Abstract—This study aims to clarify the service attributes
that are important to the customer at a supermarket checkout,
and the levels of service attributes that are the most desirable
from the customer’s perspective. In this study, using a
questionnaire survey on checkout services for a shopping
supermarket chain and using conjoint analysis, the checkout
services attributes and levels to which customers attach
importance were analyzed. The participants included 415
customers in and around the Tokyo metropolitan area, of which
163 were men and 252 were women. The results show that the
expected waiting time is the most influential factor in consumer
satisfaction. In particular, the presence of three or more
customers already in line is found to significantly reduce
customer satisfaction. It was also found that the customer
service attitude of employees is an important attribute to the
customer. Interestingly, for the bagging services, it is found that
it can have a negative impact on consumer satisfaction. On the
other hand, the gender and age demographics of an employee
have little effect on consumer satisfaction. These results not
only give new implications for research but also are useful in
practical terms, such as conducting employee training to
identify improved ways to serve customers better and guide
improvements in the operation of retail stores.
Index Terms—Checkout service, conjoint analysis, customer
satisfaction, service quality management, supermarket.
M. Hirogaki is with the Faculty of Economics, Kushiro Public University
of Economics, Ashino 4-1-1, Kushiro City, Hokkaido 085-8585, Japan (tel:
+85 37 5519, e-mail: hirogaki@kushiro-pu.ac.jp).
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Cite: Mitsunori Hirogaki, "Service Quality Management in Retailing: Theory and Empirical Analysis of Customer Satisfaction with Checkout Services," International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance vol.5, no.3, pp. 270-276, 2014.