Retailer evaluation: the crucial link between in-store processes and shopping outcomes

Abstract

How shoppers view and evaluate individual retailers is critical due to extreme competition among firms that might carry similar products and brands. While considerable research has examined how satisfaction with purchased products and services affects retailers, retailer-related process satisfaction, and specifically evaluations of the retailers themselves, has not been included in many retail process frameworks. Therefore, the present research identifies the crucial role that evaluations of the retailer play in driving important behavioral outcomes such as store patronage and word-of-mouth recommendations. Manipulating in-store guidance and measuring shopper time pressure, results of a field experiment reveal that retailer evaluations mediate the relationship between process satisfaction and behavioral intentions, even when products and services are not actually purchased. Implications of these findings are discussed.