Chapter 6 Conclusion and Future Work

This research was an attempt to analyse Zara’s perception in the market amongst customers in Melbourne. In a shift from routine customer satisfaction survey, this research used a two – pronged approach of surveying both the customers and the employees who serve the customers at the Zara store. The success of sales in retail not only depend on the product, its pricing and promotion but also on the place of sales. The store in retail sector is a key factor in gaining customer trust, loyalty and satisfaction. The layout, design and ease of perusing the store, the behaviour of the employees serving the customers and helping them make an informed choice are instrumental in achieving higher sales and revenue. It also impacts the repeat visits of customers who appreciate familiarity and comfort while buying clothes and accessories. This research has found that Zara is somewhere lacking in promotion of its new products and convincing customers the justification of pricing their product. Promotion is one area where Zara needs to work harder to convince the convert the customers as loyal followers of the brand.

This research is a brief survey with a limited number of respondents. Zara must undertake a larger scale detailed survey comprising of a higher sample size to arrive at sustainable and conclusive findings which can be extrapolated for a region or location. There is a probability that the same survey administered at a different location might yield a diverse set of results.

Ethical implications of the research

There are multiple ethical challenges in a survey. The bias of employees and loyalty towards their employer can influence their honesty of responses. Customers often visit the store after completing some other work the result of which might have a bearing on their mood and disposition in the store. It might get reflected in their responses to the study. Employees would prefer anonymity while responding as they might feel that honest answers might earn them negative points during appraisals. It is important set a peaceful environment for respondents to answer the questions after explaining them the importance of the survey and possible contribution of the respondent for betterment of a brand or company.

References

Abrams, R. (2000). Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies. California: Running ‘R’ Media.

Anderson, A. (1998). Best Practices: Building You Business with Customer-Focused Solutions. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Andreassen, Wallin, & Lindestad, B. (1997). International Journal of Service Industry Management, 9(1), 7-23.

B, M., & M, F. (2002). Corporate branding: a framework for Eretailers. Corp. Reputation Rev, 5(2), 213-225.

Borden, N. H. (1942). The Economic Effects of Advertising. Homewood, 111: Richard D. Irwin.

Borden, N. H., & Marshal, M. V. (1959). Advertising Management: Text and Cases. Homewood, III: Richard D. Irwin .

Culliton, J. W. (1948). The Management of Marketing Costs. Boston: Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University.

Da Silva, R. V., & Syed Alwi, S. F. (2006). Cognitive, affective and conative behavioural responses in retail corporate branding`. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 15(5), 293-305.

Fink, A. (1983). The Survey Research Handbook – How to Conduct Surveys: A Step-by-Step Guide. Beverley Hills: Sage.

Fowler, F. J. (1993). Survey Research Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Foxall, G. R. (2014). Consumer Behaviour (RLE Consumer Behaviour): A Practical Guide (Vol. 3). Routledge.

J, B. (2002). Does service failure influence customer loyalty? J. Consum. Behav, 1(3), 217-227.

Keller, & L, K. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1-22.

KH, K., KS, K., DY, K., JH, K., & SH, K. (2008). Brand equity in hospital marketing. J. Bus. Res, 61(1), 75-82.

Kotler, P. (2001). A framework for marketing management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Koubaa, Y. (2008). Country of Origin, Brand Image Perception, and Brand Image Structure. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 20(2), 139-155.

Lee, S. Y. (2014). Examining the factors that influence early adopters’ smartphone adoption: The case of college student. Telematics and Informatics, 31(2), 308-318.

Lin, H. H., & Wang, Y. S. (2006). An examination of the determinants of customer loyalty in mobile commerce contexts. Information & management, 43(3), 271-282.

Ling, C., Hwang, W., & Salvendy, G. (2007). A survey of what customers want in a cell phone design. Behaviour & Information Technology, 26(2), 149-163.

M, P. (1985). Competitive Advantage. New York: Free Press.

Maklan, S., & Klaus, P. (2011). Customer experience: are we measuring the right things? International Journal of Market Research, 771-792.

Salant, P., & Dillman, D. A. (1994). How to Conduct Your Own Survey. New York: Wiley.

Thaler, R. (1985). Mental accounting and consumer choice. Marketing science, 4(3), 199-214.

Weisberg, H. F., Krosnick, J. A., & Bowen, B. D. (1989). Introduction to Survey Research and Data Analysis. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company.

Yi, Y. (1990). A critical review of consumer satisfaction. In Review of Marketing. Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association.