RETAIL STORE IMAGE: A COMPARISON AMONG THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL DIMENSIONS IN A BRAZILIAN STUDY

• Main Authors: Janaina de Moura Engracia Giraldi, Paula Bulamah Spinelli, Marcos Cortez Campomar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco 2008-01-01
• Series: GESTÃO.Org : Revista Eletrônica de Gestão Organizacional
• Subjects: store image; retailing; positioning; strategy.
• Online Access: http://www.revista.ufpe.br/gestaoorg/index.php/gestao/article/viewFile/188/169

The retail store can be the key success factor, the competitive advantage of a retail company. An important element to the retail strategy is the store image; the total sum of customers’ perceptions about a store. The present paper compares the theoretical and empirical dimensions of retail store’s image in a Brazilian study. The type of research used was the quantitative study, and the data collected was analyzed by use of the factor analysis technique, in order to identify the underlying factors to retail store image. In conclusion, it was observed that the form by which the respondents evaluate the image of a specific supermarket in Brazil is simpler than what was foreseen by theory, with nine factors representing the following store image dimensions: quality,price, after sales service, advertising, clientele, assortment, convenience, atmosphere and services. An important practical contribution of the present study refers to the development of a simpler scale, that can be used by retailers in a viable form to obtain data on their perceived image.