The moderating effect of retailer image on customers' satisfaction-loyalty link

Distribution channel as one of important entities in the service sector, how channel members operate is seriously relevant to the general public. Though categorized as the down-stream of the supply chain, leveraging market power for own interest is a way of life for channel members, as opposed to coordination and collaboration of activities with mutual trust performed by tiers of suppliers and manufacturer in the upper-stream. What is so salient is the entry of private brand products by retailers in their chain hypermarkets or stores. Private brands are believed to be more profitable, help leveraging price negotiation power, and enhancing retailer brand affinity to build store loyalty for retaining customers. On the other hand, private brands may bring consumers benefits in several ways: increasing category choice; paying lower price for reasonable quality of products, and so on. However, products sold with a private brand are always under the cloud of quality and safety suspension from the perspective of consumers. Other things being equal, retailer name intimacy out of localism and characteristics of private brands products impact on retailer image The extant body of literature pays little attention to the empirical questions whether the entry of private brands and intimacy out of localism have influence upon customers' satisfaction, and in a consequence their loyalty toward the retailer. This paper makes an empirical study on this topic and finds out that intimacy out of localism and the characteristics of private brands do influence consumers' loyalty via their total satisfaction. The managerial implication is that the crucial factor of customers' store loyalty lies in consumers' trust-satisfaction on the retailer image.