A study of the factors affecting customer satisfaction of shoppers in Hong Kong

Abstract

With the increasingly fierce competition in the business environment of Hong Kong, customer satisfaction is a critical success factor for servicing industries. This factor is especially important in the rapidly growth of shopping centres. However, there is a lack of in-depth research on the factor structure of customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the shopping behavior of customers and the critical factor affecting their overall satisfaction are still unclear. Without these kinds of information, the operators of the shopping centres may be incapable to satisfy all customers with unique marketing and management programs. As a result, the utilization of resources and the maximization of profit may not be complete. In this research, factors for measuring customer satisfaction are identified. The relationship between the demographic profiles of customers and their decision criteria in centre choice is investigated. The critical factors of overall customer satisfaction are compared across different groups of shoppers.

The literatures have been reviewed to identify the factors affecting the customer satisfaction of shoppers in the industry of shopping centre. In order to further investigate the customers' opinions on the factors which will affect their customer satisfaction in the shopping centres, a survey was carried out in the multi-function shopping centers in Hong Kong with a sample size of 300. The shoppers are asked to rank the importance of these factors in affecting their customer satisfaction in these shopping centres. The results indicate that five factors are significant in affecting the customer satisfaction of the shoppers in these two multi-function shopping centres which are "Transportation", "Shopping Center Design, "Management Service", "Promotion Activities" and "Tenant and Trade Mix" as the way affecting the customer satisfaction of the shoppers in the shopping centres."Promotion Activities" is found to be significant in affecting the customer satisfaction of the shoppers in "East Point City" but not in "Park Central". No unilateral conclusion is drawn on their significance in influencing the patronage. This findings imply that "Tenant and Trade Mix" could affect the customer satisfaction of the shoppers in shopping centres in number of ways even though the location of the shopping centre is determined.