DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Impact of Quality Improvement in a Department Store by Sales Associates on Customer Loyalty

  • Oh, Dani (Dept. of Clothing & Textiles.Sookmyung Women's University) ;
  • Lee, Seunghee (Dept. of Clothing & Textiles.Sookmyung Women's University)
  • Received : 2014.05.07
  • Accepted : 2014.07.18
  • Published : 2014.07.30

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify how to improve the quality of department store's sales associates for customer loyalty. This study examines the importance of sales associates' education, skills, and customer service towards customer loyalty. The questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from 220 clothing sales associates working in department stores. This survey was paper-based. The participants were asked about the questionnaires; sales associates' education, sales associates' ability, customer service, and customer loyalty. General demographic characteristic of participants in the study are as follows; females (72.27%) participated the survey more than males (27.73%). With the age ranging from early 20s to over 40s, most people who took the survey ranged from early 30's to mid 30's with 33.64%. The result indicated that sales associates' education, and customer service skills were significantly corelated to each other. Sales associates' education had no co relation to customer loyalty. In applying the research findings, department stores can design their training contents to offer better training quality. Education of sales associates can be focused by providing various training contents, exercise, effective options, along with the opportunity to improve the qualities of training.

Keywords

References

  1. Ames, C., & Archer, J. (1988). Achievement goals in the classroom: Students' learning strategies and motivation processes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3), 260-267. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.80.3.260
  2. Anderson, R., & Dubinsky, A. (1999). Sales managers: Marketing's best example of the peter Principle. Business Horizons, 42, 19-27.
  3. Andreassen, E. W., & Lindestad, B. (1998). Customer loyalty and complex service. International Journal of Service Industrial Management, 9(1), 7-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/09564239810199923
  4. Burnett, J. J., Amason, R. D., & Hunt, S. D. (1981). Feminism: Implication for department store strategy and salesclerk behavior. Journal of Retailing, 57(4), 71-82.
  5. Choi, B., Lee, S., Choi, S., & Shin, H. (2006). A study on the influence of job competency improvement and the organizational achievement according to human resources management in the hotel industry. Tourism Research, 23, 126-139.
  6. Davis, H. L., & Alvin, J. S. (1972). Interaction and influence processes in personal selling. Sloan Management Review, 13(Winter), 59-76.
  7. Dick, A. S., & Basu, K. (1994). Customer loyalty: Toward and integrated conceptual framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 22(Winter), 99-113. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070394222001
  8. Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognition approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95(2), 256-273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256
  9. Goff, B. G., Boles, J. S., Bellenger, D. N., Danny, N., & Stojack, C. (1997). The influence to salesperson selling behavior on customer satisfaction with products. Journal of Retailing, 73(2), 171-183. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-4359(97)90002-6
  10. Gregory, L. N. (1988). Survival skills for salespeople. 10: Proquest Central Basic, 172 (October), 206.
  11. Gremler, D. D., & Brown, S. W. (1996). Service loyalty, its nature, importance and implications. In Edvardsson, B., Brown, S. W., Johnston, R.., & Scheuing, E. (Ed.), QUIS V.' Advancing service quality: A global perspective (pp. 171-181). New York, NY:ISQA.
  12. Hong, K. (2000). Service quality and store satisfaction according to apparel store types. Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles, 24(5), 760-771.
  13. Hwang, S., Lee, J., & Hwang, G. (2000). The effect of service quality on consumer satisfaction of fashion retail stores. Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles, 24(3), 323-334.
  14. Izzo, G. M., & Vitell, S. J. (2003). Exploring the effects of professional education on salespeople: The case of autonomous agents. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 11(4), 26. https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2003.11658506
  15. Kim, H. (1995). A study on curriculum development for distribution companies: Focused on salespeople training requirements. (Unpublished Master's Thesis). Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
  16. Kim, S., Kim, G., & Lee, S. (1999). The dimensions of apparel store service quality. Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles, 23(3), 435-446.
  17. Lee, D. (2006). A study on the competency modeling and job competencies of a cabin attendant. (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). Kyunghee University, Seoul, Korea.
  18. Lee, J. (2003). The relevance of service dimensions of apparel product salesperson, service satisfaction and purchase intention. (Unpublished Master's Thesis). Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
  19. Lee, M., & Cunningham, L. F. (2001). A cost/benefit approach to understanding service loyalty. The Journal of Service Marketing, 15(2), 113-130. https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040110387917
  20. Levy, M., & Weitz, B. A. (1998). Retailing Management (3rd ed.). New York: Irwin/McGrow-Hill.
  21. Little, T. D., Cunningham, W.A., Shahar, G., & Widaman, K. F. (2002). To parcel or not to parcel: Exploring the question, weighing the merits. Structural Equation Modeling, 9(2), 151-173. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_1
  22. Lorge, S. (1999). Marketers are from Mars, sales people are from Venus. Sales & Marketing Management, 151(4), 27-33.
  23. Lovelock, C., Patterson, P. G., & Walker, R. H. (1998). Services marketing. Prentice-Hall, Sydney.
  24. Macintosh, G., & Lockshin, L. S. (1997). Retail relationship and store loyalty: A multi-level perspective. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 14, 487-497. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8116(97)00030-X
  25. Middleton, H. G. (2003). The Customer Loyalty Solution : What Works and What Doesn't in Customer Loyalty Programs. New York: McGraw-Hill.
  26. O'Mally, L., & Tynan, C. (2000). Relationship marketing in consumer markets: Rhetoric of reality. European Journal of Marketing, 34(7), 797-815. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560010331225
  27. Park, D. (1994). Analysis of the educational needs of a department store salesperson (Unpublished Master's Thesis). Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
  28. Peh, C. C. (2005). Challenges, lessons, and opportunities. Retrieved August 12, 2009, from:http://www.iesingapore.gov.sg/wps/wcm/connect/34f9cd004b6f5422a721a7faddca57e9/IE_TES_China.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
  29. Russell, D. W., Kahn, J., Spoth, R., & Altmaier, E. M. (1998). Analyzing data from experimental studies: A latent variable structural equation modeling approach. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 45(1), 18-29. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.45.1.18
  30. Saxe, R., & Weitz, B. A. (1982). The soco scale- a measure of the customer orientation of sales people. Journal of Marketing Research, 19(August), 343-351. https://doi.org/10.2307/3151568
  31. Sheth, J. N. (1973). A model of industrial buying behavior. Journal of Marketing, 37(October), 50-56. https://doi.org/10.2307/1250358
  32. Takahashi, T., & Nasser, F. (1996). The impact of using item parcels on ad hoc goodness of fit indices in confirmatory factor analysis: An empirical example. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York.
  33. Weilbaker, D. C. (1990). The identification of selling abilities needed for missionary per sales. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 10, 45-58.
  34. Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1996). The behavioural consequences of service quality. Journal of Marketing Management, 60(April), 31-46.