Assessing contact personnel/ customer interaction in a small town: differences between large and small retail districts

The importance of improving customer retention has led to many changes in the services and retailing mix. Assesses the role that the contact person has on the customer’s willingness‐to‐buy. Two retailing districts in a small town are studied: the first, a downtown retail district made up primarily of small local retailers; and the second, a one‐stop retailing district made up of large multi‐service national chains. The results show that the contact people in the downtown retail district focus primarily on empathy to influence willingness‐to‐buy, where the contact people in the large one‐stop retail district jointly focus on assurance and responsiveness to influence willingness‐to‐buy. These findings, and their implications for competing for customers in such competitive markets, are discussed.