CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS OF SERVICE QUALITY IN THE TEXAS RETAIL FLORAL INDUSTRY

After a survey describing the range of products and services offered b y Texas florists and supermarket floral departments, a modified SERVQU AL instrument measured customer perceptions and expectations of floral service quality. Florist customers were 3.2 years older, had a slight ly higher household income, bought floral products twice as often from a florist, spent $14.53 more on each florist purchase than supermarke t customers; they also made four fewer floral purchases from supermark ets during the previous 6 months. Supermarket customers spent $14.40 m ore on each supermarket floral purchase than did florist customers. Re liability was the most important and tangibles were the least importan t of the five service quality dimensions. Although expectations for bo th groups were similar on 18 of 21 service quality items, florists' cu stomers perceived higher service quality than did supermarket customer s. Although customers of both retail outlets had expectations higher t han perceptions, florist customers had smaller, less negative gap scor es. This result showed that florists better met customer expectations than did supermarket floral departments, a potential competitive advan tage.