An empirical investigation into the extent of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty at big retail stores in King Williams Town, South Africa

The study investigates customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in four big retail stores in King William’s Town, South Africa. Customer satisfaction and loyalty are factors impacting on the performance of firms. Data was collected through self administered questionnaires. Mall intercept was used as the survey method. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, T-test, ANOVA and chi square goodness of fit test. The results indicate that holistically, customers are satisfied and loyal to the retail stores. However, the study identified one significant area of customer dissatisfaction which is the queuing time. In addition, the study identified that courtesy is an area of concern for customer satisfaction. Recommendations to improve customer satisfaction are suggested.   Key words: Customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, retail shops.