380 Middle East J. Management, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2020    
 
   Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. 
 
 
   
   
 
   
   
 
   
       
 
Factors affecting store loyalty of retail supermarket 
stores: customers’ perspective 
Mohamed Ismail Mujahid Hilal 
Faculty of Management and Commerce, 
South Eatern University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka 
Email: mujahidh@seu.ac.lk 
Abstract: Retailers are now changing their retails shops into self-selection 
stores which are similar to supermarket so called retail supermarket stores. The 
main objective of the study was to examine the factors such as store image, 
store environment, store convenience, service quality on the creation of store 
loyalty of retail supermarket stores in the East Coast of Sri Lanka. The 
questionnaire survey among 389 respondents was used to collect the data. 
SMART PLS3 was used for analysis. Findings suggest that the structural model 
containing store image, store convenience, store environment, store 
attractiveness and service quality influence on the creation of store loyalty. 
However, store image, store environment, and service quality do not support 
the hypotheses formulated in this study. Service quality, service environment, 
and store image attributes also need more focus by the retailers to improve the 
loyalty and customer stores’ satisfaction. 
Keywords: store image; retail supermarkets stores; convenience; environment; 
store loyalty; retailing; store attraction. 
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Hilal, M.I.M. (2020) 
‘Factors affecting store loyalty of retail supermarket stores: customers’ 
perspective’, Middle East J. Management, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.380–400. 
Biographical notes: Mohamed Ismail Mujahid Hilal is a Senior Lecturer in 
Marketing Management from the Faculty of Management and Commerce, 
South Eastern Univesity of Sri Lanka. He has 17 years of experience in 
teaching undergraduates and postgraduate students. He obtained his PhD in 
Management at the Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, 
India. He presented and published research articles in international conferences 
and in journals. 
 
1 Introduction 
The retailing industry is now rapidly growing in Sri Lanka playing a pivotal role in the 
value creation of the country with a contribution of one-third of the national gross 
domestic production and injecting 14% to the labour market. While retailing is one  
of the huge industries in the world contributing to the economy, it is regarded as  
service-dominant logic which is also stated as a paradigm shift in the retailing business 
(Kandampully, 2006; Tajeddini et al., 2013). In the case of the supermarket industry in 
Sri Lanka, major players are Cargills Food City, Arpico, Laughs Sunup, Keells Super and 
Lanka Sathosa. Of all supermarket brands, Cargills Food City has its presence in