Integrated store service quality measurement scale in omni-channel retailing

Abstract

Purpose Brick-and-mortar store is an essential channel to deliver a seamless shopping experience and meet customer's dynamic needs in omni-channel retailing. This paper aims to understand customers' expectations of the integrated stores and develop a measurement scale to assess in-store service quality in omni-channel retailing. Design/methodology/approach Grounded theory methodology (GTM) is employed to obtain a clear picture of consumer expectations and preferences regarding the omni-channel brick-and-mortar integrated stores. Then, an integrated store service quality scale is proposed, refined and validated using a questionnaire survey and structural equation model (SEM). Findings The measurement scale is set to include seven dimensions: in-store environment, in-store technology, product information consistency, employee assistance, personalization, channel availability and instant gratification and return. The relationships among these seven dimensions and customer satisfaction and loyalty are also verified. According to SEM, product information consistency is more important for customer satisfaction while personalization contributes more to customer loyalty. The results demonstrate that by analysing the seven dimensions, retailers can better understand customers and further improve service quality. Originality/value This paper proposes a sufficient measurement scale for in-store service quality and fills the gap in omni-channel retailing by capturing its integration attribute.

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