Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to answer why wet markets still survive in Taiwan while facing to fierce competition from western-style supermarkets. Design/methodology/approach – The authors adopt the perspectives of retail service to develop a model to address how food quality, relational benefit, and personnel service affect consumers’ satisfaction. A sample of 250 consumers was surveyed in a major wet market at Taiwan. Findings – The results obtained from the partial least square (PLS) method reveal that food quality and relational benefit positively affect consumers’ satisfaction, and the effects of these increase with time; employee service has a positive effect on consumers’ satisfaction, but the effect decreases with time; and the ambience does affect consumer satisfaction, but the store design does not. Originality/value – This paper provides empirical answers to the question about why wet markets still play a critical role in the food retailing industry in a newly industrial economy where consumer’ tastes are supposed to be more westernized or so-called ‘supermarketized’ four decades after the introduction of supermarkets.
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