The retail trade’s image and consumer satisfaction: an exploratory study in a city located on the mountain range of the state of Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This exploratory study develops a comparison between the retail trade’s image and consumer satisfaction in a city in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The research project was conducted with 300 consumers, using a structured questionnaire where attributes related to the consumer’s satisfaction with the services provided by the local stores were defined a priori. In addition, it also used part of a standardized procedure, viz. the Image Configuration Technique (ICT), which aims to analyze and grasp the structure of the object’s images identified in the interviewees’ mind. By comparing the results of the two techniques, a similarity was found between the central images and the level of consumer satisfaction in relation to a few concepts. On the other hand, no relation was seen between the level of importance of the variables analyzed and the interviewee’s central images, i.e. the most important attributes are not always part of consumer’s central image. Based on the results, it is assumed that the level of the consumer’s satisfaction with an object can have a direct influence on their image of that object.

Key words: image, retail trade, satisfaction, consumer.