Investigating the Relationship between Store Environment and Store Loyalty in the Context of Supermarkets of Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh retail market has drastically changed with the inception of standard and disciplined practice of supermarkets in the urban parts of the country. Compared to the developed countries, the retailing industry in Bangladesh is fragmented and undeveloped, which has received a breakthrough with the massive expansion of supermarket culture. From a socio economic perspective, the Bangladeshi consumers are getting exposed to outside tastes, which is reasonably creating some preference towards supermarkets culture. The present study is an attempt to investigate the relationship between “Store Environment” and “Store Loyalty” of supermarkets in Bangladesh. The study was implemented in Chattogram Metropolitan city – the commercial capital of the country. Multiple regression has been applied to test the hypotheses. The results of the study show that store cleanliness, followed by sales persons’ behaviour and store interior influence store loyalty. In contrast, store display, background music, pleasant scent and store lighting have no effect in determining store loyalty. At the end of the paper, a few recommendations along with some agenda for future research studies have been proposed.