Influence of psycho-demographic variables of customers on their expectations and satisfaction towards retail store image attributes

With the increasing level of awareness and the changing lifestyle pattern, the customer prefers to purchase from a place where his/her concurrence and preferences are more valued. The physical environments of retail stores and the attributes of the stores (lighting, air-conditioning, washrooms, store layout, aisle placement, etc.) create a tangible representation of the image of the store to meet the expectations of more sophisticated and demanding customers. The present study mainly focuses on the way in which the lifestyle psycho-graphic parameters of activities and interests of the customers influence their level of expectation and satisfaction towards the store attributes and their shopping experiences in the major organised food and grocery retail outlets in Coimbatore city and ultimately on how it influences the store loyalty status of these customers. A unique model was proposed and a questionnaire was constructed. The collected data was analysed using the ANOVA and the structural equation model (SEM). The results of the SEM reveal that the lifestyle psycho-graphic parameters of activities and the interests of the customers are the major determinants of the expectation and satisfaction of these customers towards their retail stores.