Retailers’ Perceptions of Consumer Choice of Retail Outlets: A Test of Three Attributes (Published)
Most retail businesses in Nigeria do not continue to live or exist for a long time as a result of the fact that apart from other challenges, some retailers are not conversant with what makes consumers patronize the various retail outlets. Accordingly, this study sought to examine the factors influencing consumer choice of retail outlets from a retailer perspective. To be more precise, the study investigated the influence of customer service, product quality and store location on consumer choice of retail outlets. A convenience sample of 138 retailers was pooled up in Awka metropolis, South-East, Nigeria while multiple regression analysis was used to test the formulated hypotheses with the aid of SPSS Version 20.0 software at 5% level of significance. Results indicate that the three attributes investigated namely customer service, product quality and store location influence consumer choice of retail outlets. More importantly, customer service has the most influence on consumer choice of retail outlets followed by store location and product quality in that order. Overall, the study concludes that the success of any retailing business depends on consumer patronage. In consequence, this piece of research recommends that retailers should invest in technology to enable customers use the necessary tools to purchase products and services as well as receive help from customer service personnel.
Keywords: Attributes, Choice, Perception, retail outlets, retailers