Customer interaction, retail mix, loyalty, diverse retailers

Customer loyalty as an outcome holds various advantages for a retailer. It is therefore important that a retailer provides the type and level of retail mix elements for interaction that customers’ desire and which results in customer loyalty. In this study four elements of the retail mix offered by three diverse retailers and their relationships with customer loyalty were investigated.The findings clearly indicate that retail mix elements desired by customers vary by type of retailer. Supermarket customers’ interactions with merchandise value leads to loyalty whilst loyalty of customers of a health, beauty and lifestyle retailer (HBL), is the outcomes of positive relationships between their interaction with merchandise value and frontline staff.