Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in Shopping Malls

Abstract

Shopping malls represent a modern trend in shopping. Mall culture is considered a significant transformation in the life style pattern of Indians, as shopping has evolved from merely purchasing products to a status symbol and one-stop retail solution. The shopping malls are increasing to keep up with the consumers changing needs. Customers are being influenced by many factors that lure them into having a shopping experience at different malls. Understanding the determinants of customer satisfaction is vital for shopping mall owners to identify customer preferences and accordingly plan their mall offerings. This study seeks to identify the main factors influencing customer satisfaction in shopping malls and evaluate satisfaction levels across different mall attributes in Mangaluru city. A sample of 400 mall customers from Mangaluru were chosen through convenient sampling technique for data collection. Reliability was assessed, Fisher’s Exact Test or Chi Square test along with the Friedman’s test were employed to examine the relationships and test the hypotheses. The study findings show that, attributes like facilities, promotional strategies, pricing strategies, process, location, reliability and additional services hold an important role in forming customer experiences, attract more customer traffic and provide maximum satisfaction to the customers in shopping malls. This has resulted in repeated purchase, loyalty, customer retention and profitability to the shopping malls. The insights from this study will allow mall owners to better serve new generations of customers and offer unique shopping experiences in order to sustain in this competitive market.