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REFINEMENT AND VALIDATION OF RETAIL CONSUMER LOYALTY SCALE: A CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS APPROACH Adil Zia 1 Asif Akhtar 2 M. Khalid Azam 3 1 Research scholar Dept. of Business Administration, AMU, Aligarh 2 Assist. Prof. Dept. of Business Administration, AMU, Aligarh 3 Prof. Dept. of Business Administration, AMU, Aligarh Adil Zia, Research Scholar, (Corresponding Author) Dept. of Business Administration, FMSR, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Contact E-mail: [email protected]; Mobile No 9897496905 Asif Akhtar (Assist. Prof.), Dept. of Business Administration, FMSR, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Contact E-mail: [email protected]; Mobile No 9897447806 M. Khalid Azam (Prof.), Dept. of Business Administration, FMSR, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Contact E-mail:[email protected]; Mobile No 9412527091 Biological Notes 1. Adil Zia MBA from Jamia Hamdard University New Delhi India. Presently he is pursuing PhD at AMU, Aligarh Uttar Pradesh India. He has one year industry and three years teaching experience along with two years of research work. His areas of interest include Consumer Behavior and Marketing Management. Email: [email protected] 2. Mohammad Khalid Azam PhD and MBA from Aligarh Muslim University UP India. Presently he is Professor at AMU, Aligarh Uttar Pradesh India. He has 29 years teaching experience along with 25 years of research work. His areas of interest include Finance, retailing and Marketing Management. Email: [email protected]

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Page 1:   · Web viewLoyalty is one of the most important drivers of business growth because profitable business growth cannot be achieved without customer loyalty (Reichheld, 2003). Store

REFINEMENT AND VALIDATION OF RETAIL CONSUMER LOYALTY SCALE: A CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS APPROACH

Adil Zia 1 Asif Akhtar2 M. Khalid Azam3

1 Research scholar Dept. of Business Administration, AMU, Aligarh2Assist. Prof. Dept. of Business Administration, AMU, Aligarh

3Prof. Dept. of Business Administration, AMU, Aligarh

Adil Zia, Research Scholar, (Corresponding Author)Dept. of Business Administration, FMSR, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.Contact E-mail: [email protected]; Mobile No 9897496905

Asif Akhtar (Assist. Prof.), Dept. of Business Administration, FMSR, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.Contact E-mail: [email protected]; Mobile No 9897447806

M. Khalid Azam (Prof.), Dept. of Business Administration, FMSR, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.Contact E-mail:[email protected]; Mobile No 9412527091

Biological Notes1. Adil Zia MBA from Jamia Hamdard University New Delhi India. Presently he is pursuing

PhD at AMU, Aligarh Uttar Pradesh India. He has one year industry and three years teaching experience along with two years of research work. His areas of interest include Consumer Behavior and Marketing Management. Email: [email protected]

2. Mohammad Khalid Azam PhD and MBA from Aligarh Muslim University UP India. Presently he is Professor at AMU, Aligarh Uttar Pradesh India. He has 29 years teaching experience along with 25 years of research work. His areas of interest include Finance, retailing and Marketing Management. Email: [email protected]

3. Asif Akhtar PhD and MBA Aligarh Muslim University UP India. Presently he is Assistant Professor at AMU, Aligarh Uttar Pradesh India. He has one year industry and five year teaching experience along with five year of research work. His areas of interest include Islamic Banking and Marketing Management. Email: [email protected]

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Abstract

In the retail market environment in particular, slow growth and intense competition have

refocused retailers’ attention on the need to retain their existing consumers as more and more

retailers began to realize that acquiring a new consumer is much more expensive than keeping

an existing one. Beside the cost of acquiring new consumers, Knox and Denison found that store

loyal consumers in the grocery sector spend larger budgets and larger proportions of budgets at

the stores they are loyal to. So in light of this fact the study of consumer loyalty encloses great

importance for the retailers as well as producers. Further knowing the factors responsible for

consumer loyalty interests both retailers and producers so to influence it whenever required.

This paper attempts to refine and validate Shopping Experience and Consumer Loyalty Scale

(RSECLS) and to further explore consumer loyalty dimensions that help retailers and producers

in designing marketing strategies and further to develop a retail consumer loyalty scale in Indian

context. A structured questionnaire consisting of 48 items was administered on 1200 retail

consumers. Out of which 670 filled questionnaires were returned for further analysis making it a

response rate of 55.83%. Analytical tools such as SPSS 16.0 and AMOS 16.0 were used to refine

the instrument, to test the scale reliability, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory

factor analysis (CFA) to confirm the fitness of the proposed model.

Keywords: Consumer Loyalty, Retailing, Consumer Loyalty Scale, Consumer Behavior,

Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Introduction

Loyalty is one of the most important drivers of business growth because profitable business

growth cannot be achieved without customer loyalty (Reichheld, 2003). Store loyalty is the most

important factor in retail business success (Anic, 2006; Ray 2009). Therefore, store loyalty

concept has been investigated a lot during the past few decades (Anic, 2006). How customers

develop true store loyalty and how store loyalty can be maintained are still open questions (Anic,

2006). In order to improve store performance, marketers are interested in customer loyalty

drivers and their practical usage (Anic, 2006). It requires less marketing effort and resources to

2

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keep a loyal customer than to acquire a new customer (Ray, 2009; Sreedhara, Babu & Nagendra,

2010), because the loyal customer is less price sensitive (Tsai, Tsai & Chang, 2010), and more

willing to recommend company to other people, thus bringing into business new customers

(Bove, 2009; Reichheld, 2003; Tsai, Tsai & Chang, 2010).

During economic recession, strengthening customer‘s loyalty is even more important, because

when the incomes in general decrease and the ordinary customers may re-evaluate their

purchasing behavior. Some studies suggest that during recession not only customer behavior

changes but also their way of thinking. So it is important for retailers to recognize those trends

not just during recession period, but also in the future (post-recession), because it is expected that

recession customer behaviors and patterns will continue in recovery period and beyond (Miller,

2010; Lodes, 2009). Consequently retailers ought to be responsive of consumer behavior in order

to serve their customers accordingly and to be successful in keeping customers loyal.

Literature Review

Dick and Basu (1994) define loyalty as a combination of strong relative attitude and high repeat

patronage. Oliver (1999) argues that loyalty is a deeply held commitment to re buy or re-

patronizes a preferred product or a service consistently in future, thereby causing repetitive

same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts

having the potential to causes switching behavior.

Reichheld (2003) defines loyalty as willingness of someone a customer, an employee, a friend to

make an investment or personal sacrifice in order to strengthen a relationship. In other words, to

stick in long term with particular supplier who gives to customer good value of product or

service, even though supplier does not offer the best available price. Further Reichheld explains

that Consumer Loyalty is one of the most important drivers of business growth because

profitable business growth cannot be achieved without customer loyalty.

Dimensions of Consumer Loyalty

Numerous researches have been done to unearth the factors responsible for consumer loyalty in

retail setup but still it is very difficult to illustrate all the factors. However it is a complex 3

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concept (Bustos-Reyes and González-Benito, 2008). Even though loyalty has been widely

investigated in recent decades, there is no best way to define and measure customer loyalty

(Bustos-Reyes and González-Benito, 2008).

Drivers of store loyalty investigated in past researches are satisfaction, location, product range,

in-store promotions, frequent buyer/loyalty programs, store operation, store appearance, spatial

layout, relative price, convenience (Magi, 2003; Miranda et al., 2005; Noble et al., 2006; Sirohi

et al., 1998), store affect (Ray, 2009), demographic factors (Anic 2006), store atmosphere

(Baker, Parasuraman 2002; Ray, 2009), merchandise value (Baker, Parasuraman, 2002; Ray,

2009; Sirohi, 1998), interpersonal service quality (Baker and Parasuraman, 2002; Ray, 2009;

Sirohi, 1998), customers self concept and store image congruity (He and Mukherje, 2007; Sirgy,

1985) etc. Yavas 2009) suggests that store loyalty drivers can be captured in three dimensions:

store environment, perceived quality and price (Yavas, 2009).

In order to understand Consumer Loyalty more appropriately researches has been grouped into

eight dimensions. These dimensions are Execution Related Excellence, Expediting, Problem

Recovery, Shopping Motives, Engagement, Store Attributes, Store Purchase Experience and

Product Attributes.

Execution Related Excellence

Execution Related Excellence is a term given to the Shopping convenience, Physical aspects of

the store, Personal Attention given by the staff, Courteousness of staff and to the feeling of

enjoyment experienced by the consumers in the store. This terminology was coined by Verde

Group (2009) Discovering “WOW” a study of Great Retail Shopping Experiences in North

America. There are numerous studies of these dimensions but only relevant studies have been

discussed.

Kumar (2011) did a study on the strategies of unorganized retailers with reference to consumer

durables and found that a product strategy which means merchandise is the most important factor

followed by price, distribution and promotion. Kushwaha (2011) compared the perception of

consumers in organized and unorganized retail market and found that factors like cleanliness,

distance, price, quality, safety and space for shopping are the determinant factors for unorganized 4

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retail. Adil, Mohd and Asif (2012) used the term Executional excellence as one of the

dimensions to measure shopping experience which in turn measures consumer loyalty.

Expediting

Backstrom & Johansson (2006) studied factors such as the behavior of the personnel, a

satisfactory selection of products, price and a layout that facilitates the store visit. Anselmsson

(2006) eight factors are important they are selection, atmosphere, convenience, sales people,

refreshments, location, promotional activities and merchandising policy. N.S. Terblanche and C.

Boshoff (2006) face-to-face interaction between retail staff and shoppers are of critical

importance. Favorable perceptions of shopping quality, checkout speed, shopping efficiency and

quality of time spent shopping leads to satisfaction, farther satisfaction leads to repeat patronage

intentions and positive word-of-moth (Anic, 2006). Molina (2009) found that customer

expectations are more positive, if there are more sales people visible in the store. Expectations

are positive, because customers believe that personnel will help them in buying and checkout

process (Molina, 2009). Whereas when store is crowded, customers have more negative

expectations (Molina, 2009). Adil, Mohd and Asif (2012), Raut and Das (2011) quick and error

free purchase determines the shopping experience.

Problem Recovery

The store policies that were considered included the return or exchange of purchases, shopping

hours, payment options, and the system to deal with enquiries or complaints by consumers

(Westbrook, 1981; Mazursky & Jacoby, 1985; Dickson & McLachlan, 1990; Dickson &

Albaum, 1977). Adil, Mohd and Asif (2012), Raut and Das (2011) effective complaint handling

system, good after sales service, error free billing and easy product return policy by the store.

Shopping motives

This dimension measures that what is the reason for a person to go out to shop. This dimension

further emphasizes that there can be two broad reason for shopping which are necessity or

leisure. The necessity concept is related to the product requirement and availability where as the

leisure concept is related to entertainment, window shopping and fun. Dholakia (1999) identified

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key empirically tested three reasons behind going for shopping are ‘interactions with family’,

‘utilitarian’ and ‘shopping as pleasure’. Adil, Mohd and Asif (2012), Babin et al. (1994), Howard

(2007) explained that the purpose of shopping can be non utilitarian that is shopping of goods for

non utilitarian or hedonic purposes. These hedonic motive may be entertainment, fun, outing and

gettogather. These two broad motives of product and experience is also related to emotions while

shopping (Dawson et al., 1990) (Millan and Howard, 2007).

Engagement

Engagement is another dimension which determines consumer loyalty. This dimension

emphasizes the concept of being polite, genuinely caring and demonstrating sincere interest in

helping, acknowledging and listening and the availability of place to enjoy. Adil, Mohd and Asif

(2012) If retailers want to realize the elusive goal of store loyalty, they have to ensure positive

shopping experience that is ease of shopping, friendly staff, sufficient choice and merchandise

value. A satisfactory in-store shopping experience enhances cumulative or ‘overall’ consumer

satisfaction, which in turn enhances both attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty (actual sales).

Goswami & Mishra (2009) Customer patronage to grocery stores was found to be positively

related to location, helpful, trustworthy salespeople, home shopping, cleanliness, offers, quality

and negatively related to travel convenience. Interaction quality and customer‘s satisfaction with

it is an effective predictor of loyalty (Ghosh, Tripathi, Kumar, 2010; Vogel, 2008; Yavas, 2009).

Many researchers have found a significant relationship between service quality and customer

repeat patronage (Anic, 2006; Brady et al., 2002; Ghosh, Tripathi, Kumar, 2010; Vogel, 2008,

Yavas, 2009; Zeithaml et al., 1996).

Store attributes

Store attributes are those attributes which directly contribute to consumer loyalty. These include

loyalty programs run by the stores, variety of products available inside the store, store

appearance both outside and inside the store and the location of store. These dimensions has been

studied by various researchers from time to time and found to be relevant for both organized as

well as unorganized retail setup. Baker (1994) found that prestigious atmosphere leads to

favorable stores social impressions than discount store atmosphere. Lights and music

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communicate stores social image much more than some practical cues, for instance more

merchandise displayed (Schlosser, 1998). Decor can express social information, such as social

status, ethnic identity and self concept (Schlosser, 1998). In order to develop positive store

image, social identity information can be communicated to customers through stores atmosphere

(Kotler, 1973 cited by Schlosser, 1998). Store atmosphere can communicate stores customers‘

type: people who make shopping in particular store, own products sold in this store and their

social class where do they belong (Kotler, 1973 cited by Schlosser, 1998, Adil, Mohd and Asif

2012).

Customers make inferences based on cues which are available in specific environment (Huber &

McCann, 1982). Such store attributes like music (Kellaris and Rice, 1993; Ghosh, Tripathi,

Kumar, 2010), crowding (Bateson and Hui, 1992), number of sales people (Baker et al., 1992),

layout, lightening, décor (Bitner, 1990; Ghosh, Tripathi, Kumar, 2010), noise, colors, visual

communications (Ghosh, Tripathi, Kumar, 2010) etc. have significant impact on store image

(Ghosh, Tripathi, Kumar, 2010; Schlosser, 1998) and may determine customer‘s store patronage

behavior (Schlosser, 1998).

Purchase experience

The next important dimension that determines consumer loyalty is purchase experience. This

dimension includes all the aspects of shopping related to consumer loyalty which encompasses

things like the exciting store design, consistently great product quality, making customers feel

they’re special and that they always get a deal. This include items like reliability of the product

its manufacturing dates and expiry dates, its proper storage, true brand of the product, after sales

service, and related support. The next item included in purchase experience is transactions which

mean that the billing process is accurate, the amount of money charged is genuine, no undue

billing is done. Merchandize is another item included in purchase experience this includes the

availability of length and berth of products. The next important items are uniqueness of

assortment and purchase convenience which means that is a product is available in one store is

not available anywhere else then the consumers become loyal to that store. Secondly purchase

convenience plays a vital role in consumer loyalty both for organized and unorganized retail

setup because without purchase convenience consumers are not going to turn back to the stores. 7

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The physical attributes of a store, its layout, appearance, and physical presentation combine to

provide a major supporting role in the store's product offering (Greenley & Shipley, 1989).

Product attributes

Product attributes is the next important dimension encompasses store image, product prices and

the product quality related things which have impact on consumer loyalty. These attributes are

directly related to the product and its usability. He and Mukherje, (2007) found that retailers

must be aware of consumer behavior in order to serve their customers accordingly and to be

successful in keeping customers loyal. It is also important for retailers to understand that

symbolic store image plays a significant role in customer store loyalty behavior, something most

retailers have not paid too much attention before. Retailers are required not only to realize how

customers see their stores personality, but also how their customers see themselves, because

customers tend to shop at stores whose images are similar to their own self images (He and

Mukherje, 2007; Sirgy, 1985). If store personality matches up to most of stores customers, then

retailer has won half the battle getting customer loyalty (Sirgy, 1985). If store personality doesn‘t

match with customer‘s personality, then retailer should change symbolic store images in

direction of customers, through various promotional effort (He and Mukherje, 2007; Sirgy,

1985).

Sivadas and Baker (2000) found that loyalty in this phase can break down and cause switching, if

competitor offers better price, better quality, better value for money or better service, because

customer‘s evaluation is based on costs and benefits. Consumer has an opinion about brand,

based on his/ her previous satisfaction with product or service (Oliver, 1999). Customer‘s

personal feelings create individuals attachment to a store, which leads to consumer purchase

intentions conative loyalty (Anic, 2006). Strong commitment to brand leads to an intention to

repeat patronage in future (Oliver, 1999)

Jhamb and Kiran (2012) consumers’ prefer modern retail formats due to its significant product

attributes like improved quality, variety of brands and assortment of merchandise and store

attributes like parking facility, trained sales personnel and complete security. Adil, Mohd and

Asif (2012) the retention strategies, promotional strategies, growth and improvement strategies,

8

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pricing strategies and competitive strategies are the major contributors for the growth of

organized retailing and play an important role in enhancing the sales of retail formats.

Conclusion

On the basis of above researches it may be summarize that the Consumer Loyalty is a multi-

dimensional construct and that it has eight dimensions namely shopping motives, Engagement,

Store Attributes, Purchase Experience and Product Attributes. Further these five dimensions

encompasses items like necessity, exploring, helpfulness, acknowledgement, place to enjoy,

loyalty programs, product variety, store appearance, store location, reliability, transactions,

merchandize, uniqueness of assortment, purchase convenience, store brand image, product price

and product quality. The respective summary is shown in table 2.2.

Objectives

The main objectives of this research are:-

1. To validate and refine RSCELS.

2. To re access various dimensions important for consumer loyalty in Indian scenario where

organized and unorganized retail setup co exist.

Methodology

Population is defined as active retail shoppers which mean the shoppers who are physically involved in

the act of purchase. The sample consisted of 670 retail shoppers. Personal interviews were conducted

immediately after the completion of the shopping. Retail shoppers were selected for analysis because they

offer a mix of merchandise and service while individual retail shops were identified on convenience

sampling basis. In all, 32 retail stores were selected from Delhi and national capital region. The retail

stores varied in their size from small to big stores and were selected across stores setups such as food,

clothing, consumer durables, books, music, etc. Shoppers were interviewed while they finished shopping

or outside the stores. The instrument used was questionnaire with 48 questions which employed a 5-point

Likert scale (5-strongly agree, 1-strongly disagree).

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Model Development

Extensive literature survey egged various models and theories explaining relationships among several

factors responsible for consumer loyalty. After hypothesized model have been developed (Figure 1),

overall reliability and validity was checked. After getting the model reliable and valid, exploratory factor

analysis and then confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The hypothesized model for shopping

experience consists of eight independent variables and one dependent variable.

Table:1 Consumer LoyaltyS.No Dimensions Elements

1Execution related Excellence

Shopping conveniencePhysical aspectPersonal attentioncourteousnessEnjoyment

2 Expediting Shopping TimeStore Service Quality

3 Problem Recovery

Complain HandlingReturns and Exchange

4 Shopping Motives

NecessityExploring

5 EngagementHelpfulnessAcknowledgement/listeningPlace to enjoy

6 Store attributes

Loyalty ProgramsProduct VarietyStore AppearanceStore Location

7 Store purchase Experience

ReliabilityTransactionsMerchandiseUniqueness of assortmentPurchase convenience

8 Product attributes

Store brands imageProduct PriceProduct Quality

Reliability and Validity Of Scale

The trustworthiness and stability of an instrument is determined by its reliability. Reliability refers to the

degree of dependability and stability of a scale. It reflects the scales ability to consistently yield the same

responses.

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The reliability of the construct is determined by computing the alpha coefficient of internal consistency

(Chronbach, 1951). Chronbach’s coefficient alpha value of 0.6 is considered acceptable for the

exploratory purposes, 0.7 is considered adequate, and 0.8 good for confirmatory purposes. It is also worth

mentioning here that an alpha coefficient of 0.6 and above is considered to be good for research in social

sciences. The reliability estimates based on the actual data collected is shown as under.

The overall chronbach alpha value obtained is 0.894 which shows high reliability of the scale (Table 2).

Since the value is well above 0.7 it is valid to use this scale. The individual alpha values were above 0.7

except for D6 which is frequent buyer program

Figure 1 Conceptual Model

ConsumerLoyalty

Execution relatedExcellence

Expediting

ProblemRecovery

ShoppingMotives

StoreEngagement

StoreAttributes

PurchaseExperience

ProductAttributes

D4

D5

D6

D7

D8

Factor Model for Consumer Loyalty

D3

D2

D1

As overall chronbach alpha value is under the acceptable limits so the scale is adapted for further

analysis.

Table 2: Overall Cronbach’s alpha value = 0.871

Dimension No. Factors / Dimensions No of items Cronbach’s alphas value

D1 Execution Related Excellence 9 0.794D2 Expediting 5 0.804D3 Problem Recovery 3 0.868

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D4 Shopping Motives 3 0.711D5 Store Engagement 6 0.812D6 Store Attributes 7 0.771D7 Purchase Experience 9 0.819D8 Product Attributes 6 0.910

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

In order to develop structure of shopping experience for unorganized retail consumers, an exploratory

factor analysis on all 17 items was performed. This was performed for the factor structure using the

principal components factoring method and varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalization. The results of

Table 3: Exploratory Factor Analysis

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the

factor analysis indicates that the 17 items obtained gives a three factor structure (Table 3). Also, the

factors did not load according to the factor structure given by Dabholkar (1996). Other rotation methods

13

Items of Questionnaire

Factors

Mean

Std.

Deviation1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00

S1       0.73           2.90 0.97S2 0.46                 2.73 0.99S3       0.75           2.83 1.15S4       0.87           2.63 0.98S5 0.65                 3.21 1.40S6 0.73                 3.17 1.35S7         0.41         3.02 1.31S8         0.47         3.36 1.48S9   0.71               3.62 1.47S10   0.83               3.81 1.30S11     0.66             3.37 1.14S12   0.49               3.13 1.14S13 0.71                 2.83 0.95S14 0.80                 3.19 1.04S15 0.51                 3.14 1.42S16             0.47     3.66 1.49S17 0.61                 3.06 1.39S18             0.56     3.25 1.26S19             0.71     3.24 1.26S20           0.64       3.24 1.26S21             0.81     3.24 1.25S22                   3.23 1.25S23     0.82             3.23 1.24S24           0.64       3.22 1.24S25           0.73       3.22 1.24S26           0.52       3.22 1.23S27                 0.64 3.21 1.23S28             0.47     3.21 1.23S29           0.80       3.20 1.22S30                   3.20 1.22S31         0.76         3.20 1.22S32           0.67       3.19 1.21S33             0.51     3.19 1.21S34             0.62     3.18 1.20S35               0.79   3.18 1.20S36               0.66   3.18 1.20S37     0.50             3.17 1.19S38   0.74               3.17 1.19S39               0.74   3.16 1.19S40             0.65     3.16 1.18S41               0.65   3.16 1.18S42               0.74   3.15 1.17S43               0.48   3.15 1.17S44                 0.67 3.14 1.17S45                 0.66 3.14 1.16S46             0.41   . 3.13 1.16S47             0.71     3.11 1.16S48               0.74 3.14 1.15

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such as Equamax rotation with Kaiser Normalization also failed to improve the factors loading and factor

structure.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

Confirmatory Factor Analysis is the extension of Exploratory Factor Analysis. After attaining

total nine factors at 72% of variance and a KMO of 0.79, the questionnaire was further subjected

to CFA. This methodology was suggested by Gerbing and Anderson (1988) to assess the

measurement model. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used on D1, D2, D3, D4, D5,

D6, D7, D8 and D9 to investigate model fitness. As shown in Table 4 the overall model fit

indices show that all fit indices measures are within acceptable levels.

Table: 4

S.No. Parameters Recommended Value Observed Value

1 CMIN/DF 2.5- 4.5 4.131

2 GFI >=0.90 0.8121

3 AGFI <0.937 0.719

4 CFI >0.90 0.912

5 RMSEA <0.08 0.071

6 Chi-square/df <5.0 4.120

Hair et al. (1998) suggested that all standardized factor loadings should reach a significance level

of over 0.6. The results of the analysis show that all standardized factor loadings are over 0.6 and

significant at the p = 0.01 level. After the overall model was accepted, each of the constructs was

evaluated separately by examining the indicator loadings for statistical significance (Hair et al.,

1998).

The construct reliability (CR) should be over 0.7, and the construct’s average variance extracted

(AVE) should be over 0.5. The observed values in the present study are shown in Table 5. It

shows that the CR ranges from 0.702 to 0.861, the constructs’ average variance extracted (AVE)

ranges from 0.531 to 0.721, and the constructs’ AVE of each latent variable is over 0.5, which

represents sufficient convergent validity (Hair et al., 1998).

Table: 6

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S.No FACTORS CR AVE Cronbach’s Alpha

D1 Execution Related Excellence 0.701 0.557 0.794D2 Expediting 0.812 0.541 0.804D3 Problem Recovery 0.714 0.622 0.868D4 Shopping Motives 0.731 0.630 0.711D5 Store Engagement 0.861 0.790 0.812D6 Store Attributes 0.711 0.531 0.771D7 Purchase Experience 0.810 0.691 0.819D8 Product Attributes 0.806 0.721 0.910D9 Overall Consumer Loyalty 0.751 0.690 0.871

Retail Consumer Loyalty Scale (RCLS)

The Retail Consumer Loyalty Scale (RCLS) obtained after the CFA and EFA contain all together

nine dimensions. Out of nine dimensions one is dependent and rest eight are independent. The

dependent dimension is Consumer Loyalty where as eight independent dimensions are

Execution Related Excellence, Expediting, Problem Recovery, shopping motives, Store

Engagement, Store Attributes, Purchase Experience and Product Attributes. All these dimensions

are measured by 48 items of questionnaire.

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Figure:2

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CFA for Consumer Loyalty Scale

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Table: 7 Retail Consumer Loyalty ScaleS.No Dimension Sub- Dimension Item

D1

Exec

utio

n R

elat

ed

Exce

llenc

eShopping Convenience

The store makes it easy for me to find what I need.The store layout makes it easy for me to move around in the store.

Physical Aspect The store has modern equipment and display panels.The store has attractive product and promotional display

Personal Attention The store employees give me individual attention.Courteousness The store employees are consistently courteous to me.Enjoyment I come here for shopping just to get out of house.

D2

Expe

ditin

g

Shopping Time The store employees are Sensitive to checkout times.The store employees are proactive in helping speedup the process of clearance and delivery.

Store Service Quality

The store employees are willing to go out of the way to help me.I receive prompt service when I reach at this store.

D3

Prob

lem

R

ecov

ery Complain

Handling The store employees are able to handle customer complaints directly and immediately.Returns and Exchange

The store willingly handles returns and exchanges.The return and exchange terms and conditions are clearly mentioned.

D4

Shop

pin

g M

otiv

es Necessity I come here for shopping to fulfill my household responsibilities.

Exploring I come here for shopping to bargain about the price of the product.I come here shopping to find variety of products.

D5

Stor

eEn

gage

men

t Helpfulness The store employees give me prompt service.Acknowledgement and Listening The store employees have the knowledge to answer my questions.

Place to EnjoyThe store is a good place for window shopping.It has Kids Play area adds to the overall experience.It has Movie Theater that attracts me to the store.

D6

Stor

e A

ttrib

utes Loyalty Programs The store has merchandise available when I want it.

The store has attractive frequent buyer program.Product Variety The store provides latest products that are available in the market.

Store Appearance The store has modern looking posters and fixtures.The store building is attractive.

Store Location The store location is convenient and easily approachable for me.

D7

Purc

hase

Exp

erie

nce

Reliability The store provides its services at the time it promises to do so.The store products are free from defects.

Transactions The store insists on error-free sales transactions and records.

Merchandise Materials associated with this store’s service (such as shopping bags, catalogues or statements) are visually appealing.

Uniqueness of Assortment

The store has convenient public areas (e.g., rest rooms)The store has convenient public areas (e.g., rest rooms)The store has convenient public areas (e.g., rest rooms)

Purchase Convenience The store has operating hours convenient for me.

D8

Prod

uct

Attr

ibut

es Store Brand Image I recommend this store to my friendsI frequently visit this store.

Product Price In general the prices at this store are low.Prices at the store offer value for money.

Product Quality This retailers merchandise always meets my quality standards.

D9

Ove

rall

Con

sum

er

Loya

lty

The store physical facilities are visually appealing. (Checkout counters, shelves etc)The store provides plenty of convenient parking for me.Billing process is quick and accurate.The store surrounding area is clean.When I leave the store, I usually feel that I had a good experience.The products available here are not available anywhere else.It has food court is a good place to hang around.

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Findings

Finally the RCS has eight dimensions instead of 10 dimensions as it was in RSECLS. Further the

items of questionnaire got re arrange and regrouped as shown in table 7. In all the no of items

remained same as it was in the original RSECLS.

Managerial Contributions

The results of the study provide managers information about the retail consumer loyalty in Indian

scenario. This questionnaire is helpful in collecting information about the loyalty of consumers.

The results of this questionnaire are measured on a five point likert scale ranging from 1 to 5.

The more score towards 5 higher is the consumer loyalty or the propensity towards the loyalty

exists. This questionnaire is very simple to administer, easy to understand and quick to evaluate

so it can be used more frequently and swiftly. Further this questionnaire is developed considering

the diverse Diaspora of India because of the coexistence of organized and unorganized retail all

together.

Limitations and Further Research directions

Although the results can be considered statistically significant, still the study has several

limitations that affect the reliability and validity of the findings. First of all, the sample selected

was too less in number and limited to Delhi and national capital region which might limits the

generalization of results, the researchers believe that it represents a necessary and economical

first step in identifying relevant unorganized shopping experience dimension that can later be

tested in larger, more representative samples in Indian context.

The second limitation concerns the sampling. Convenient sampling procedure was employed to

collect data from unorganized retail consumers this may restrict the generalization. Moreover the

impact of other factors like consumer loyalty on shopping experience have not been taken into

consideration which might have significant impact which might have diminished the impact of

six factors taken into consideration. The other limitation of this work concerns the limited

geographic extent of the study necessitates that findings be viewed with caution.

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These limitations pave the way to future studies. As the geographical extent of this study was

limited to Delhi NCR, similar studies in other regions of the country would add both breadth and

depth to our understanding of perceptions customer towards shopping experience in unorganized

retail. Alternative and complementary research approaches like observational studies; interactive

interviewing and focus group interviews can also be adopted to supplement findings from purely

quantitative studies as the present one. Furthermore, another interesting avenue for further

research could be a detailed study on the factors effecting shopping experience in unorganized

retail. We should also measure the existence and impact of organized retail shopping experience

on unorganized retail shopping experience with other possible factors derived from different

sources of literature.

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