International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research

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Relationship between Store Characteristics and Store Loyalty: An Explorative Study

Robaka Shamsher

School of Business, Chittagong Independent University (CIU), Bangladesh

Highlights The store loyalty function is investigated in Bangladesh. Store appearance affects store convenience. This paper rectifies recommendations to determine store loyalty. Abstract Purpose: The retail shopping industry in Bangladesh is getting bigger day by day since the emergence of superstores- especially in the urban parts of the country. The present study is an attempt to explore the effect of store characteristics in determining store loyalty in Bangladesh. Methodology: Data were collected from 101 shoppers of major retail chain operating in Dhaka city. A conceptual model was developed and multiple regression was implemented to test the hypotheses. Findings: The empirical model shows the results of the tested hypotheses. The results of the study showed that, store appearance followed by store convenience, product quality, and service quality influenced store loyalty whereas product assortment and product price have no effect in determining store loyalty. Recommendations: At the end of paper a few recommendations along with some agenda for future research studies are proposed. Keywords: Superstores, Store Characteristics, Store Loyalty JEL Classifications: M11

Corresponding Author: robaka.shamsher@gmail.com Citation: Shamsher, R. (2014). Relationship between Store Characteristics and Store Loyalty: An Explorative Study. International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research. 2(11), 431-442.

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I. Introduction The area of store loyalty embraces great importance for the market researchers and marketing academics for many years (Kunkel and Berry, 1968; Lessing, 1973; Zimmer and Golden, 1988; Bloemer and Ruyter, 1998; Yoo and Chang, 2005; Orth et al. 2009; Mohammadi, 2012). Retail marketing managers are also interested in exploring this area in order to be remain competitive in the market and to win the market share by creating loyalty towards the store (Shamsher and Hossain, 2011; Imran et al. 2013). To a great extent, the success of every retailer depends on its ability to build and maintain store loyalty. It has become a central theme of marketing theory and practice in establishing sustainable competitive advantage. Loyal customers are willing to pay more for their preferred stores and only repurchase from the same store despite of having other store options available (Kotler, 2010). Therefore, loyal customers have higher customer retention rates and are more likely to recommend others to become a customer of the same store. Over the last few decades the retail industry is experiencing dynamic changes all over the world through the emergence of supermarkets as the dominant retail form (Jinfeng and Zhilong, 2009; Datta, 2010; Verma and Madan, 2011; Shamsher et al. 2012). This is due to the fact that consumers` behavior and preferences has changed and shifted towards convenience (Tiwari and Abraham, 2010), high quality products, provision for customer care, comfortable shopping environment (Sinha, 2003; Shamsher and Hossain, 2011), greater emphasis on value for money (Shamsher et al. 2012), flexible payment methods, sophisticated channels of distribution (Datta, 2010). In today’s dynamic and competitive business environment, retailers must thoroughly understand and predict how the consumers behave in purchasing various goods and services for their use. In the era of technological development especially with the advent of satellite television, increased working opportunity resulting out of mass industrialization and other facilities that result in increased income-expenditure by the consumers and gradual cultural alienation has brought significant changes in the shopping experience of Bangladeshi consumers. This change has taken place especially in the area of changing behavioral pattern of urban consumers’ toward the practice of supermarket culture (Shamsher and Hossain, 2006). Today retailers are facing hard-hitting competition between themselves and need to differentiate by serving the ever changing demand of the customers better than their competitors (Kotler, 2010). Moreover, they must have a comprehensive knowledge concerning the store characteristics that influence the customers’ store choice, purchase intention, and loyalty toward their preferred stores (Sirohi et al. 1998; Thang and Tan, 2003; Pan and Zinkhan, 2006; Shamsher and Hossain, 2011). Customers will choose the product and service from the store that gives most value for the money spent (Kotler, 2010). There have been numerous studies on store loyalty in many different parts of the world (Volle, 2001; Thang and Tan, 2003; Sinha, 2003; Ahmed, 2007; Orth and Green, 2009; Jinfeng and Zhilong, 2009; Verma and Madan, 2011; Shamsher and Hossain, 2011; Imran et al. 2013). Since the retail shopping industry in Bangladesh is getting bigger day by day with a sharp shift in the shopping pattern, understanding the underlying motives of Bangladeshi shoppers has become an area of interest by both academicians and practitioners. As such, the current study is an attempt to explore the store characteristics that influence store loyalty in Bangladesh context. In this study, store loyalty has been examined through store attributes that basically influence customers’ purchase decision and choice behavior. II. Literature Review II.I Background of Retailing in Bangladesh The retailing industry in Bangladesh has especially witnessed dramatic changes over the last decade toward organized retailing with the massive expansion of the large scale retail stores in the urban parts of the country. Besides, the effects of globalization, economic and trade liberalization, the growth of urbanization, substantial increase of middle class consumers, increasing number of women working outside their home, rising per capita income, and the Government’s liberal attitude towards foreign imported products has also made it possible to revolutionize the emerging retail sector of Bangladesh (Shamsher et al. 2012). The number of large scale retail stores is rising rapidly in the urban areas of Bangladesh and attracting consumers to buy in large volume of products on weekly or monthly basis on the ground of hassle-free comfortable shopping environment for the buyers (Shamsher and Hossain, 2006). Organized retailing is creating an excitement amongst Bangladeshi consumers that draws them toward shopping malls and trade areas in large numbers (Shamsher and Hossain, 2011). Retailers are offering newer service dimensions to create unique shopping experiences for the customers. The retail environment of Bangladesh is in the phase of experimentation where customers, as well as store owners, are experiencing larger and diverse retail formats by organized retailers (Shamsher and Hossain, 2011). The newly established stores are able to attract shoppers into stores with comfortable shopping environment (Sinha, 2003). Under a single roof people are now purchasing their daily necessities, frequently known as ‘Fast Moving Consumer Goods’ including fresh items like meat, fish, vegetables; toiletries like toothpaste, shampoo, soap; dry food like bread, cakes, biscuits; grocery items like rice, sugar, flour, gift items like teddy bears, cards and toys etc. The sizes of these stores are relatively miniature of those of the larger super markets operating in the western countries.

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Although these stores are mainly emerging in the major urban cites of Bangladesh, they are contributing to changing life patterns of consumers (Shamsher and Hossain, 2006). Beside the large scale retail stores (superstores) like Agora, Meena Bazar, Nandan, Khulshi Mart, Well-Mart and Shopno- a growing number of medium and small superstores are also flourishing (Shamsher and Hossain, 2006). These stores are trying to offer products in terms of food quality and freshness by using quality control, better hygiene and correct storage conditions like cooling and refrigerating. Looking back just a decade ago reveals that the only option to purchase the daily necessities was the traditional stores or bazaars because the trade was then in the hands of thousands of small retailers in the traditional market and grocery shops in cities and remained out of the focus of business conglomerates. But this situation is changing steadily because of the changes in customers’ lifestyle, preferences, and needs. This change began after 2000 when Rahimafroz, the operating company of Agora, started its retailing trade flourishing (Shamsher and Hossain, 2011). In the last fourteen years, many small and big superstores have started their retailing business to attract middle and upper middle class consumers, a segment of which are shifting their shopping preferences to the super stores from the traditional markets. According to, Kashem, (2012) currently with a strong 15-20 percent annual sales growth about 30 companies with more than 200 outlets have already made foray into the industry. The data provided by Bangladesh Supermarket Owners Association (BSOA, 2012) the annual turnover of the superstores now stands at around Tk 15.0 billion (1500 crore). Furthermore, the supermarket culture is playing a vital role in generating employment, with a single store providing jobs to around 50 people and in future it will open the door for more employment opportunities (Kashem, 2012). II.II Store Loyalty Store loyalty refers to the tendency to purchase from the same store for similar or other products repeatedly (Osman, 1993; Jones and Sasser, 1995). Store loyalty can be defined as a customer’s repeated purchase from a particular store and recommending the store to others for the same purchase in future (Mcllory and Barnett, 2000). Reichheld, (2003) stated that store loyal customers enthusiastically refer a friend or colleague about their loyalty via a particular good or service. Cronin and Taylor, (1992) linked loyalty only to the repurchase intention from a specific store, whereas Bolding, (1993) argued it to be a customer’s repeated purchase behavior and willingness to referring the store to others. Rhee and Bell, (2002) considered store loyalty as an important ingredient for store strength. Volle, (2001) revealed that customers’ store selections are largely determined by store loyalty. According to Miranda at el. (2005), store loyalty and commitment is important when the customers have to choose numerous stores with similar products. In equivalent time another study by Chang and Tu, (2005) revealed that customers with less emotional bond toward a particular store will change the store when a seemingly better option is available. Thus, the marketers have to create long-term loyal customers who are reluctant to change the store due to having an emotional bond with the store (Shamsher and Hossain, 2011). A study by Orth and Green, (2009) showed differential effects in how store characteristics influenced customer loyalty through trust and satisfaction. Verma and Madan, (2011) gave importance for a favorable store image for increasing satisfaction with the store which in turn increases store loyalty. Whilst, Beneke et al. (2011) found no direct significant relationships between store image attributes and loyalty for South African super market. Surprisingly, in a more recent study by Shahroudi and Mohammadi, (2012) explored that the direct impact of store characteristics on loyalty were low, however the indirect impact on loyalty through considering customer satisfaction found to has a medium impact for Iranian shoppers. Nonetheless, Imran et al. (2013) revealed a strong correlation between store image attributes and store loyalty. According to the authors customers always hold some image or perception regarding the factors or facilities available in the store. If these customers found themselves satisfied regarding what they were expecting from the store they come again and again for purchasing and also referred other people to buy from that particular store which specified their store loyal behavior. In another study Akbar, (2013) established that perceived service quality, perceived product quality, perceived price and product assortment were found to be statistically significant with store satisfaction which showed strongest influence on store loyalty for Bangladeshi shoppers. In a more recent study by Rahman and Jalil, (2014) revealed that Product quality, Price strategy and Service quality have significant relationship with Customer loyalty where price strategy was found to have the highest significance with consumers’ loyalty among Malaysian shoppers. II.III Store Characteristics Numerous academic and experimental evidences have identified the importance of different store characteristics that influence consumer store choice and repeat purchase behavior. Store Characteristics can be defined as the collection of physical attributes that are apparently accessible in the store that a consumer will used to reference and evaluate for making the store choice decision (Helgesen and Nesset, 2010). Over five and half decade ago Martineau (1958)

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described store characteristics as the combination of both functional attributes and psychological attributes of the store. Location, assortment of products, store convenience, store layout combined the former category and psychological attributes represented the shoppers’ feelings stimulated by the functional attributes of the store. The six important store characteristics as identified by Fisk, (1961) were location accessibility, merchandise suitability, value for price, sales efforts and store service. Kunkel and Berry, (1968) proposed twelve store features which included price of merchandise, quality, assortment, fashion of merchandises, sales personnel, sales promotion, advertising, store atmosphere, locational accessibility, service, reputation on adjustments and other accessibility factors. After that a succeeding study conducted by Berry, (1969) acknowledging three primary broad factors for influencing consumer's store choice behavior namely, quality and variety of merchandise, sales staff, and store atmosphere.

Table-1. Summary of selected studies Scholars Store Characteristics Fisk (1961) Location accessibility, merchandise suitability, value for price, sales efforts and store

service. Kunkel and Berry (1968) Price of merchandise, quality, assortment, fashion of merchandises, sales personnel, sales

promotion, advertising, store atmosphere, locational accessibility, service, reputation on adjustments and other accessibility factors.

Berry (1969) Quality and variety of merchandise, sales staff, and store atmosphere. Lindquist (1974) Merchandise, service, clientele, physical facilities, promotion, accessibility, store

atmosphere, institutional and post-transaction satisfaction. Doyle and Fenwick (1974) Product, price, assortment, styling and location. James et al. (1976) Assortment, personnel, atmosphere, service, quality and price. Bearden (1977) Price, quality of merchandise, assortment, atmosphere, location, parking facilities, and

friendly personnel. Greenberg et al. (1983) Product choice, promotion and the store atmosphere. Ghosh (1990) Location, merchandise, store atmosphere, customer service, price, advertising, personal

selling, and sales incentive programs. Visser and Noordwyk (2006) Merchandise, service, clientele, physical facilities, convenience, promotion, store

atmosphere, institutional factors and post-transaction satisfaction. (Adapted from Lindquist’s (1974 study).

VermaandMadan (2011) Store's Product and Operational Quality, Store's Overall Visual Appeal, Customer Convenience, Perceived Price and Past Satisfaction and Store's Promotional Effectiveness.

Jhamb and Kiran (2012) Improved quality, variety of brands, assortment of merchandise, parking facility, trained sales personnel and complete security.

Virvilaite and Dailydiene (2012) Services, convenience, quality, product variety, product price and atmosphere. Lindquist, (1974) conducted a study by reviewing 19 research articles and combined into a set of nine groups: merchandise, service, clientele, physical facilities, promotion, and accessibility, and store atmosphere, institutional and post-transaction satisfaction. In the corresponding year Doyle and Fenwick, (1974) proposed five stores attributes including product, price, assortment, styling and location. Subsequently, another study conducted by James et al. (1976) resulting six dimensions from their study, namely assortment, personnel, atmosphere, service, quality and price. On the other hand, Bearden (1977) suggested seven dimensions of store image as important for store patronage behavior including price, quality of merchandise, assortment, atmosphere, location, parking facilities, and friendly personnel. Greenberg et al. (1983) research outcome on US fashion market revealed that product choice, promotion and the store atmosphere found to be the most important factors influencing consumer decision making. However, Ghosh (1990) introduced nine store image elements such as location, merchandise, store atmosphere, customer service, price, advertising, personal selling, and sales incentive programs. Some recent studies have focused on the importance of store attributes on the highly competitive and dynamic retail market (Visser et al. 2006; Vyver, 2008; Verma and Madan, 2011). Visser and Noordwyk, (2006) conducted a study to identify the apparel store image attributes for the selected group of female consumers. Among the nine store characteristics the research outcome revealed that merchandise and clientele were deemed to be the most important, followed by service. Seemingly, Verma and Madan (2011) discovered the importance of apparel store image attributes from Indian female customers’ perceptions. The five identified factors through Factor analysis were Store's Product and Operational Quality, Store's Overall Visual Appeal, Customer Convenience, Perceived Price and Past Satisfaction and Store's Promotional Effectiveness where Store’s Product and Operational. Quality found as the most important factor for determining overall image of the store.

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In a more recent study Jhamb and Kiran, (2012) found that product attributes like improved quality, variety of brands and assortment of merchandise and store attributes like parking facility, trained sales personnel and complete security deemed to be important among the Indian younger consumers’ preference towards modern stores. In the parallel time, Virvilaite and Dailydiene (2012) showed the influence of store characteristics on private brand image where convenience and store atmosphere were found to have the largest positive influence on the private brand image. After reviewing the literature this study considered store characteristics as product assortment, quality of service, store conveniences, quality of product, price of product, and store appearance for influencing store loyalty of Bangladeshi shoppers. II.IV Product Assortment Product assortment or variety can be defined as the different colors, sizes, forms and prices of products under a specific product lines available in the store (Kotler, 2010). Retail managers considered product assortment as one of the crucial components of the retail management (Akbar, 2013). Studies has evident that availability of various merchandise, freshness, and originality (Ahmed, 2007), wider product assortment help the shoppers to save money and buy more in fewer store visits (Akbar, 2013). Ahmad, (2012) investigated that product assortment found as the most significant factors for influencing the Saudi shoppers mall shopping preference. Whereas, Jhamb and Kiran, (2012) investigated that merchandize assortment deemed to be an important store characteristics among the Indian younger consumers’ shopping preference. In another study by Rajaguru and Matanda, (2006) revealed that variety of new products has shown significant effects on customer loyalty. Therefore, to verify the influence of product assortment on store loyalty the following null hypothesis is developed. H1: Product assortment is positively associated with store loyalty II.V Quality of Service Traditionally, service quality has been conceptualized as the difference between customer expectations regarding a service to be received and perceptions of the service being received (Grönroos, 2001; Parasuraman et al. 1988). In some earlier studies, service quality has been referred as the extent to which a service meets customers’ needs or expectations (Dotchin and Oakland, 1994). In a study by Clottey et al. (2008) service quality was found to influence customer loyalty among the U.S. women’s apparel retail market. Wantara, (2013) established direct and significant relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in Indonesian department store. Therefore, to verify the influence of service quality on store loyalty the following null hypothesis is developed. H2: Service quality is positively associated with store loyalty. II.VI Store Convenience In general consumers have a common tendency to shop from convenient location. In a study by Ahmad, (2012) found that store convenience and accessibility influenced the Saudi shoppers mall shopping behavior. As far store loyalty is concerned, Rajaguru and Matanda (2006) investigated that store convenience significantly influenced customer loyalty of Indian shoppers. Similarly, Fatima and Rasheed (2012) showed store convenience as the strongest relationship with loyalty of the Pakistani consumers. However, to know the influence of store convenience on store loyalty the following null hypothesis is developed. H3: Store convenience is positively associated with store loyalty. II.VII Quality of Product Quality is the overall judgment about excellence and superiority of the product or brand (Ozer et al. 2005). Kotler and Armstrong, (2010) defined product quality as the ability of a product to perform its functions which focus on its overall durability, reliability, precision, ease of operation, reparability and other valued attributes. Hence, quality can be defined as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy customer needs (Kotler and keller, 2010). Clottey et al. (2008) found Quality of product as the second most determinants of customer loyalty. Similar findings were found by Ahmad, (2012) where product quality deemed to be the second important factor that showed positive impact on customer loyalty. Therefore, to verify the influence of product quality on store loyalty the following null hypothesis is developed. H4: Product quality is positively associated with store loyalty.

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II.VIII Price of Product Price is the amount of money charged for a product or service. It is the sum of all values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). Historically, price has been the major factor affecting buyer choice. Studies in different literature showed that price is probably the most important consideration for the average consumer (Zielke, 2010). According to Bucklin et al. (1998); price significantly influences consumer choice and frequency of purchase. High brand loyal customers are willing to pay premium price for their preferred brand (Yee and Sadik, 2008) and they do not compare price with other available option by shopping around. Rahman and Jalil, (2014) revealed that price strategy showed the highest significance with consumers’ loyalty among Malaysian shoppers. However, to know the influence of price on store loyalty the following null hypothesis is developed. H5: Product price is positively associated with store loyalty. II.IX Store Appearance Store appearance referred as the physical appearance and facilities of the store (Sirohi et al. 1998). Store appearance mentioned in literature by different authors as effects of layout accessibility, facility aesthetics, electronic equipment, seating comfort, and cleanliness (Wakefield and Blodgett, 1996), clean and pleasant shopping environment, spacious and open aisle (Sirohi et al. 1998), store atmospherics such as color, lighting, odor, music, and the like (Arnold et al. 1983; Fotheringham, 1988; Freymann, 2002), store ambience (Baker et al. 1992). Literature evident that advertising, graphic and interior design, clean environment, properly displayed merchandize (Štursa, 2009) showed as components of store appearance that essentially impact on store choice decision. Therefore, to validate the influence of store appearance on store loyalty the following null hypothesis is developed. H6: Store appearance is positively associated with store loyalty.

III. Conceptual Framework Based on the aforesaid hypotheses the following conceptual framework is proposed:

Variety of new products

Quality of service

Store appearance

Price of Product

Quality of product

Store convenience

Store loyalty

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IV. Research Methodology The study is empirical in nature where both primary and secondary information have been used. Secondary data have been collected from various published sources including books, printed journals, online journals, websites, newspapers, and reports. Primary data for the study have been collected from shoppers of different superstores. Since the population of shoppers is unknown, Cochran’s (1967) formula has been used to estimate the sample size (Israel, 2003). On the basis of the formula, at 95% confidence level and 7% precision level with maximum degree of variability ( p=.5, q=.5), the sample size has arrived at 196. To collect data from the samples, a self-administered closed-end questionnaire was employed. The first section of the questionnaire is comprised of eight questions, out of which the first six questions have been developed to collect the demographic information of the respondents (gender, age, education, occupation, income, and marital status) and the last two have been asked to know about their frequency and time of purchase. In the second section, respondents have been asked about three statements (question 9 to 11) regarding store attributes, three statements (question 12 to 14) relating to product attributes, and finally one statement (question 15) pertaining to their store loyalty. All the statements have been measured on a 5-point Likert Scale. Data have been collected from shoppers of 4 superstores (Aagora, Meena Bazar, Nandon and Shopno) of Dhaka city on the basis of simple random sampling. All the data have been collected during the 1st and 2nd week of April 2014. A total of 359 shoppers have been randomly approached to fill-in the questionnaire by themselves to reach the estimated sample size of 196. This has resulted in a response rate of 54.59%. After sorting the collected questionnaires, 62 have been found to be incomplete and another 33 have been found to be inaccurate. Finally, 101 questionnaires have been used for the purpose of data analyses. Both descriptive and inferential statistical tools have been employed to analyze the data. All the calculations have been conducted using SPSS, Version 17.0 (Leech, Barrett, and Morgan, 2005). V. Empirical Findings Table-2 shows the demographic profile of the respondents. Table-2 indicates the demographic profile of the respondents. Out of 101 respondents 59.4 percent were male and the rest 40.6 percent were female. 59.4 percent respondents fell below the age group of 30 years and the remaining 40.6 percent composed the age group of above 30 years. Majority of the respondents’ (87.1 percent) educational background was up to bachelor or masters and the rest of the respondents (12.9 percent) completed up to HSC level. It is interesting to observe that a good proportion of the respondents were unemployed (33.7 percent). With respect to income, 67.2 percent of the 67 employed respondents had up to Tk. 30000 income per month and the rest 32.8 percent had more than Tk. 30000 income per month. Among all the respondents, 58.4 percent were found to be married with leaving the rest (41.6 percent) unmarried. Regarding purchase timing, most of the respondents (86.1 percent) were found to shop in the evening hours with only a few (13.9 percent) doing the same in the morning hours. Finally, about the mode of payment it was observed that majority of the respondents usually purchase in cash (79.2 percent). This indicates that the shoppers in the region still prefer carrying cash than plastic cards to make payments. The respondents were asked a single question if they were loyal to the store that they purchased from. The result shows a high level of store loyalty with mean score 4.1881 on a scale of 5. Table-3 shows the overall store loyalty of the respondents. It was necessary to investigate the effect of store attributes and product attributes on store loyalty of the respondents. For the present study, store attributes were measured through store appearance, service quality, and store convenience; whereas product attributes were measured by product quality, product price, and availability of new products. Multiple regression was employed to see the effect of the store and product attributes as the predictor variables and store loyalty as the dependent variable. The following model was run:

Y = α + ß1X1 + ß2X2 + ß3X3 + ß4X4 + ß5X5 + ß6X6 (1)

Where Y = Store loyalty X1 = Store appearance X2 = Service quality X3 = Store convenience X4 = Product quality X5 = Product price X6 = Availability of new products Table-4 shows the results revealed from the regression analysis.

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Table-2. Demographic Profile of the Respondents \Demographic Particulars

Frequency Percentage Gender Male 60 59.4 Female 41 40.6 Total 101 100 Age Below 30 years 60 59.4 More than 30 years 41 40.6 Total 101 100 Education Up to H.S.C 13 12.9 Bachelor/ Masters or Above 88 87.1 Total 101 100 Occupation Employed 67 66.3 Unemployed 34 33.7 Total 101 100 Income (only the employed ones) Upto Tk. 30000 per month 45 67.2 More than Tk. 30000 per month 22 32.8 Total 67 100 Marital Status Married 59 58.4 Unmarried 42 41.6 Total 101 100 Time of Purchase Morning 14 13.9 Evening 87 86.1 Total 101 100 Mode of Payment Cash 80 79.2 Plastic Money 21 20.8 Total 101 100

Table-3. Overall Store Loyalty

Number of Respondents Mean Standard Deviation Loyalty to store 101 4.1881 .84514

Table-4. Multiple Regression Model Summary for Store characteristics on Store Loyalty

R Square Adjusted R Square R Square Change .641 .611 .641

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Table-5. ANOVA Model Sum of

Squares df F-statistic Sig.

Regression 82.500 6 735.694 .002*** Residual 18.126 94 Total 100.626 100 Note. *** p < .01

Table-5. Effect of Store Characteristics on Store Loyalty

Model Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized Coefficients

B Std. Error Beta T Sig. Beta2 (constant) .350 .501 5.257 .001*** Store appearance -.028 .043 -.031 -2.148 .064* -.0009 Service quality .152 .022 .145 3.606 .004*** .0210 Store convenience .234 .028 .241 5.183 .001*** .0580 Product quality .221 .084 .211 3.884 .003*** .0445 Product price -.060 .922 -.080 -2.862 .078* .0064 Availability of new products

.375 .021 .479 12.742 .000*** .2294 Note: * p < .10, ** p < .05, *** p < .01 The result of multiple regression indicates a strong R2 of 0.64 (Table-4). The value of F is 735.694 which stands significant at .01 percent (Table-5). The relatively high measure of R2 (0.64) indicates that the predictor variables performed well in explaining the variance in store loyalty. The highly significant F ratio indicates that the results of the equation could hardly have occurred by chance. The relative effect of predictor variables was examined by comparing the magnitude of regression coefficients (Table-6). The first attribute with the greatest effect on overall store loyalty was ‘store appearance’ (ß = .375), followed by ‘store convenience’ (ß = .234), ‘product quality’ (ß = .221), and ‘service quality’ (ß = .152). As such, Hypotheses 6, 3, 4, and 2 were supported respectively. These results also concur with those from Western countries (Carpenter and Moore, 2006). However, negative effects on store loyalty was found with ‘product price’ (ß = -.060), thus hypothesis 5 was not supported. This result is very similar to those found in the study of Ackerman and Tellis, (2001) supporting the fact that Asian customers are highly price sensitive. Negative association was equally observed with ‘product assortment’ (ß = -.028), which voided hypothesis 1. Interestingly, this result is in contrary to those from Western countries (Rahman and Jalil, 2014). The following figure shows the empirical results of the tested hypotheses:

Store

Store

Quality of

Quality of

Store loyalty

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The regression coefficients indicate that a one unit change in a specific attribute would lead to a specific change in the overall loyalty to stores. For instance, a one unit change in ‘availability of new products’ attribute would lead to a change of .375 in the overall loyalty. In other words, an addition of one unit in the ‘availability of new products’ variable would increase loyalty by .375 unit. Given the relative factor weights (beta2), it could be claimed that the ‘availability of new products’ attribute (beta2 = .2294) was more than five times powerful in determining loyalty than the ‘product quality’ attribute. On the other hand, the attribute that was found to have the weakest power in determining loyalty is ‘store appearance’ with factor weight .0009 followed by ‘price’ with factor weight .0064. VI. Implications, Limitations and Future Research The study suggests that both store characteristics has significant influence on customers’ loyalty to stores. Though product assortment and price negatively influence customer loyalty, retailers should be more concerned about the other four attributes - store appearance, store convenience, product quality, and service quality. Moreover, store appearance is a very crucial area that retail store owners should keep in mind when trying to improve customer loyalty. Apart from that, superstores should also concentrate on product quality, service quality and store convenience if they truly want to enhance customer loyalty. This study suffers from some limitations. First it was conducted only in Dhaka city which does not represent the complete picture of the nation as long as store loyalty is concerned. Thus, future researchers might do this study on a much bigger and wider arena. Another shortcoming of the study is its sample size due to which results may have been affected. Future researchers, in this regard, should consider collecting larger samples to avoid sampling error. The study was confined to only superstores, though more shopping is done in the traditional retail stores and bazaars in Bangladesh. In view of this fact, the same study can be conducted on the traditional retail stores of the country in future. Apart from that, a comparative analysis regarding the loyalty status of traditional retail stores and superstores can be kept in mind by future researchers. Additionally, the behavioral aspects of shoppers could have been widened with the inclusion of some other factors such as previous shopping experience, word-of –mouth communication, impact of promotional offers and the like. Despite these limitations, the researcher firmly believe that the results of the study deserve consideration for strategy formulation by superstore retailers as a way to improving customer loyalty. References Ackerman, D. and Tellis, G. (2001). Can Culture Affect Prices? A Cross-cultural Study of Shopping and Retail

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