IMPROVING THE RETAIL PERFORMANCE BY CONTRASTING MANAGEMENT-PERCEIVED AND CUSTOMER-PERCEIVED STORE IMAGES - A DIAGNOSTIC-TOOL FOR CORRECTIVEACTION

The image of a retail establishment is its appearance to target market s. Managerial action can be taken when image components are measured a s unfavorable and can be wed as advantageous when found to be favorabl e. We compare 63 households and 93 manager ratings of a national stove on 29 image variables. Members of both groups were from the same geog raphic area. The ratings were done using 8-point bipolar anchored scal e items ranging/from ''Very Bad'' to ''Excellent'' on topics concernin g sales staff service policies, assortment, ease of layout, interior d ecor, price, convenience, quality, store improvement, and community in volvement. The 29 image variables were then classified into one of six types of congruence or incongruence according to. (1) whether the ite m average for the combined group of householders and managers was grea ter or less than the average ratings for all items; (2) whether the cu stomers and manager average ratings were found to be statistically dif ferent (incongruent); and (3) in the case of difference, whether ii wa s the managers or householders who had the higher average ratings. The study findings indicated that in most image variables, management and customers were in congruence. However; in some of the image variables , there was incongruence. The managerial implications of an image vari able being classified into one of the six types are then discussed. (C ) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.