Assessing customer‐salesperson interactions in a retail chain: differences between city and country retail districts

This study attempts to examine the relationship between the dimensions of service quality and customer loyalty in a retail chain departmental store setting in Victoria, Australia. The focus of the study is on the differences between two retail districts; namely, the city retail district, consisting of, primarily, two retail stores located approximately 20km from the city of Melbourne (n = 339); and the country retail district, consisting of, primarily, two retail stores located approximately 200km from the city of Melbourne (n = 324). The results showed that service quality is positively associated with customer loyalty, and that the most significant predictor of customer loyalty in the city retail district is empathy, while the most significant predictor of customer loyalty in the country retail district is tangibles. Further discussion and managerial implications can be interpreted from these findings