past studies and will be adopted in this study. This item will be
measured through customers' feedbacks toward the supermarkets in Sibu.
Table 5: Establishment of Loyal Card Attributes
Item Description Author 1. Accompaniment fees (Benavent, et aI., 2000); (Berman, 2006) 2. Collect points for gift
redemption/rewards (Benavent, et aI., 2000), (Berman, 2006),
, (Bagdoniene & Jakstaite, 2006) 3. Enjoy shopping privileges I (Bagdoniene & J akstaite, 2006) 4. Choices of redeemable
gifts/rewards (Bagdoniene & Jakstaite, 2006)
5. Receive relevant shopping information as a member
(Berman, 2006), ( Lal & Bell, 2003)
6. Special discount offer (Berman, 2006), (Bagdoniene & Jakstaite, 2006)
2.3 Store Image
Every retail store carries different images in the marketplace (Feng & Zhilong,
2009). Store image can be defined as customer's perception of the store and its
attributes which composite the service, pricing strategy, store location, merchandise,
promotion, store atmosphere and layout (Cox & Brittain, 2004). Store image also
12
I
defined as intangible and it is key factor to differentiate a store with the business
competitors (Kamaruddin, 1999). Besides, Pereira (2010) presented the corporate
image as identity and image of the company. Kamaruddin (1999) mentioned the term
"image" is used in different context such as corporate image, brand image, public
image, self-image and store image. However, Christensen and Askegaard (2001)
defined corporate image as general impression and estimaton of the organization
among its various audiences. On the other hand, Pereira (2010) mentioned an
individual build the image of an organization through gathering several memories,
perceptions, experiences and information that associates to the organization.
Besides, Gilmore et., (2001) stated store image as the perception and image
that comes from the customers. At the same time, Gilmore et., (2001) mentioned
customers' perception and images toward the retail environment is formed by three
stimuli dimension. Firstly, the customers formed their image toward a store based on
internal retail stimuli such as store layout, quality of employees, ease of transaction,
ease of credit, merchandise availability and merchandise assortment. Second, is an
external retail stimulus such as industry reputation, sales promotion, advertising,
format and image, public relation and social responsibility factors. Third, is customer
stimuli which refers to customers' social expectation, cultures, values, behavioural
factors and psychological factors.
Moreover, Lin and Lu (2010) discussed the corporate image as institution
image, functional image, and commodity image. First, the institution image refers to
customer's general attitude where it related with the customer's word-of mouth,
interest and preferences toward the products or services offered by a company.
Second, the functional image refers to customer's attitude formed from the
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